I shall be away all next week. A vacation of sorts. Will not be writing the blog for the week. Ergo, I am writing about Thanksgiving today. Enjoy!
One of America’s most beloved holidays dates back to 1621. Actually 1620 when a group of Protestants who had left England because of religious persecution landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
The water trip was difficult.
The year 1621 was a bit easier. A banner harvest Some time between September and November, the settlers celebrated with a feast that lasted 3 days. They enjoyed Indian food and that which they raised themselves and animals they killed.
Don’t know if the term “Thanksgiving” was used at the time. However the three days were a celebration of thanksgiving.
For several years following, it was not peaceful. The Indians and settlers fought battles.
More Indians than Pilgrims attended the first 1621 Thanksgiving event. The initial 100 colonists had been cut in half by the first harsh winter. Seventy eight percent of the women also died. Left on the first Thanksgiving were 22 men, 4 married women, and 25 plus children and teenagers. The men and children cooked the first meal for their own and guests like Indian King Massasoit and his 90 men.
The first Thanksgiving, at Plymouth landing, was a “one time” affair. It would not be till 1863 for a next formal one when President Abraham Lincoln declared the day a national holiday.
As Lincoln intended and as most of us today celebrate, Thanksgiving is a day when we celebrate our blessings.
In order to make Thanksgiving a national holiday, some had to “push” the idea. One was a woman named Sarah Josepha Hale. She lobbied Congress for years to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. She gets the “big credit.”
Quite possibly, Thanksgiving might never have been celebrated in November at all. Actually the first Thanksgiving in 1621 occurred in October. It was Lincoln who gave us the November holiday when he assigned it to the last Thursday in November. Possibly to coincide with the date the Pilgrims first landed the Mayflower in New England.
Some Thanksgiving features.
The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924 featured animals from the Central Park Zoo.
Thanksgiving leftovers led to the first ever TV dinner. The year 1953. The company the food corporation Swansons.
Swansons estimated there would be left over turkey meat equating 260 tons. Using 5,000 aluminum trays, they created the first TV dinner. Sold for 98 cents each. In the first year 10 million sold. They had to get more aluminum trays. The birth of the frozen meat industry!
Benjamin Franklin was very pro-turkey. So much so, he thought it should be designated the national bird. He was disappointed when the bald eagle was selected.
There was no turkey at the first Thanksgiving in 1621 in Plymouth. Instead, everyone feasted on lobster, seal and swans.
Pumpkin pie has been baked for a long, long time. However, it is not America’s favorite pie. Apple is. Pumpkin is number 2.
The “pardoning” of a turkey has been an annual White House tradition. But no one is quite sure who started it.
Thanksgiving Day football games began in the 1870s. Yale played Princeton in the first game.
Female turkeys don’t gobble. Only male turkeys gobble. Females purr and cackle.
Moving on.
President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address this day in 1863.
Wrong! Disgraceful! Trump defends Saudi Crown Prince over Khashoggi killing. Trump insults the American people by so doing. He fails to be a good American President by defending Mohammed bin Salman.
Klimt portrait sells for $236.4 million. A record for modern art.
Researchers have identified the names of five million victims murdered in the Holocaust. The study has been undergoing since the 1950s.
I close with Pope Leo XIV. Leo is a Cinephile who loves “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “The Sound of Music.”
Enjoy your day!