Happy Pioneer Day! If you've never heard of it, it's a big holiday in Utah where they celebrate our Pioneer heritage; you can learn a little bit more about it here. I loved this holiday when we lived in Utah, and I love how everyone takes time to remember the pioneers and what they sacrificed to cross the plains.
Last year around this time I had just finished reading Fire of the Covenant by Gerald Lund. My sister-in-law, Danica, recommended it to me, and I remember her telling me that it changed her life. I thought that must be some book to change lives, so I decided to read it.Needless to say, I loved it, and it too changed my perspective on life. I whole-heartedly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction. This is a story of the Willie & Martin handcart companies and their trek to the Salt Lake valley. One part in the book tells how the pioneers had to choose only 17 pounds of things (bedding, clothes, and/or precious heirlooms) to take with them on their handcarts. I was moving to a new place at the time, and I began to see my possessions in a new light. I wanted to toss out all of my unnecessary baggage and just take my essentials. I wanted to sacrifice something like the pioneers did in their 1200+ mile journey. But then I came back to reality and was thankful for our modern conveniences and luxuries--the fact that we had plenty of room in our U-Haul to move our things just 50 miles was reason enough for me to be grateful.
This book made the pioneers become so real to me. I couldn't stop thinking about the real and fictional characters from the book for about a month after reading it. I was talking to my sister one day and telling her how much I loved Fire of the Covenant. She said, "Nats, you know that our ancestors were in the Willie handcart company, right?!!" Well, no wonder I was so immersed and connected to this story! I think I cried the rest of the day.
As I talked with my sister and grandma I discovered more stories of my ancestors. I found out that my great-great-great-grandmother was more industrious than I could ever dream of being. This is just one of many favorite stories from our family history of this family on the plains in the Willie Handcart company:
...The flour rations had been cut. The mother, Helene, had brought along an old relic, a pincushion, from the old home in Denmark. One day mother remembered that the pincushion was filled or stuffed with bran, and with joy, she tore it apart, mixed the bran with dough and baked the bread which was eaten with relish. Rawhide was taken from the carts and scraped and boiled and used as soup.
Wow. I have no reason to complain again. I am in awe at how these people survived on so few temporal things and yet so much faith. My love and admiration for them grows even more as I realize that I am where I am today because my ancestors had the courage to leave their homes and travel to America for their freedom.
This book made the pioneers become so real to me. I couldn't stop thinking about the real and fictional characters from the book for about a month after reading it. I was talking to my sister one day and telling her how much I loved Fire of the Covenant. She said, "Nats, you know that our ancestors were in the Willie handcart company, right?!!" Well, no wonder I was so immersed and connected to this story! I think I cried the rest of the day.
As I talked with my sister and grandma I discovered more stories of my ancestors. I found out that my great-great-great-grandmother was more industrious than I could ever dream of being. This is just one of many favorite stories from our family history of this family on the plains in the Willie Handcart company:
...The flour rations had been cut. The mother, Helene, had brought along an old relic, a pincushion, from the old home in Denmark. One day mother remembered that the pincushion was filled or stuffed with bran, and with joy, she tore it apart, mixed the bran with dough and baked the bread which was eaten with relish. Rawhide was taken from the carts and scraped and boiled and used as soup.
Wow. I have no reason to complain again. I am in awe at how these people survived on so few temporal things and yet so much faith. My love and admiration for them grows even more as I realize that I am where I am today because my ancestors had the courage to leave their homes and travel to America for their freedom.
5 comments:
Beautifully written, sis. Thanks for the chance to reflect on what the pioneers mean to me, too. Happy Pioneer Day! Love you!
You are so cute! How neat to have such a connection to that story...I too still think about that book quite often actually. Just love it to death. Happy Pioneer Day sis! Thanks for the words.
This is so great! I will have to read that book. I loved reading the Work and the Glory series (after making fun of it for years... what was I thinking?) and it really helped me put the story-line of the Pioneers altogether.
Although I've watched Work and the Glory, I've never read any of Lund's books. I'll have to check this series out!
Thanks for the reminder of Pioneer Day we almost forgot -- but thanks to do we did a little movie and talk to our kids about the Pioneer Day. And was reminded the reason why we celebrate Pioneer Day was that it was the day Brigham Young saw the Salt Lake City Valley and said, "This is the Place." You're right it is amazing to think of the sacrifices the early saints made. Love ya. Jenny
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