Here is a little story that is not well known about the pilgrims and their first Thanksgiving and the new world.How many of you have heard of a plant called ‘Datura’? It grows all over North America. In the east, it’s known as jimson weed. Out west, especially in the southwest, it is known as the sacred datura, the moon lily, moon flower, the dream weed or the devil’s trumpet.
Now they didn’t have this plant in merry ole England. The Pilgrim Fathers didn’t discover it until they came to the new World. Most likely it was one of the indigenous Americans who turned and pointed out the plant and suggested that if the immigrants wanted to really give thanks, and at the same time do themselves a big favor, they should nibble a bit of this plant. Any part of it – petals, stems, leaves – taken internally launched the person into a world they had never known before.
Not only was datura a guaranteed hallucinogenic, it had curative powers as well. For example, when consumed in a fire and the fumes inhaled, it aided respiration. The plant was also used as a poultice to salve burns and sores. Merely rubbing the eyes after pulling the leaves off the stem could cause the pupils to dilate.
This is a plant that could both heal you and kill you.
In India, for example, assassins used it to dispatch their victims. The priests of Apollo at Delphi ate datura to assist them in making prophecies.
Now let’s be realistic, how many of you have sat at a groaning Thanksgiving day table, bored out of your skull, stuffed to the gills with sodium-loaded turkeys, seated next to some long-lost cousin who can only talk about all the money he is spending, and wishing you could be anywhere else than where you are.
Well, thing about those first pilgrims who, before they sat down to enjoy their first major repast in the New World gobbled down a handful of petals from the ubiquitous moon lily. There are reports of pious Christian elders getting to their feet midway through the sumptuous feast and dancing on the table, singing at the tops of their lungs, and attempting to remove critical articles of clothing. Others, it is reported, were found hanging from tress, giggling maniacally.
Think about it. Is this not a good way to celebrate the arrival of the Europeans into this brave New World? This we do have to be thankful for.
(Jimson weed = James Town + weed)
Top and last (1932) paintings by Georgia O`Keeffe, second and third images from desertusa.com, and fourth homegrown from Missouri Plants.
Not only was datura a guaranteed hallucinogenic, it had curative powers as well. For example, when consumed in a fire and the fumes inhaled, it aided respiration. The plant was also used as a poultice to salve burns and sores. Merely rubbing the eyes after pulling the leaves off the stem could cause the pupils to dilate.
This is a plant that could both heal you and kill you.In India, for example, assassins used it to dispatch their victims. The priests of Apollo at Delphi ate datura to assist them in making prophecies.
Now let’s be realistic, how many of you have sat at a groaning Thanksgiving day table, bored out of your skull, stuffed to the gills with sodium-loaded turkeys, seated next to some long-lost cousin who can only talk about all the money he is spending, and wishing you could be anywhere else than where you are.
Well, thing about those first pilgrims who, before they sat down to enjoy their first major repast in the New World gobbled down a handful of petals from the ubiquitous moon lily. There are reports of pious Christian elders getting to their feet midway through the sumptuous feast and dancing on the table, singing at the tops of their lungs, and attempting to remove critical articles of clothing. Others, it is reported, were found hanging from tress, giggling maniacally.
Think about it. Is this not a good way to celebrate the arrival of the Europeans into this brave New World? This we do have to be thankful for.
(Jimson weed = James Town + weed)
Top and last (1932) paintings by Georgia O`Keeffe, second and third images from desertusa.com, and fourth homegrown from Missouri Plants.