Thanksgiving is much more than just a big roasted turkey. It's s holiday, known all around the world thanks to American films, that is celebrated generally in the USA and Canada. Keep on reading this blog post and you'll find out how Thanksgiving appeared, learn about its customs and traditions!
ORIGINS
Like every celebration or holiday whose origins go many centuries back, Thanksgiving has a lot of theories and myths about its appearance. Firstly, it is usually said that Thanksgiving, as an American national holiday, appeared thanks to the first English settlers in the territory of the USA of nowadays. They were the Pilgrims who arrived at Plymouth (Massachusetts) in 1620 on a boat, but not at a very good time - it was winter and it was impossible to grow any vegetables. That led to diseases and many deaths of the settlers in the New World. As the legend goes, one of the indigenous tribes of that land decided to help the Pilgrims by showing them how to grow food on that rocky land and hunt wild animals. That's how the colonists learned to grow corn and other seeds, to fish and hunt. In 1621 after one year of living on the foreign area, they decided to make a feast in honour of God that helped to get a very good harvest and to thank the indigenous peoples who helped them out a lot. They celebrated with corn, turkies, beans, pumpkins and more!
What happened next? Was Thanksgiving celebrated every year afterwards? Was it a symbol of a good harvest, giving thanks to God or something else? Well, that all can't be answered with certainty.
But what we know for sure is that when the USA became independent, the first president Washington offered to celebrate Thanksgiving every year on 26 November. However, Roosevelt made some changes later: he proclaimed the fourth Thursday of November to be the Thanksgiving day, which continues being so (in Canada they celebrate Thanksgiving every second Monday of October, though).
TRADITIONS
After centuries, Thanksgiving has become less religious. However, this day still gathers all families together, makes people spend more time with each while cooking and talking about last family events.
FOOD
The first thing that comes to our mind when thinking about the Thanksgiving dinner table is turkey which is served almost in every American (sometimes Canadian as well) family. But why? Was turkey served during the very first Thanksgiving meal celebrated by Pilgrims in Plymouth in 1621? We can't know that for sure. Many historians claim turkey was not eaten at that time, but in any case some meat was served with corn and nuts.
Many other meals have been added to the Thanksgiving dinner table along with those mentioned above - now people also cook mashed potatoes, beans, pies, gravy, cranberry sauce, etc.
WISHBONE CRACKING
This is a very popular tradition that comes after a dinner - a wishbone is taken out of a turkey, two people take take the bone from each side and try to crack it. The one who gets the bigger bone makes a wish which is believed to come true very soon!
THANKSGIVING PARADE
Watching a Thanksgiving parade in the morning on TV has become another very popular tradition among Americans. The parade takes place in New York City every Thanksgiving morning and is watched by millions of people from home and on the streets. Many balloons, giant toys, famous cartoon and folklore characters walk along the street until at the end of the parade Santa appears reminding people of the upcoming Christmas.
Many people often watch Christmas films and cartoons on this day too. The Thanksgiving time is so near that magical celebration that so many people are waiting for!
Is Thanksgiving celebrated in your country? What traditions do you have in your family related with this holiday? Share in the comments!
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Happy Thanksgiving :)
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