By May Hutner, For Iron County Today
Thanksgiving is as lively as American life and the history of this holiday is a great part of America.
Thanksgiving is America’s oldest and most loved holiday, but there is a lot we don’t know. The celebrated Plymouth Thanksgiving was not the first. The Pilgrims’ harvest feast was plentiful, as the legend tells us. The first Thanksgiving was probably offered at the 1621 harvest gathering, lasting over three days. The first recorded Thanksgiving Day in Plymouth happened two years later, in 1623. The colonists gave thanks to God for rain after a two-month drought.
At least 100 people came to dinner. The Native people wanted to eat while sitting on the ground as they did in their homes. The English people wanted to eat while sitting at the table, as they did in theirs. Records say they ate wild turkey, venison, geese, and other fowl. Early history tells us the Pilgrims ate turkey at their first feast because of the abundance of edible wild turkeys in New England. They also ate blueberries, raspberries, gooseberries, and plums, which were commonly eaten at that time.
As Thanksgiving Day became popular during the 1800s, so did the turkey. By 1857, turkey had become the main part of the traditional dinner in New England.
On October 3, 1863, during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving. This year it will be celebrated on Thursday, November 27. The exact date always changes because Lincoln declared the last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day, a time to give thanks for family, friends, food, and health.
Today in the United States, Thanksgiving is really about family and friends eating a large meal, which almost always includes turkey. It’s a day spent with loved ones to give thanks for the things we feel fortunate to have in our lives.
Thanksgiving is a time of year for good food, good people, and being grateful for everything in life. The weather gets colder, but this time of year really warms your heart, as it should. It’s a time of great food, great traditions, and giving back to both loved ones and those you don’t even know. What’s not to love about that? Everyone has their own traditions. Everyone celebrates “Turkey Day” a little differently. It’s a great time to bring everyone together and share gratitude for the things we value most.
We all have much to be thankful for. Be thankful for the people who help you get through each day. Notice the good things, look carefully at them, and appreciate them. Appreciate good friends and neighbors. It’s a whole day to be thankful. Sometimes we just need a reminder of how lucky we are.
Thanksgiving get-togethers are a bit different for us now. Many of us are looking forward to, and thankful for, celebrating in person. But with the wonders of technology, families can set up video chats with everyone they’re missing during the holiday.