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Thanksgiving is a holiday celebrated with parades, turkeys and a whole lot of pumpkin pie. Sometimes, we’re so excited for the celebration that we forget why we’re actually celebrating.
Everyone knows the story of the pilgrims who were escaping from England because of religious persecution. After a 65-day journey, the Mayflower landed on what we now call Plymouth Harbor, Mass. There, they met with a local tribe of the Wampanoag people, who had lived there for some 10,000 years before the Europeans arrived. These Native Americans taught the pilgrims how to grow corn, catch fish and hunt beaver, and because of this the pilgrims were able to survive their first winter in the New World.
The first Thanksgiving was a celebration of the pilgrims’ first harvest, which took place in the fall of 1621. The festival lasted for three days, during which time both Pilgrims and Indians feasted, played games and ran races. Although we can’t be sure of what they ate exactly, a few items on the menu were lobster, fish, berries, boiled pumpkin and venison. The pilgrims’ supply of sugar and flour had dwindled over the winter, so it’s unlikely that they had any pastries, such as today’s staple of pumpkin pie. During this feast the pilgrims gave thanks to God and the Indians for their prosperity.
Thanksgiving was not originally an annual event, but more of a celebration whenever good fortune occurred. In fact, it was not until two years later that the pilgrims celebrated again, and it took almost 200 years for Thanksgiving to even be documented as a national holiday.
In 1827, Sarah Josepha Hale, magazine editor and author of the popular nursery rhyme “Mary had a Little Lamb,” started a campaign to have Thanksgiving recognized as a national holiday. It was Abraham Lincoln who finally acknowledged her requests, asking the people to call upon God to “heal the wounds of the nation” during the Civil War. Lincoln scheduled Thanksgiving to be celebrated every year on the fourth Thursday of November.
Although Thanksgiving has lost some of its original religious significance, the idea of showing gratitude for what one has is still mostly intact.
So no matter how you celebrate this year, whether it’s with a parade or a home cooked meal, remember that Thanksgiving is a day to recognize what you’re thankful for and to take nothing for granted.
