Pioneer Passover

Every year, our family celebrates Pioneer Day (July 24, a big Utah celebration) by having our own "Seagull Seder" and remembering our LDS pioneer ancestors who gave up so much to reach their promised land.

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A common scriptural theme is remembrance, and rituals help us to do that. The Lord commanded the Jews to remember their flight from Egypt and miraculous deliverance by an annual observance known as the Passover. For those faithful Jews who put the blood of the firstborn lamb on their door, the angel of death “passed over” and spared their firstborn sons. Christ celebrated the Passover with his apostles before he died, transforming the ritual into the Sacrament. As we now eat of the bread and drink of the water on a weekly Sabbath basis, we also remember how the blood of the Lamb saves us and the angel of death has passed over us. Christ fulfilled the Law of Moses, so the Passover is no longer observed by Christians. Yet there is to be a restitution of all things, including the law of sacrifice and the Feast of Tabernacles, as Joseph Smith and Zechariah both prophesied. Perhaps a greater understanding of the Passover will also come. 
The Jews follow a lunar calendar and celebrate the Passover in the spring, near Easter time. They hold a family dinner ritual known as a Seder, in which they sing songs, recite scripture, eat symbolic foods, and remember their faithful ancestors. An intriguing feature of the Jewish Passover is the custom to set a place for Elijah each year, and leave the door ajar for his arrival. The prophet Malachi foretold that Elijah would return and the Jews anxiously await his arrival to herald the coming of the Messiah. As recorded in section 110 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the prophet Elijah did appear. However, he came to Joseph Smith at the Kirtland Temple to restore the sealing power. It was on April 3, 1836—that year, the day of the Jewish Passover. Because we know of Elijah’s return, there is no need to set a place for him. Yet since his mission involves genealogy and the sealing keys, honoring our ancestors and the pioneers is one of the best ways to invite Elijah in to our own table. 

My children have ninety direct pioneer ancestors whose stories we like to commemorate. Brigham Young’s advance company arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in July of 1847.  The scouts arrived on July 22, but Brigham, sick in his wagon, didn’t come over Ensign Peak to say “This is the right place, drive on!” until July 24. Because of this arrival date, Pioneer Day has been celebrated in Utah and churchwide every July 24 ever since. Pioneer Day is the perfect time to hold a Pioneer Passover, our own day of deliverance. A recent convert, or someone with no biological pioneer ancestors might wonder, why should I celebrate a Pioneer Passover?  You may choose to focus your service on the first members of your family to join the church, remembering their conversion experience and celebrating your own “pioneers” in the gospel. Yet the stories of the early pioneers need not be your own to find inspiration and celebration therein. Eliza R. Snow had no children—adopt her as your own!  President Hinckley said: “We come of a great people, and whether we are of that stock or whether we have just come in to the Church, we are all a part of the legacy of greatness.”

Preparation

Determine your program based on the following suggestions and your own heritage. Research ancestral stories, foods, costumes.  Pick out several family stories to incorporate and teach your children the hymns you would like to use in advance.

For young children, find an object to represent each ancestral story (a toy ox for an ox story, a spool of thread for a sewing story, smelly skunk stickers for a skunk story, etc) and put them in a basket.

Invite your guests (family), let them know that this will be a special meal.  If Pioneer Day doesn’t work, perhaps the Sabbath or Monday night Family Home Evening that falls nearest to the holiday could be chosen.

Suggest to the guests that pioneer attire would be appropriate if desired; obtain bonnets, aprons, coonskin caps

Prepare copies of scripts/readings to be used, copy the numbered readings for those who will be participating, choose music and find recordings or warn pianist.

Shop for menu items and prepare the dinner.

                 

On a platter, use small cups or lettuce leaves to hold these items:

Egg

Berries

Nuts

Ice Cube

Salt Water

Parsley

Honey
Jerky

Ideas for a pioneer-style meal include: flapjacks, biscuits and stew, soup in a bread bowl, chili (they came to Mexican territory, after all!) and cornbread, turkey and potatoes, or any food native to your ancestor’s heritage that would be special. Prepare a dessert such as berry cobbler that they might have eaten.

