Thanksgiving--Most Traditional Holiday?

[Beau Geste (imported)]

I was just thinking a couple days ago about how, years ago, Halloween was just a night when kids put on costumes and went around collecting candy, and Thanksgiving was considered the most important fall holiday. Now, of course, Halloween has become commercialized, and I have read that, in terms of sales of products connected with the holiday, Halloween is now number two behind Christmas in terms of holiday commerce.

But Thanksgiving still seems to be pretty much the way it always was. Of course, Thanksgiving was originally a holiday associated with religion, and, for those of us who don't adhere to a religion, I'm not sure who or what we'd be considered to be giving thanks to. But I guess we can just generally think about how fortunate we are to be alive, to have friends and relatives we get along with, and to have what material possessions and assurances of future security we've been able to acquire.

Thanksgiving now seems sometimes to be just a kind of afterthought, a few days vacation from work or school, that comes between the big holidays of Halloween and Christmas, and just before the beginning of winter. But, even though it may have been somewhat deemphasized, there still seems to be a good, secure feeling to Thanksgiving. For a lot of people, I think it represents continuity and some sense of fulfillment. The old Norman Rockwell painting of a family at Thanksgiving dinner might be considered to be representative of the old idea of what America had to offer to people--small town virtues, family values, modest prosperity. Those of us who grew up in an atmosphere something like that, in small towns or in the country, can look back at the Thanksgivings of our youth with memories of a good, ample meal with relatives and sometimes with friends, after which we could go out on the porch and look out over a peaceful pastoral scene, and watch the shadows lengthen into evening. Thanksgiving dinner was almost always the same as in previous years, the same people were at the table, it was about continuity and contentment.

Of course, time goes on, we move away from the scenes of our youth, and a lot of the tradition in Thanksgiving is, now, perhaps more simulated than real. I guess a lot of people even deep fry the turkey nowadays. And it's been a while since I ate Thanksgiving dinner anywhere near a pastoral setting. But the holiday still represents, to a lot of us, the image of what this country was supposed to be, and what we thought it was. Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks.

[Riverwind (imported)]

Yep, I remember Thanksgiving was always at my Aunt Sue's it was in of all places Orange County, the only Democrat there was my Uncle Quince. I did not understand the significance of that at the time but today I understand how uncomfortable he was.

You are so right, each and every year the meal was the same from the way the turkey was cooked, the ham, dressing, vegi's. Then there was the pies, love them pies.

When I was married, thanksgiving dinner was cooked for the most part by me, again it was the same every year, right down to the pies.

Today, its for the most part the same only with friends, right down to the pies.

So here is hoping that you all will have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day as well.

River

[Paolo]

What few good holiday memories I have begin with Thanksgiving.

Halloween always scared me silly when I was a kid.

[MacTheWolf (imported)]

Due to my "galloping senility" I've forgotten something about the first Thanksgiving. Was that held before the Pilgrims or Puritans began stealing from or killing the local Indians or was it after that?

Last few years, I've purchased a Thanksgiving dinner from the local grocery store chain. $30 for a big bird, mashed taters, dressing, cranberry sauce, and a pumpkin pie. Enough for us and several days of leftovers.

[Riverwind (imported)]

The first American Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621, to commemorate the harvest reaped by the Plymouth Colony (http://www.infoplease.com/id/CE041374) after a harsh winter. In that year Governor William Bradford (http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/CE007200) proclaimed a day of thanksgiving. The colonists celebrated it as a traditional English harvest feast, to which they invited the local Wampanoag (http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/CE054848) Indians.

Days of thanksgiving were celebrated throughout the colonies after fall harvests. All thirteen colonies did not, however, celebrate Thanksgiving at the same time until October 1777. George Washington (http://www.infoplease.com/id/A0760587) was the first president to declare the holiday, in 1789.

A New National Holiday

By the mid–1800s, many states observed a Thanksgiving holiday. Meanwhile, the poet and editor Sarah J. Hale had begun lobbying for a national Thanksgiving holiday. During the Civil War (http://www.infoplease.com/id/CE011273.html), President Abraham Lincoln (http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0760601), looking for ways to unite the nation, discussed the subject with Hale. In 1863 he gave his Thanksgiving Proclamation (http://www.infoplease.com/spot/tgproclamation.html), declaring the last Thursday in November a day of thanksgiving.

