Thanksgiving
American Thanksgiving is tomorrow. We're hosting this year - so we're cooking up a nice 21-pound turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberries... the usual fare!
Now - Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated in October on the 2nd Monday of the month, which this year was October 11th. So my folks and my sister had their Turkey Day a while ago. And judging from Sarah's photos it was quite a sumptuous feast!
I've always wondered how it came to be that Canada celebrates thanksgiving in October, and the US celebrates in November - aside from the fact that Canadians just like to be different from their American neighbours. So I've done a little research, and will share my findings here with you - since I know you've all wondered the same thing ;-)
According to Thanksgiving-traditions.com (what a great site!), the first North American thanksgiving event occurred in Newfoundland in 1578. Yet another reason why the great "Tropical Island of Newfoundland" is THE coolest (figuratively and often quite literally). Half my family hails from Newfoundland which is reason number 1 why it is the coolest, of course. Anyway - I wonder what they ate. I would be shocked if it was turkey. Haven't seen a whole lotta turkeys running around the island the times that I've visited. Perhaps it was moose or carabou. Someone must know. Family - if you're reading, see what you can find out and get back to me :-)
Thinking of moose meat reminds me of the summer that we went to visit my grandparents in Newfoundland. And because this is my blog, I'm going to digress and tell you about it. My mom, sister and I took a train up one summer to visit the relatives. Dad was on exercise somewhere and was going to meet up with us later. It had been several weeks I think since he had left, and I was feeling homesick, and missing my Dad. So Grandma decided to cook a special dinner for us. She knew my favourite meal in the world at the time was my Dad's lasagna. So that's what she decided to make. I was pretty excited. I'm Garfield when it comes to lasagna.
So we all sat down to dinner and my mouth was watering in anticipation as Grandma serves up the lasagna. And as soon as I got my serving I dove in and took a nice big mouthful.
And it was DISGUSTING. I think I may have even gagged.
I don't know if it was because ground beef in Newfoundland at the time was less in abundance (at least where my grandparents lived?) or more expensive than it is on the main land... or if was because Grandma just decided she wanted to try something different. I do know that moose meat, in Newfoundland, is relatively easy to come by. So for whatever reason, Grandma used ground moose instead of ground beef in the lasagna. And if you're expecting to taste beef and get a mouthful of moose instead it is quite a shocker, let me tell you. Even with tomato sauce and melted cheese mixed in.
Anyway - back to Thanksgiving. So the celebration in Newfoundland in 1578 was the first North American thanksgiving event. The first Canadian Thanksgiving was celebrated on April 15, 1872 in thanks for the recovery of the future King Edward VII from a serious illness. After that, the next thanksgiving didn't occur until 1879 - and it was celebrated on a Thursday in November then, and every year through 1898, just as the American Thanksgiving is.
Then in 1899 for some reason those wacky Canadians decided to celebrate on a Thursday in October instead, and continued to do so through to 1907 (with the exception of 1901 and 1904 when it was held on the traditional Thursday in November). It flip-flopped a couple of more times between October and November, and between various days within October until 1957 when Parliament issued a proclamation to fix permanently the second Monday in October as "a day of general Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed".
So that's Canada. What about the US? Again, according to thanksgiving-traditions.com the history of a "Thanksgiving Day" in the US can be traced back to 1789 when George Washington declared Thursday, November 26th as a day when "we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks". Before 1789, from 1777 to 1783 Thanksgiving Day had been celebrated in December as mandated by Congress.
Apparently other Presidents declared days of thanksgiving in various years at various times but none fell in the fall season.
In 1863 President Lincoln issued a declaration making the fourth Thursday in November a National Day of Thanksgiving. Apparently it didn't really go over well - especialy in the South (the general sentiment there being that those Damn Yankees were just trying to force their way of life on everyone). Today's Thanksgiving Day actually derives from the New England harvest festival, which by the late 19th century, was celebrated nation wide.
So far in neither the Canadian nor the American thanksgiving histories has there been any mention of pilgrims or native americans. So what's up with the goofy hats and images of pilgrims sharing food with the native americans? Apparently the association of pilgrims and native americans to Thanksgiving Day occurred around the 1800s - when a description of a feast held in 1621 was uncovered in a group of lost memoirs. However it wasn't until 1841 that the writer Alexander Young made the connection between the 1621 harvest celebration and the American Thanksgiving.
And there you have it! I've gotta go get my stuffing ready now. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
