Thanksgiving is the beginning of the end of the year. The weeks following go by in a flash. Most of us are busy planning something – meals, travel, work and school schedules, online and in-store sales for Christmas and all the other hustle-bustle, nonstop activity that goes into the season. Whew!
I thought it would be fun to explore how this tradition got started and do a little digging around about the facts, fiction and other interesting tidbits that readers may or may not know about the day we pause to give thanks.
The First Thanksgivings
- The first recorded Thanksgiving was in September 1565 in what is now St. Augustine, Florida, when 600 Spanish soldiers and settlers thanked God for their safe journey. Their leader ordered a celebration which was the first recorded Catholic Mass in the United States.
- December 4, 1691 is believed to be the next Thanksgiving when a group of English settlers arrived on the shores of the James River which is now Charles City of Virginia. No feast, only a day of giving thanks to God.
- November 1621, the Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians had a three-day feast in their newly-established village of Plymouth, Massachusetts, to celebrate the harvest and their safe journey from Plymouth, England the year before.
- In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln “officially aside” and proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving.
- In 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the Thanksgiving holiday up a week to help retailers during the Great Depression, then in 1941 moved it back to the 4th Thursday in November.
Fiction vs. Fact and Other Tidbits on Thanksgiving
- Sarah Josepha Hale was an author and editor of Boston Ladies Magazine. She wrote several editorials and a book touting the importance of this special day and, after 40 years of writing those editorials and countless letters to governors and presidents, she got her wish. President Lincoln finally listened.
- The holiday wasn’t about family gatherings and feasts, but more about giving thanks for a harvest and blending cultures.
- It is believed that venison and some kind of fowl was the main meat staple, not roasted turkey for the Pilgrim/Indian Thanksgiving.
- The Pilgrims didn’t land on Plymouth Rock from England. They dropped anchor near the tip of Cape Cod, at Provincetown.
- The Pilgrims did not deck themselves out in black clothing, white hats and buckled shoes. History records state that they wore black only on Sundays; most of the time they dressed in whatever clothing and color they had. Historians believe that buckles represented “quaintness,” so illustrators drew those cute little shoes on pictures of pilgrims, Santa and other iconic figures.
- Minnesota is the top turkey-producing state in the U.S. and the average weight of turkey purchased for Thanksgiving is 15 pounds.
- Top cranberry production in the U.S. goes to Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington.
- According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest pumpkin pie ever baked was a 12-foot long, 2,020-pound pastry baked by New Bremen Giant Pumpkin Growers in 2005 in Ohio.
- The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in New York City was in 1924.
- Canada celebrates Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October and Liberia celebrates a day of thanks on November 1st.
Sources:
Times Bulletin. "The First Thanksgiving Celebration in America Was When?" (accessed November 17, 2010).
Walch, Timothy. "History News Network. Thanksgiving Day Myths." History.com (accessed November 17, 2010).
Wilstar.com. "The Thanksgiving Story – History of Thanksgiving" (accessed November 17, 2010).
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