Native Utahns know that the week of July 24th means Pioneer fun! That's because July 24, 1847 is the day that our pioneer ancestors first entered the Salt Lake Valley and declared that 'this was the place' they would settle. Fleeing from religious persecution they made their way across miles and miles of treacherous desert, enduring incredible hardships, but all the while forging ahead with faith and fortitude. Utahns, as well as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, look forward to this time each year when we can honor our pioneers by remembering their courage, their struggles and sacrifices, and above all, their faith. As a result, July 24th is a full-blown state holiday in Utah, complete with the annual "Days of '47" parade, professional rodeos and many other festivities.
No matter where you live and no matter what your religious beliefs are though, we all have pioneers who came before us in one way or another. So find ways to celebrate them by learning about your own personal histories, taking field trips, reading books, visiting museums, or preparing recipes and playing games common to your ancestors' time period.
. . .
Members of the LDS faith know that Brigham Young, the prophet and president of our Church at the time, led the Mormon pioneers west on their journey to the Salt Lake Valley. As kids, each Pioneer Day we would sing the song "Brother Brigham Says" by Nonie Sorenson, a clever song about some of the wise counsel that Brigham Young gave the saints while crossing the plains. Overtime, the title to this song became our nickname for this week's unit.
Here are my family's annual traditions for our pioneer week, or as we like to call it "Brother Brigham Says":
{Please note that a lot of these activities are specific to Salt Lake City, Utah, where I grew up. For those outside of Utah, I hope it will at least inspire some pioneer fun of your own, or at the very least give you some awesome suggestions of things to do if you ever visit Salt Lake!}
Visit Brigham Young Historic Park
Take a Tour of the "Beehive House"
(Brigham Young's Home)
Visit Brigham Young Cemetery
Just East of Temple Square in Salt Lake City is a tiny cemetery nestled between modern sky-rise apartments. A quiet place for pondering, this beautiful little memorial park is where Brigham Young and some other notable pioneers are buried, including Brigham Young's wife MaryAnn Angel.
Just East of Temple Square in Salt Lake City is a tiny cemetery nestled between modern sky-rise apartments. A quiet place for pondering, this beautiful little memorial park is where Brigham Young and some other notable pioneers are buried, including Brigham Young's wife MaryAnn Angel.
Eat Lunch at the Lion House Pantry
Once part of Brigham Young's personal residence, this home-turned-restaurant has some of the most delicious homemade goodness.
Their rolls are THE best!
Have Gingerbread at This is the Place Monument
The Sunday before Pioneer Day, my family's tradition is always to go up to "This is the Place Monument" (dedicated to the site where the Pioneers first saw the valley and Brigham Young declared it to be the place where they would settle). We take a pan of freshly baked gingerbread to eat with homemade whipped cream and sliced bananas while we sit and talk about our pioneer ancestors.
at Allrecipes.com
Visit The Daughters of the Utah Pioneer Museum
Located next to Utah's State Capital Building, this museum houses an enormous amount of pioneer artifacts including Brigham Young's covered wagon. We even found some items that belonged to our very own ancestors!
Be a Pioneer at This is the Place Heritage Park
Laid out to look and feel like a real pioneer village in the 1850's this Heritage Park is complete with log cabins, victorian homes, a school house, a mercantile store, a barbershop and a bank. In fact, there are over 50 historic buildings to visit and activities for every age level. Some of our favorites include attending "school" where a headmistress teaches you the Deseret Alphabet, petting animals in the barnyard, riding the train, panning for gold, carding sheep's wool, hand-washing laundry with a washboard and lye soap, and playing pioneer games! Don't forget to get an ice-cold Sarsparilla (pioneer soda) and some horehounds and lemon drops (pioneer candy) at the mercantile store!
And be sure to wear your pioneer bonnets!
. . .
I was excited to find that my current hometown has a pioneer village of its own: The Pioneer Living History Village! My son and I invited some of his good buddies and their moms to join us on a visit! Thanks to all who came!