Adapt our service below as a sample for your own ancestors/stories. Ours changes every year depending on the ages of the children and other family guests/audience members. Other ideas we've tried: sign a rock with Sharpies for Independence Rock, walk through a stream/ice cold bucket as you "cross" the river, have flags for each country represented.

Wells Family Pioneer Passover: Our Seagull Seder

Narrator: The Jewish Passover commemorates the Israelites’ exodus and journey to the promised land. In the Jewish Passover service, they read scriptures, sing hymns, and eat special foods in their celebration. We will do the same. Here we will remember our own ancestors’ exodus and journey to Zion. We have ninety pioneer ancestors—they came from England, Wales, Scotland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, and America, at different times and with different experiences. Brigham Young said that the journey of the Mormon Pioneers, a modern Israel, in the American wilderness to this promised land was like the journey of Moses and the children of Israel many many years ago in the Bible.  He said, “The 24^th of July is like a new Passover for modern Israel: us.”  And Daniel Wells said, “Among all the anniversaries that might be celebrated, this, the 24^th day of July, has been selected as the dawning of a brighter day, as an era in the history of this people upon which turned the axis of their destiny.”

1. Read D&C 128:19-23

2. Not everyone felt this joy for the gospel, as wicked men killed the prophet.  Read D&C 135:1-6

Narrator: Yet our faith in Christ brings hope of resurrection.  This egg represents resurrection and new life.

Sing Praise to the Man, Hymns 27

Narrator: After the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, the Saints struggled. They wondered who would be the next prophet.  Sidney Rigdon claimed that he had the leadership keys. At a meeting of the Saints six weeks after the martyrdom, Brigham spoke and sounded and appeared remarkably like Joseph Smith, even so that those in the audience recognized a distinctive whistling noise that Joseph used to make from a chipped tooth. This witness from the Lord that Joseph’s mantle had fallen upon Brigham was a powerful experience. We remember our ancestors who were there at this important time. 

3. John Welch said, “I was well acquainted with the Prophet Joseph Smith and heard him speak both in public and private many times.  I was present at the meeting in the grove at Nauvoo August 8^th, 1844, when Sidney Rigdon made the claim.  I saw Brigham Young, then President of the Twelve Apostles, stand up to speak to the people and he spoke with the voice of Joseph Smith; and I further declare and testify that he, Brigham Young, had the appearance of the Prophet Joseph Smith while he, Young, was talking; that I was convinced then, and have never doubted in all the intervening years from that time up to the present, that Brigham Young was the right man and the man chosen of God to lead the Church.” It is said that John and Eliza related these facts many, many times to their children and grandchildren, greatly strengthening and adding to the testimonies of those who listened.

Narrator: The Saints followed Brigham’s lead to finish building the Nauvoo Temple and prepare for an exodus west.

4.“ Many were the blessings we received which caused us joy and comfort in the midst of our sorrows and enables us to have faith in God knowing he would guide us and sustain us in the unknown journey that lay before us. For if it had not been for the faith and knowledge that was bestowed upon us in the Nauvoo Temple by the influence and help of the Spirit of the Lord, our journey would have been like one taking a leap in the dark. To start out on such a journey in the winter as it were and in our state of poverty, it would seem like walking into the jaws of death. But we had faith in our Heavenly Father and we put our trust in Him, feeling that we were His chosen people and had embraced His gospel and instead of sorrow we felt to rejoice that the day of our deliverance had come.” Sarah Rich

5. “We are now fixed to leave our home and all we have except what two wagons can draw, and our place of destination we know not.” Lorenzo Dow Young

6. “To save the lives of all the Saints from cruel murder, we moved westward.” Brigham Young

7.“ They were men and women of courage and faith, of enterprise and great capacity to do what they set out to do. How thankful I am, how deeply grateful I am, how profoundly I feel a sense of gratitude for the pioneers who left here 150 years ago and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, and all those who followed them….God be thanked for their faith. We come of a great people, and whether we are of that stock or whether we have just come into the Church, we are all a part of the legacy of greatness, that exodus to greatness which occurred at the base of Parley Street, where the first wagons moved down and crossed the Mississippi.” Gordon B. Hinckley

Narrator: Due to mob violence, the planned April departure from Nauvoo was moved up to February. The first wagons to leave were ferried across the Mississippi River. However, later in the month the temperatures plummeted. The river froze and the Saints were able to drive their wagons across the ice. This hastened the departure but wasn’t comfortable for camping. On February 24, nine miles from Nauvoo in the Sugar Creek camp, it was twelve degrees below zero. When the weather warmed, the Saints struggled in the mud.