In 1939, 1940, and 1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt, (http://www.infoplease.com/id/A0760616) seeking to lengthen the Christmas shopping season, proclaimed Thanksgiving the third Thursday in November. Controversy followed, and Congress passed a joint resolution in 1941 decreeing that Thanksgiving should fall on the fourth Thursday of November, where it remains.

Truly Thanksgiving is our oldest holiday.

River

[balletkyle (imported)]

<<

But I guess we can just generally think about how fortunate we are to be alive, to have friends and relatives we get along with

>>

that sentance makes me chuckle! I get along well with my friends, i just put up with my relatives!

[devi (imported)]

The nicest thanksgiving that I remember was at a hot springs in the New Mexico mountains under the ponderosa pines and the falling snow. When it snows at the hot springs it is the greatest thing on earth and so why should we want to leave? --Especially since we would have to drive in it to the particular locations we were heading to. So we all pitched in and put together a meal underneath an overhanging rock with a tarp to shield the fire from being seen. My best friend sacrificed his Hawaiian punch (normally for mixing hurricanes) for the kids since there were a few. But the wine tasted great after the meal. But no thanksgiving turkey. Better yet we had marinated chicken and beef fajitas and all kinds of other good stuff and relaxed in the hot water letting the snowflakes come down.

[Blaise (imported)]

I am thinking about alternative ways to prepare traditional fare. I have copied and reviewed some recipes for various foods such as sweet potatoes, turkey, cranberries, dressings, and other foods. I am not posting the recipes because they are not my creations.

Pumpkin or sweet potato soups sound good. There are some recipes from leading publications. I love carrot soufflé. I like cranberry relish with Satsuma oranges and maybe coconut. I like oyster/cornbread dressing. I wonder about using Catawba or fruit wines on holidays. What coffees are good for the holiday? I am playing with various kinds of turkey salad.

Excessive sweetness seems to be an issue in my fantasy food world, but I think that I can control that.

Fantasy Thanksgiving Menu:

Pumpkin or sweet potato soup with celery leaves

Oyster/cranberry/cornbread dressing

Turkey breast, romaine lettuce, sage, pecans, and homemade mayonnaise (made with olive oil and lemon juice)

Roast pork tenderloin with pecan sauce

Asparagus sautéed with olive oil and garlic

Cranberry and Satsuma orange relish with coconut milk (peel of oranges included)

Carrot soufflé

Spinich in light butter sauce

Southerner biscuits with raspberry jam and clotted cheese

Catawba wines and iced tea with mint, lemon, or lime

Costa Rican coffee served with the option of hot cream flecked with vanilla bean shavings

Brandied pears served with Washington State pear wine.

After lunch snack: Fruit cake with clotted cheese and coffee.

The Piccadilly Cafeteria chain offers

[Blaise (imported)]

The nicest thanksgiving that I remember was at a hot springs in the New Mexico mountains under the ponderosa pines and the falling snow. When it snows at the hot springs it is the greatest thing on earth and so why should we want to leave? --Especially since we would have to drive in it to the particular locations we were heading to. So we all pitched in and put together a meal underneath an overhanging rock with a tarp to shield the fire from being seen. My best friend sacrificed his Hawaiian punch (normally for mixing hurricanes) for the kids since there were a few. But the wine tasted great after the meal. But no thanksgiving turkey. Better yet we had marinated chicken and beef fajitas and all kinds of other good stuff and relaxed in the hot water letting the snowflakes come down.

What great images! Thanks.

[Blaise (imported)]

The Piccadilly Cafeteria offers a turkey and a ham holiday package for $54.95 each. The turkey meal is a whole baked 10-12 pound turkey with 2 quarts of cornbread dressing, 1-quart giblet gravy, 1-pint cranberry sauce, a dozen rolls, and a choice of pecan or pumpkin pie. The ham meal is a 6-8 pound honey baked spiral sliced ham with a choice of two side items: These are 2-quarts of candied yams, green beans, cornbread dressing, or broccoli-rice casserole. There are the two choices of pie. Either of these would feed several people. In addition, one can buy carrot soufflé, apple dumplings, peach cobbler, or blackberry cobbler in family serving packages.