Vervolg 1 Achtergronden Thanksgiving Day Queen Elizabeth I who along with her much later successor Queen Victoria (1837-1901) won for herself the critical acclaim of having been the cleanest woman in all Europe because she took a bath twice in one year. (This fact stated by Dr. Yosef ben Jochanan on a two record set album, Afrikan History, aavailable from Alkebu-lan Books, 209 West 125th Street, N.Y.C., N.Y. 10037, Suite 204.) Furthermore it is reported that the stentch of Queen Elizabeth’s court was unbearable to those visitors generally unaccustomed to it. This fact is stated by Maulana Douglas Nnamdi in a lecture given at Ujamaa Shule (available on cassette tape from IV th. Dynasty Publishing Co., Washington, D.C.). This is quite a difference from the Errol Flynn-Bette Davis Hollywood glamorization. At this juncture, the examination what history says in regard to the European’s attitude towards soap and water in those days. “In all Europe with the exception of a very few the same articles of clothing were worn for months, years or even generations. The air of London was foul with the odor of slaughtered cattle and the smell of latrines (toilets) filled the air. London tenements which were generally overcrowded had but one latrine for all its occupants. Many houses had none at all and emptied their dung into the yard or out in the street. In fact many (so-called) Christian saints prided themselves on avoiding water it is said that many of the women in Europe in the 16th Century had no care to keep themselves clean except in those parts that may be seen remaining filthy under their linen…..” (The story of Civilization, Volume VI, - Will Durant, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1957, Pp. 244-245) This indeed must have created quite a malador in Europe especially during the time of the women’s menstrual cycle. In reference of this period in world history J.A. Rogers, the noted black historian mentions that “…European monarchs were living in the filth and squalor of their dirt floor castles and crude windowless huts…”(World’s Great Men of Color, Volume I, - J.A. Rogers, 1270 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10029, 1947. P.111) while the Afrikan for whom bathing was a part of their religious ritual was living in the splendour of prosperous and enlightened Sudanese empires with an abundance of candles to light the windows of many homes. In East Afrika and Asia, the followers of Islam were reported by many travellers to have the most splendid bath houses in the world. At this same time in Southern Afrika lived the hygiene conscious Nguni people, and in the far East the ritual bathing followers of the Black Buddha. What a contrast! The preceding information should provide you with a fairly good picture of what life was like in Europe during the old monarchies. After a reign of 45 years Elizabeth I died and was succeeded to the throne by James Stuart of Scotland. JAMES I OF ENGLAND (THE BIBLE MAN) 1603-1625 The kind Protestantism established during the Elizabethan Age was not sufficient to satisfy all Protestants for they felt that it retained too much of the Roman Papal dogma. As a result they developed another group of religious radicals who came to be known as the Party of Puritans, so-called because their goal was to purify the English Church of all vestiges of Roman Catholicism. This group was further divided into essentially three basic schools of thought . The Methodist Episcopal Church. 2. The Presbyterian Church and 3. The Congregational Church. All of these European institutions eventually found their way to America. When James Stuart came to the throne in 1603, some 1ooo Puritan leaders of the Church of England petitioned him to inaugurate the reforms they advocated. He refused and an era of persecution broke out. To avoid thies persecution many of the Puritans went to Holland and later immigrated to America. During the reign of King James I any act of worship conducted in a manner other than that prescribed by the church of England was forbidden by law on pain of the fine, imprisonment and harassment. Because of the intensity of the persecution of one group of Europeans of a different persuasion, the latter began the sojourn to Holland which led one historian to designate them as Pilgrims. Oddly enough it was one of the Puritan leaders of the Church of England, Dr. John Reynolds, President of the Corpus Christi College, Oxford University, who suggested that James I could authorize the translation (from Hebrew and Greek) of what was later become the King James Version of the Bible, published in the year 1611. This version is still believed by many unenlightened people in this day and time to be the most holy and infallible word of God. PILGRIMS In 1620 the leaders of the Pilgrims decided to migrate to the New World whereupon arrangements were made with some English merchants who advanced them money with the stipulation that once the Pilgrims had settled in America they would in turn provide the merchants with the necessary services in furs needed to enhance their lucrative trade. They, the Pilgrims, set sail from South Hampton, England in two vessels, the Speedwell and the Mayflower. Because the Speedwell was reported to be unseaworthy, both ships returned to England and docked at the port of Plymouth. On September 6, 1620 the Mayflower set sail again with 41 passengers, their families and 15 male servants. In all there were 102 persons. After a stormy voyage of 66 days the Mayflower dropped anchor near Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Before disembarking the 41 men aboard met in a cabin of the Mayflower, drew up and signed an agreement which later became known as the Mayflower Compact and the 41 signers as the so-called Pilgrim Fathers. On December 26, 1620 the Pilgrims went ashore, “Fell upon their knees” and as Will Rogers says “then fell upon the aborigines.” According tot the American tradition, the Pilgrims upon disembarking the Mayflower stepped upon a large boulder, memorialized in U.S. folklore as Plymouth Rock. The first winter in the New World was indeed a severe one for the Pilgrims who while dwelling in crude huts resorted to shellfish and water for food. At this time they built a square log house with a flat roof on which they placed six small cannons to reel, so it is said, any possible attack by the Indians. In the spring of the following year, they were visited by the Indigenous inhabitants of the land, the Red Man. Some of these Indian brothers had learned to speak a little of the English language from European fishermen who had ventured into their coast. These Amer-Indians were very friendly and hospitable to the intruding settlers and thought them how to plant corn and where and how to fish. Little did they know that this human courtesy would in time be bitterly regretted by untold millions of the Red Man’s suffering descendants. This incident generally held to be the beginning of the celebration of the festival holiday called Thanksgiving. Wordt vervolgd
Posted on: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 14:35:06 +0000
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