We taste this salt water, which reminds us of the many tears which were shed (dip parsley in salt water and pass around).

8. “Traveling through the swamps and bogs of Iowa was slow and painful in the extreme.  For miles and miles the wagons labored heavily over …a bridge made of logs lashed together with tough willows. This terrible swamp was full of danger and difficulty. Each wagon straddled the tracks of the last, and even then the wheels would sink through the twelve-inch sod into the muddy lake below, and sometimes hours would be consumed in traversing a quarter of a mile.” 

Susa Young Gates

Narrator: On October 9, some six hundred Saints were huddled on the Iowa prairie, waiting for food and assistance from Brigham Young. Flocks of quail settled around them, tame enough the Saints caught them with their hands and had a good meal. The Lord provided for them as for the children of Israel in the wilderness. During the winter of 1846-1847, some 3500 Saints lived in log homes or dugouts in Winter Quarters, while another 2500 were camped across the river in Iowa. The Saints suffered that winter. Food and supplies were scarce, shelter inadequate, and 500 men were away serving in the Mormon Battalion. Wilford Woodruff wrote: “I have never seen the Latter-day Saints in any situation where they seemed to be passing through greater tribulations or wearing out faster.” 

We hold these ice cubes in remembrance of the cold of Winter Quarters, and the deaths of our ancestors James Eastman and Elizabeth and Jeremiah Hatch.

Child with shoe: This is to remember our ancestors William Muir and Orin Hatch, who both served on the Mormon Battalion. Orin was only 16 years old and got very sick. He was left behind to die and his brother walked back to fetch him during the night. This went on for several days until he was better. When the brother’s shoes wore out, Orin gave him his own and returned to Salt Lake barefoot.

The Saints made ready for their westward trek, and an advance company of less than two hundred set out to reach the Valley. Others would follow. 

Sing Come Come Ye Saints, Hymns 30

9. Breaking the new trail, Orson Pratt was assigned to calculate the distance traveled daily. With no measuring devices, he fastened a chain around a wheel and William Clayton was assigned to count its revolutions. Driven by boredom, he invented an odometer. Pioneer women were creative too. They hung buckets of milk under the wagon in the morning, and buckets of dirty clothes with soap and water. By the end of the day’s jolting travels, they had butter and clean clothes.

Sing children’s pioneer songs from Children’s Songbook

Narrator: Eat these nuts and berries, which remind us of wilderness food.

Child with thread: This is to remember our ancestor Mary Jacobsen, who was a teenager when she left Denmark. She came from a wealthy family and wore out five pairs of shoes crossing the plains. She embroidered on a sampler the death dates of her younger brothers as they died on the journey. Once she and some other teenagers cooked pancakes and got in trouble for missing the wagon train at Chimney Rock.

Child with snake: This is to remember our ancestor Mary Bathgate. She was an old widow who had worked in the coal mines before emigrating from Scotland. She was bit by a rattlesnake on the trail and healed by a priesthood blessing.

Child with heart: This is to remember our ancestors Nicolai and Malena Sorensen. They loved each other so much that when Nicolai was promised anything he wanted in a priesthood blessing for having rescued a lost child, he asked to die on the same day as his wife, which was what happened.

Child with hat: This is to remember our ancestor Annie Scarborough, who lost her sunbonnet on the train and walked across the plains when she was eight years old.

Child with skunk stickers: This is to remember our ancestor Laura Peters. She came from Wales when she was seven years old, and a boy in their group found a cute black and white kitten he carried around in his cap. Until it turned out the kitten was a skunk, and he had to bury his hat.

