The Beagle Log, 22 November 2007 - Thanksgiving

Subject: The Beagle Log, 22 November 2007 - Thanksgiving Thu 22 Nov 2007 - 1:38

Happy Turkey Day!!

In the United States, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November and is a four-day weekend for many. Thanksgiving meals are traditionally family events where certain kinds of food are served. First and foremost, turkey (so much so that Thanksgiving is sometimes facetiously referred to as "Turkey Day"). Stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, corn, turnips, and pumpkin pie are commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner. One’s waistline is in mortal danger.

The Plymouth settlers (the Pilgrims) held an autumn celebration of food, feasting, and praising God in 1621. The Governor of Plymouth invited Grand Sachem Massasoit and the Wampanoag people to join them in the feast. The settlers fed and entertained the Native Americans for three days, at which point some of the Native Americans went into the forest, killed five deer, and gave them to the Governor as a gift.

Folks in Virginia claim that the 1^st thanksgiving was at Berkeley Plantation in 1619. This location was later abandoned due to conflicts with the local Indians. As a transplant from New England, I maintain the true thanksgiving dates from the Plymouth settlers.

The first Thanksgiving in North America goes back to an English explorer, Martin Frobisher, who had been attempting to find a northern passage. He did, however, establish a settlement in Canada. In the year 1578, Frobisher held a formal ceremony in what is now the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, to give thanks for surviving the long journey. This event is widely considered to be the first Canadian Thanksgiving, and the first Thanksgiving celebrated by Europeans in North America.

In the larger view, thanksgiving evolved from harvest festivals.
How do you celebrate?

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Don

Hi Don,

Thank you for that, oooh really hungry now after reading about the Turkey celebrations!! Going out soon, so will call back here tonight and read again -
its interesting!! Very Happy

More celebration greetings on our Anniversaries board.......
22nd Nov Wishing all American Cousins a mighty fine day>>

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Carole, Smith Project/Smith Chat Admin
Nothing is too small to know, and nothing too big to attempt (William Van Horne)