Excerpt from The Frontier Holiday: Being a Collection of Writings by Minnesota Pioneers Who Recorded Their Divers Ways of Observing Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year'sClose upon two thousand years ago the birth of a baby brought to the world a message of Hope and Peace, a message which is as bright and meaningful today as it was to those waiting shepherds on the hills.Perhaps a return to basic values, unfettered by the tinseled striving of business and society, is the best therapy for this confused and fearful world.With this thought in mind, we have turned backward to discover how the early builders of our own state observed the holidays of Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year's. Here is a collection of true stories written by Minnesota pioneers, stories which include doughnuts fried in coon's grease, a New Year's hymn sung by Indians in a lonely mission, hospitality accorded strangers from New England and Sweden and St. Paul, the thought-provoking proclamation of Minnesota's first Thanksgiving and dozens of other details which make warm the fabric of pioneer holidays.This collection of pioneer stories is timely since 1949 is the territorial centennial of Minnesota when the entire state pausesto study the sturdy foundations of the state as built by our pioneering forefathers. The homely writings reprinted here reflect the spirit and faith which guided the founders of Minnesota.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.