Narrator: The advance company of pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley on July 22, 1847, and immediately set up a crude irrigation system to flood the land and prepare for planting. On July 24, Brigham Young and the rear company arrived at the mouth of what is now called Emigration Canyon. Wilford Woodruff drove the ill President Young in his carriage.  They looked to the future as they gazed over the valley.

10. “Thoughts of pleasing meditations ran in rapid succession through our minds while we contemplated that [in] not many years the House of God would stand upon the top of the mountains while the valleys would be converted into an orchard, vineyard, gardens, and fields by the inhabitants of Zion and the standard be unfurled for the nations to gather here. While gazing upon the scene before us, [President Young] was enwrapped in vision for several minutes. He had seen the valley before in vision, and upon this occasion  he saw the future glory of Zion and Israel, as they would be, planted in the valleys of these mountains. When the vision had passed, he said, ‘It is enough.  This is the right place.  Drive on.’” Wilford Woodruff

Child with wheel: This is to remember our ancestor Addison Everett. He was a bishop in Nauvoo, and he was in this advance company as the prophet’s teamster.

11. “The 24^th of July that year was a Saturday, and President Young arrived at about 2 pm of that day; and on that Saturday night we had about six acres of potatoes and other vegetables planted, the field extending southward from where City Hall now stands.  On the Sunday all work was suspended as usual, for we always observed the Sabbath day in all our journeyings. We held our meetings and offered up our thanksgiving and prayers and sacraments before the Lord; and President Young for the first time was able to get out of his wagon and sit in his rocking chair, and requested that we organize ourselves into exploring parties on the morning following.” Erastus Snow

Sing Brigham Young, the Western Pioneer (This is the Place)

12. “Here is the place God has appointed for his people. We have been kicked out of the frying pan in to the fire, out of the fire into the middle of the floor, and here we are and here we will stay. God has shown me that this is the spot to locate his people, and here is where they will prosper; he will temper the elements for the good of the Saints; he will rebuke the frost and the sterility of the soil, and the land shall become fruitful. We will extend our settlements to the east and west, to the north and to the south, and we will build towns and cities by the hundreds, and thousands of Saints will gather in from the nations of the earth. This will become the great highway of the nations.  …It is our duty to preach the Gospel, gather Israel, pay our tithing, and build temples.”   Brigham Young

13. “I absolutely marvel at Brigham Young, at his courage, his vision to lead thousands upon thousands of people into an uncharted wilderness.  It is a miracle to me.” Gordon B. Hinckley

Narrator:  The Jaredites carried bees with them named Deseret. The early Saints adopted this symbol of the busy hive, and called our new land Deseret. Eat this honey to taste the sweetness of Deseret.

Sing We Hail the Glorious Twenty-Fourth, by ancestor Isaac Sorensen

Child with horse: This is to remember our ancestor William West Woodland, who lassoed his future wife riding on a horse. He was a scout for Brigham Young and the Lord protected him one night by sending a light to guide him away from an Indian camp.

Child with ring: This is to remember our ancestor Elizabeth Scarborough, whose husband left her and the children when she joined the church. When she sailed from England, she threw her wedding ring into the ocean and came to Zion.

Child with coin: This is to remember our ancestor Thomas Grover, who gave Joseph Smith $500 to help build the Kirtland Temple. Joseph Smith promised him that his descendants would never forget him.

Child with chair: This is to remember our ancestor, John Cottam, who was a woodworker and carved chairs and banisters in the Salt Lake Temple.

14. “There should be no doubt what our task is today.  If we truly cherish the heritage we have received, we should maintain the same virtues and the same character of our stalwart forebears: faith in God, courage, industry, frugality, self-reliance and integrity.  e have the obligation to maintain what those who pledged their lives, their fortunes, and sacred honor gave to future generations.” Ezra Taft Benson

Sing For the Strength of the Hills, Hymns 35 and True to the Faith, Hymns 254

Discuss true meaning of Passover, Christ's Atonement, how we are all led to the promised land if we accept the Lamb and keep the faith.