Sunday, November 23, 2008

What's Everyone Doing for Thanksgiving? And, About Thanksgiving

What are you folks out there who read this, doing for the Thanksgiving holiday? I'm curious, to see who does what, or if very many people have the big holiday get togethers anymore. I bet they still go on out there.

As for me, I don't have any plans. Not yet anyway.

About Thanksgiving:

From Wikipedia
:

Thanksgiving
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For other uses, see Thanksgiving (disambiguation).

Thanksgiving Day
Observed by Canada, United States
Type National
Date Second Monday in October (Canada);
Fourth Thursday in November (U.S.)
2008 date October 13, 2008 (Canada);
November 27, 2008 (U.S.)
2009 date October 12, 2009 (Canada);
November 26, 2009 (U.S.)
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a traditional North American holiday, which is a form of harvest festival. The date and whereabouts of the first Thanksgiving celebration is a topic of modest contention, though the earliest attested Thanksgiving celebration was on September 8, 1565 in what is now Saint Augustine, Florida.[1] Despite scholarly research to the contrary, the traditional "first Thanksgiving" is venerated as having occurred at the site of Plymouth Plantation, in 1621.

Today, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. Thanksgiving dinner is done in the evening, usually as a gathering of friends and/or family.

And this, on Thanksgiving's origins, from Archiving Early America:

The First Thanksgiving Observance
A Proclamation Signed in Script Type by George Washington
Appearing in The Massachusetts Centinel of October 14, 1789
Abstract

This historic proclamation was issued by George Washington during his first year as President. It sets aside Thursday, November 26 as "A Day of Publick Thanksgiving and Prayer."

Signed by Washington on October 3, 1789 and entitled "General Thanksgiving," the decree appointed the day "to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God."

While there were Thanksgiving observances in America both before and after Washington's proclamation, this represents the first to be so designated by the new national government.

After their first harvest, the colonists of the Plymouth Plantation held a celebration of food and feasting in the fall of 1621. Indian chiefs Massassoit, Squanto and Samoset joined in the celebration with ninety of their men in the three-day event.

The first recorded Thanksgiving observance was held on June 29, 1671 at Charlestown, Massachusetts by proclamation of the town's governing council.

During the 1700s, it was common practice for individual colonies to observe days of thanksgiving throughout each year. A Thanksgiving Day two hundred years ago was a day set aside for prayer and fasting, not a day marked by plentiful food and drink as is today's custom. Later in the 18th century each of the states periodically would designate a day of thanksgiving in honor of a military victory, an adoption of a state constitution or an exceptionally bountiful crop.

Such a Thanksgiving Day celebration celebration was held in December of 1777 by the colonies nationwide, commemorating the surrender of British General Burgoyne at Saratoga.

Later, on October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for the observance of the fourth Tuesday of November as a national holiday.

In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday to the third Thursday of November (to extend the Christmas shopping season and boost the economy). After a storm of protest, Roosevelt changed the holiday again in 1941 to the fourth Thursday in November, where it stands today.


The first recorded European Thanksgiving in America may or may not have been at Plymouth, and it is acknowledged native Americans held many such gatherings of thanks for a bountiful harvest prior to European colonization of America and the conquest of Native populations. But, the first Plymouth thanksgiving, may have included and not included the following menu items, from History.com:

The Pilgrims' Menu:

Foods That May Have Been on the Menu:

Seafood: Cod, Eel, Clams, Lobster

Wild Fowl: Wild Turkey, Goose, Duck, Crane, Swan, Partridge, Eagles

Meat: Venison, Seal

Grain: Wheat Flour, Indian Corn

Vegetables: Pumpkin, Peas, Beans, Onions, Lettuce, Radishes, Carrots

Fruit: Plums, Grapes

Nuts: Walnuts, Chestnuts, Acorns

Herbs and Seasonings: Olive Oil, Liverwort, Leeks, Dried Currants, Parsnips

What Was Not on the Menu:

Surprisingly, the following foods, all considered staples of the modern Thanksgiving meal, didn't appear on the pilgrims's first feast table:

Ham: There is no evidence that the colonists had butchered a pig by this time, though they had brought pigs with them from England.

