A short piece on Thanksgiving...

[rasputin1952]

Thanksgiving Day (U.S.) began in the early 1600s when our forefathers in Massachusetts and Virginia feasted in heartfelt gratitude for survival, but most of the Thanksgivings in early U.S. history were to celebrate victories in battle.

The Continental Congress proclaimed the first national day of Thanksgiving on December 18, 1777, to celebrate the defeat of the British at Saratoga. These national observances were patriotic occasions, quite separate from the local harvest festivals.

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November as a day of thanksgiving and praise to God, combining patriotism, harvesttime celebrations, and religious observance.

It was not until 1941 that Thanksgiving Day was fixed on the fourth Thursday in November.

Thanks for Helping
This Thanksgiving, hone the habit of accepting help.

When dinner guests offer to bring a dish to contribute to the Thanksgiving feast, say, “Certainly!”

When the greatest gardener in your group offers to create the floral centerpiece, say, “Wonderful!” Let the youngest artist among you handle the place cards.

If you are not the host or hostess, be sure that you insist on helping in some way. Offer to take the holiday linens to the cleaners for a real, professional job.

Share the leftovers, so that everyone will be able to enjoy a next-day turkey sandwich!

http://www.almanac.com/calendar/date/2009-11-26?utm_source=Almanac+Companion&utm_campaign=7c743b9dda-Companion_November_24_2009&utm_medium=email



Some other interesting facts and suppositions have emerged over the years...

Most likely, the first Thanksgiving Feast consisted of mainly seafood, not the turkey we think of today. The fare was basically bland and mundane as spices and herbs were in short supply, if they existed at all. However, shellfish was plentiful, and one need only walk into a bay to retrieve lobster, scallops, crabs, clams, oysters etc. They were simply picked up off the bottom of the shallows. Many documents state that seafood was so plentiful, whole lobsters and cod were used as fertilizer for crops, (the waste was apparently incredible!)

The Native Americans of the area brought in stored vegetables, legumes and grains to enhance the meal and teach the Pilgrims the basics of farming in a new world. Essentially, the Pilgrims were a somewhat sorry lot, that had little knowledge of the area and what could be produced from the land. The area was rocky and the while the soil was rich, it was quickly depleted until the locals taught them about crop rotation and other viable conservation/agricultural practices.

Game was plentiful, and it can be construed that several types of meat were at the table, to include venison, rabbit, squirrel, raccoon and a host of other game.

Almost assuredly, the Pilgrims were not dressed as we see them in art. They may have disembarked looking as we are used to seeing them, but many historians believe they would have, by this time been wearing buckskins, moccasins and various caps made from animal pelts. It is highly unlikely that buckled shoes and wool clothing would have made it very far in the rough and tumble new world. Cloth was far too valuable to be used haphazardly during the early years of colonization, and supplies from Europe were scarce. In order to survive, the Pilgrims would have had to adapt quickly to the many of the ways of the locals.

All things considered, over time, new aspects were introduced and accepted or rejected according to local tastes. During the period directly following WII, Thanksgiving became what we associate it with today...some of the more obvious adaptations are attributed to Norman Rockwells' famous painting, "Freedom From Want" (1943)...



Some of the covers for the Saturday Evening Post went into the way we think of Thanksgiving today as well...



more images here:

http://www.curtispublishing.com/gallery/categories/thanksgiving.htm


I found this one amusing though...

[bdamomma]

1. thanks for the history.

[rasputin1952]

2. l aways find digging a little deeper makes things more interesting...

than what is commonly pushed as the "truth"

When I was a kid, the "Pilgrims" were seen as a persecuted sect trying desperately to get away from said persecution. Later, I found out when they got here, they became the persecutors of others. Hypocrisy has a long lineage...;)