NOVEMBER 18, 2009 | THE MEREDITH HERALD • Educating Women to Excel | VOL XXVI • ISSUE XI
CAB’S Twilight
Adventure
(see page 5)
A “TRADITIONAL”
FEAST
Green Tip for
the Week of
November 11
In love and it's the holiday’s?
Give a homemade gift. If you're
musical write a song. If you're
artistic, paint a picture.
Elisabeth Lynne Bjork
Staff Writer
Turkey casserole. Turkey fet-
tuccine. Turkey meatloaf. Turkey
salad. Turkey lasagna. Turkey ice
cream. We all cook a huge turkey,
coniple^e with leftovers, every
Thanksgiving Day. Why? Because
it’s a “tradition.” But did you know
that no one actually knows if the
pilgrims ate turkey, let alone the
other “traditional” Thanksgiving fa-
'vorites?' Loosen up your belt as we.
dispel some common myths about
Thanksgiving Day.
Myth #1: The pilgrims ate Tur
key on Thanksgiving which is why
we eat it today, Actually, history. '
com states that theV>l3'’'^s served
several different kinds of meat. Re
liable journals only mention venison
and wild fowl. There Is no mention
of turkey thaffirst Thanksgiving.
Myth #2: After their hearty feast,
tlie hard-working women brought
out the pumpkin pie while the men
tuhed in to the Turkey Bowl...ok, we
all know the NFL was not formed
yet (if not, please find an article on
NFL before continuing this article).
But that is only the first of several
problems with this scenario: first of
all, as history.com says, the pilgrims
had no ovens,.so it was impossible
to bake any cakes or pies, let alorte
pumpkin or pecan! Second, history,
com points out that in the 1600's,
the pilgrims would not serve dinners
in stages (bringing out the appetizer
first, then the main course and side
dishes, then the desserts,.second
desseils, third desserts, etc.).
Instead, the servers would bring
out all the kinds of foods all at once
and set them on the table, The last,
but most crucial, point is that by the
time of the first Thanksgiving feast,
the pilgrims were already running
low on sugar, according to history,
com: the pilgrims couldn't eat any
sweets during the first Thanksgiving
even if they had had an oven,
' Myth #3: In the spirit of coopera
tion, the pilgrims took,turns pass
ing various dishes down the table,
much like the way families today
share dishes at the Thanksgiving
table. While this is a nice idea, in
the 1600’s people thought differ
ently. The servers set the best food
closest to the most important people
'at the table. Then when everyone
sat down, they would simply eat
whatever food was closest to them.
There was no one shouting, “Pass
the corn, please!”
Myth #4: After that momen
tous day in 1621, the pilgrims con
tinued to celebrate “Thanksgiving •
Day" each year to remind them of
everything they had to be thankful
for. This would have been a great
practice, but that celebration was
just a one-time feast to celebrate
a wonderful harvest, new friends,
and a more comfortable life after
the previous tragic winter. The pil
grims did n6t call it “Thanksgiving,”
Atthe.time, says pilgrimhall.org.
Thanksgiving itself was thought of
as a spiritual holiday (especially
for Puritans) where people would
gather in church to give thanks to
God about a particular event, like
the end of a long drought. It was
a joyful, yet very serious holiday in
which Red Rover and all-you-can-
eat buffets were not on the list of
spiritual festivities.
Myth #5: The pilgrims dressed
in .l)lack and white, with little
buckles on their shoes, hats, and
anything else on which a buckle
could fit. Although every elemen
tary school play, and even Snoopy,
portrays pilgrims like this, buckles
were not even in fashion until the
late 1600’s, and the pilgrims only
wore black and white clothes on
Sundays and other formal days,
according to history.com. The
pilgrims really wore a wide array of
colors: women usually wore blue,
deep green, soft purple, or even
red, besides l)rown and gray as
well. Men wore more boring colors
most of the time: white, black, off-
white, brown, and deep green.
Myth #6: Thanksgiving was
an established holiday soon after
most of the colonies were formed.
Unfortunately, thanksgiving days
and harvest celebrations were
sporadic at best, it was not until'
the years of 1777-1784 that the
Continental Congress gave the
first national Thanksgiving Proc
lamation, says hlstory.com.- Even
so, the dates of Thanksgiving cel
ebrations were irregular. But in the
mid-1800', Sarah Josepha Hale,
a writer and a magazine editor,
decided to make the finalization of
an annual national holiday her top
priority. (History.com also informs
us that Sarah Hale composed
the popular nursery-rhyme, “Mary
Had a Little Lamb.”) She forged
a crusade to establish the present
Thanksgiving Day, and Abraham
Lincoln took it to heart and made
the first official Thanksgiving Day
the last Thu.rsday in November. In
1939, reports lewrockwell.com,
slight modifications were sug
gested: The National Retail Dry
Goods Association asked that the
holiday be moved to the fourth
Thursday of November, instead
of the last Thursday, such as the
fifth Thursday that year. This
request proved a touchy subject
After two more years, the House.
of Representatives ruled to keep
Thanksgiving as the last Thurs
day of Novehiberi’ only to have
the Senate make an amendment
that Thanksgiving Day would be
held the fourth Thursday each
November. Reluctantly, the House
conceded.
Finally, Thanksgiving Day as
we know it became a national
holiday. It started out as a one-,
time celebration, before it evolved
to a periodical day of thanks for a
special victory or blessing: After
several attempts,-oodles of bu
reaucratic red tape, ideas bounc
ing back and forth in Congress,
and one woman's determined
fo'cus, Thanksgiving Day is now a
national holiday cefebrated every
year on the fourth Thursday of No
vember, This year as we pick up
a copy of 101 Ways to Eat Turkey
and sit down to our “traditional"
dinner of turkey, cranberry sauce,
and pumpkin pie, we can now be
extra thankful for the food we have
that even the pilgrims did not have,
especially the pumpkin pie—the
meaning of the holiday...besides
giving thanks. Now that we know
all the hard-working individuals
who helped make our four-day
weekend happen, let’s give thanks!
Obsessed with fun facts, trivia,
and quizzes? Check out wvi/w,
history.com for fun Thanksgiving
information and activities!