Sweet Potatoes/Potatoes: These were not common.

Corn on the Cob: Corn was kept dried out at this time of year.

Cranberry Sauce: The colonists had cranberries but no sugar at this time.

Pumpkin Pie: It's not a recipe that exists at this point, though the pilgrims had recipes for stewed pumpkin.

Chicken/Eggs: We know that the colonists brought hens with them from England, but it's unknown how many they had left at this point or whether the hens were still laying.

Milk: No cows had been aboard the Mayflower, though it's possible that the colonists used goat milk to make cheese.
Source: Kathleen Curtin, Food Historian at Plimoth Plantation.

8 comments:

  1. well..usually we don't do much but my aunt and uncle are in woodland hills this year so we'll get to go up there and see them. it's ok but sometimes i'd rather not drive the hour + each way and stay home with the cats and watch tv (which we usually do when they're in seattle)

    i've been voting!

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  2. Well, having been born and raised in Plymouth, Massachusetts, now that I no longer live there, I avoid Thanksgiving like the plague. I want NOTHING to do with it.

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  3. I'm just going to stay home and catch up on a bazillion things!

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  4. the hubby is off work for two days - yahoo, a four day weekend - so we always do a big thanksgiving dinner and invite over whoever has no where to go....this started years ago when I met two homeless guys and it turned out one was an old childhood friend! He has since passed away from kidney failure, but his friend, the other guy, now has v.a. non service related disability, an apartment and roommate, and a scooter to get around on. and a haircut. what a difference.
    I love to cook - can't help it - so we have an eighteen pound turkey here, i'll make stuffing, gravy, potatoes, rolls, some veggie - pumpkin pie and chocolate chip cookies....and eat turkey sandwhiches all weekend while me and the family watch a zillion dvd movies.....
    and i'll email you, of course....

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  5. Well Diane, growing up in Plymouth I bet you got your fill of Thanksgiving at a young age.

    HB, have fun at your aunts'. I bet a lot of folks would prefer just to relax, catch up on sleep, watch TV on any holiday!

    So Whitesocks, I understand why you're doing that!

    And Jeanne, your plans sound unbelievable, the food you are preparing, as described in your e-mail, the watching DVD's, sitting around with family, inviting in that guy, sounds really very meaningful.

    I have not heard from either brother, as expected I guess, so I guess Thanksgiving will just be another day around here. That's the usual for me. Once I went to a dinner put on by volunteers for anyone without a place to go, at a restaurant in Corvallis. Anyone who came in alone, they sat with someone else. I was seated with some man who was about the most depressing kperson one could imagine sitting across to on a holiday. He went on and on about his problems, mouth never stopped yapping. It was such a downer, I finally asked for a container, put the food in the container (and the food was gourmet good!) and ate it in my car, which was far more pleasant.

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  6. I'll be giving thanks that Sarah Palin is not going to be VP of our country. I'll probably get my girls some good grain free wet kitteh food for them to eat while the family has dinner.

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  7. one thing i forgot to add - I will be thinking of my Ginger, and how much my baby loved turkey....and that last year was his last thanksgiving and Christmas...
    Have you thought about calling either brother>? I know you don't like to be a bother, or butt in, but maybe they are unaware that you will be alone (except for the cats, of course..) Is there no where else around you that is offering dinner for those in need? Where I live, almost all the city churchs and such are offering thanksgiving meals to the homeless, elderly, lonely, etc. at no cost.

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  8. I'm not into going to the homeless folks church dinners. Why, because in Corvallis, I lived near to where that dinner was held. I went and I got followed home, and harrassed for days, by a homeless man who wanted not only to have sex but to move in. I finally had to call the police. I just lived in a shoddy duplex, but had lived homeless along the river for awhile, where he had seen me. He knew I had a kind heart because I cared for the river cats, and he was out to exploit my kind heart and low self-esteem. It was scarey actually. I don't like calling the cops on people, or threatening them, but I will certainly do so to protect myself.

    So anyhow, I have steered clear of such places ever since then, due to that experience and a few others. Made me gun shy I suppose. Just as meaningful to be alone, is what I'm saying, as to have dinner with strangers. And oft times safer, too.

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