Make Pioneer Crafts and Tasty Treats
Over the years we have done a lot of pioneer crafts and activities during our "Brother Brigham Says" unit: churning our own homemade butter, dipping candles, making yarn and corn husk dolls, soap carving, and braiding rag rugs, etc. And one year we even hand-sewed miniature quilts for our dolls! Thankfully I found a few blogs that already have instructions on how to do most of these activities (whew! that saved me some time!) See the links below.
at the CraftyCrow.net
at Wikihow.com
How to Make
at VeronicaArmstrong.com
Kid-Friendly
at Jamiecooksitup.net
Sing Pioneer Songs
Go Bring Them In From the Plains, arr. Sam Cardon
Come, Come Ye Saints, LDS Hymnbook
Brother Brigham Says, Nonie Sorenson
The Handcart Song, LDS Children's Songbook
Pioneer Children Sang as they Walked, LDS Children's Songbook
To Be a Pioneer, LDS Children's Songbook
Read Pioneer Books
For older children:
One of our very favorite pioneer books is
Betsy Buttons by Erla Young. It tells the true story of Liza Jane, a young pioneer girl and her doll Betsy Buttons, who both came across the plains with the Mormon pioneers. For many years, Erla hand sewed beautiful Betsy Buttons dolls after the same pattern used by Liza Jane's mother. My mom was able to collect over the years a Betsy Buttons doll for each of her daughters.
Have a Campfire Dinner
Growing up we would always go to a real chuckwagon dinner at a restaurant called WagonMaster where you could actually sit in a covered wagon to eat your pioneer grub. Sadly, this restaurant closed years ago. Dutch oven or tinfoil dinners made over a campfire are a perfect alternative though. My family has enjoyed both of these options many times over the years thanks to my dad who loved taking us camping and was a pro at dutch oven cooking! Still makes my mouth water thinking about his peach cobbler.
at OutsideMom.com
at Highheelsandgrills.blogspot.com
Watch Pioneer Videos
The three we recommend are:
Legacy: A Mormon Journey
available on DVD at the LDS Distribution Center
17 Miracles
A major motion picture available wherever DVDs are sold
A Pioneer Miracle
A powerful, moving short film available from Deseret book as a double-feature DVD.
Read and Learn about your
Own Pioneer Ancestry!
Of all the activities we do for this unit, the most important and the most impactful is our discussion of our pioneer ancestors. My mom over the years has read to us stories, memoirs, even original journal entries. And not just from our own ancestral line. There are SO many AMAZING pioneer stories of faith, courage, and miracles. If you are members of the LDS faith, no doubt you have heard many of these stories throughout your life. These stories and lessons are beautiful and moving reminders of what it means to sacrifice, to endure, and to have real faith. And they can serve to strengthen us in our own times of trial as we cross the "wilderness" of life.
Here are just a few suggestions:
(The well known story of a man who defends
the Willie Martin Handcart company)
Sleep out for the "Days of '47" Parade
I've actually had the opportunity to ride on a float in this parade twice as a child. But other years, my family has enjoyed joining thousands of others in sleeping out downtown on the parade route so we'll have front row seats for the big parade! In the words of John Denver "we don't get a lot of sleep but we have a lot of fun!"
These pictures make me smile :)
I am so thankful for my own pioneer ancestors. For Pleasant Drake who never made it to the Salt Lake Valley because she died in Council Bluffs, Iowa, crying out for vegetables. For Benjamin Cazier who wrote in his diary about broken wagons, muddy rivers, dusty trails, and miles and miles and miles of walking. For Walter Wickam who came across the plains as an 11 year-old boy without his parents and who suffered from Mountain Fever the entire way. For his sister Rose who came with him and recorded in her diary that "every morning the Captain would ask if he was dead yet." She spoke of rationed food, starving cattle, and wading through snow up to their knees. "We saw great hardships," she wrote.
And for the many, many other pioneers who experienced sacrifices such as this. For the mothers who buried their babies in unmarked graves, for the children who lost their parents along the way, for the limbs that were amputated due to frost bite, for the bellies that experienced unimaginable hunger, for the blistered, shoeless feet that kept walking mile after mile, and most of all for the example these pioneers are of steadfast and unfaltering faith.
"Come, Come Ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear, but with joy wend your way. Though hard to you, this journey may appear, grace shall be as your day . . . Gird up your loins; fresh courage take. Our God will never us forsake. And soon we'll have this tale to tell-- All is well! All is well."
Happy Pioneer Week!
