Residents of El Paso, Texas say that the first day of Thanksgiving was celebrated in that city several centuries ago during an expedition of Spanish conquerors.
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Since 1989, A new Thanksgiving tradition has taken root in El Paso, recreating this passage of ‘Thanksgiving’ that would have been celebrated by the Spanish explorer Juan de Oñate and his expedition on April 30, 1598. In that commemoration that occurred in the late 1980s, more than a hundred costumed participants recreated the celebration at the Chamizal National Memorial, a few miles from where the original celebration is said to have taken place.
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For that representation, the indigenous people of the Tigua people of El Paso interpreted the natives of the region who met Oñate on the Rio Grande, recounts the Texas Almanac, a site specialized in history and cultural data of the southern state.
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“On that occasion, officials from Mexico and the United States were present, as well as Manuel Gullón and de Oñate, Count of Tepa in Spain and a direct descendant of the colonizer. As well as about 50 people who attended the reunion of the descendants of the members of the expedition. “, says that publication.
A torturous expedition and a Thanksgiving day
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Juan de Oñate, potentate of one of the richest mining families in Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí in what was then New Spain (Mexico) and faithful to the Spanish crown, went on an expedition in search of unexplored lands before his eagerness to make himself a privileged place in the history of the new continent.
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When in 1597 the viceroy of New Spain authorized the trip, Oñate ruled out following the traditional route that went down the Rio Conchos in present-day Mexico to the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo) and then north along the Rio Grande to New Mexico, which would bring various calamities to your adventure.
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It was in early March 1598 that the expedition of 500 people, including soldiers, settlers, wives, children, and 7,000 head of cattle from Oñate, was ready to cross the treacherous Chihuahuan desert.
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“Almost from the beginning of the 50-day march, nature challenged the Spanish. First, seven consecutive days of rain made the trip miserable. Then the difficulties were reversed and the travelers suffered greatly from the dry weather. On one occasion, a fortuitous rain saved the parched settlers, ”he explains.
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This is how the day of that peculiar celebration arrived, which Texans believe it represented the first record of a Thanksgiving day on US soil.
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“We made a big bonfire and grilled the meat and fish, and then we all sat down to a meal like we’ve never enjoyed before.”Captain Farfán, a member of that expedition and a witness to the original celebration, wrote at the time.
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“We were happy that our tests were over; as happy as the passengers of the Ark when they saw the dove return with the olive branch in its beak, bringing the news that the flood had subsided ”.
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According to the story, Oñate’s expedition continued down the Rio Grande and eventually settled near Santa Fe, New Mexico, which would be just one of hundreds of cities that the Spanish would establish in America.
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From their first representation in 1989, the then consul general of Spain in Houston, Ricardo Marti-Fluxa, expressed that they did not seek to snatch a tradition so deeply rooted in the United States, but only to know something new in American history.
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“We don’t want to fight against any tradition. But we felt it was a hardship not to acknowledge the full history of the United States of America. “
It is worth mentioning that the current Thanksgiving tradition is representative of the birth and evolution of then-New England. However, it is not a single tradition, but a combination of traditions, according to Randall Mason, a researcher at Plimoth Plantation Inc., which operates a 17th-century model village in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
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“Today’s celebration is a cross between a British harvest festival and a special religious Thanksgiving, both originally observed by pilgrims in New England,” he says.
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