This upcoming Sunday is my favorite day of the year on Daufuskie, starting with church service at 10:00 am and then the Community Thanksgiving feast at 1:00. The sense of community fellowship that comes from that wonderful day each year drives home the point that our island home is unlike almost any other community in the nation. Yet there’s a particular attribute that I think is the key to helping preserve the general feel of both the celebration itself and the island in general.
Historically, nearly everyone attending the meal has brought their favorite dish to share with all who are attending. The turkeys and the hams were prepared by a few volunteers, but after that, the buffet tables were filled with whatever everyone else brought, and there always seemed to be the right mix of hors d’oeuvres, sides, and desserts. And we always had plenty to go around, which happens when folks try to bring something to share.
When Covid hit, we had to adjust our efforts significantly, and we put a major burden on our host site to prepare most of the sides. It was in the name of keeping people safe while still preserving a precious tradition, but one of the end results was that it made it less of a community pot-luck and more like everyone going to the same restaurant at the same time. Still plenty of fellowship, but not as much unique flavor, and not as much individual commitment to bringing something to the table for others to enjoy.
That unique flavor, and the personal investment that it requires, is the thing that has made both the Community Thanksgiving and the island itself so wonderful. As the financial condition of our island increases, it will become easier and easier to simply ask or expect someone else to do the work, so that the only thing we contribute is money to help cover the costs. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it is a very different approach, and I do think that applying that mindset towards other things in our community will have a dramatic impact on the unique sense of community that we have enjoyed for so long here.
What we enjoy here is the result of individuals giving of themselves, being willing to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty, whether it be in the kitchen, in the dirt, or under the hood of a car. The sense of neighborly connection that this fosters is very different from paying someone for a meal or covering the cost of fixing a fence. As anyone who was here in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Matthew knows, there is something about working together that unites us and creates bonds unlike anything else. And that goes for community feasts as well.
This Sunday, I sincerely hope that you will come down to D’Fuskie’s at 1:00 pm for the annual Community Thanksgiving celebration. If you have the opportunity and the means, spend some time and fix your favorite dish (and let Leigh Ann or Bayard at D’Fuskie’s know what you are bringing if you can), knowing that you are contributing something unique to the feast. But if you don’t have the ability to bring something, please bring yourself, because you are also a part of what makes our community so special. And don’t forget that 10:00 am church service either!
Peace and Blessings – Pastor Aaron