Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is about the pilgrims' arrival in 1620 and how they survived due to the kindness of a local Native American tribe, and of how the two different peoples sat down and shared the new harvest meal in friendship the following year.
Yet much of the story contains a fair bit of fiction, and the story was actually created and promoted at the end of the 19th century. With numerous immigrants arriving from all over the world, the tale helped provide a common national identity. There really were pilgrims, though, who had fled religious persecution back in England. And they almost certainly wouldn't have made it through the harsh winter without the help of the Wampanoag, a local tribe. Nearly 50% of the settlers died, weakened after a long ocean voyage.
The Wampanoag taught the pilgrims about the local animal life, as well as how to plant and raise their main food, corn. In the autumn, nearly a year after their arrival, the pilgrims invited the chief and his tribe to celebrate the harvest. The first Thanksgiving, then, was simply an autumn harvest festival, which many cultures have celebrated throughout history.
George Washington declared a thanksgiving feast in December 1777, after defeating the British at Saratoga during the Revolutionary War. Since 1941, the holiday always falls on the fourth Thursday of November.
A typical Thanksgiving nowadays consists of family and friends coming together for dinner. Turkey is the main dish, and the holiday has picked up the name "Turkey Day" as a result. Other food at the table includes: mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. Notice that these traditional holiday dishes are all from New World crops.
TV rules the home before and after dinner. In the morning, all the main stations broadcast Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. A three-hour parade with floats, giant balloons of cartoon characters, and marching bands wind their way through New York City. The parade closes with Santa Clause, which indicates the start of the Christmas season.
After dinner, families glue themselves to the TV for football. Several games are played each year, and the sport shares an equal part of the holiday as turkey and cranberry sauce. Friday is almost always a day off, so friends and family visit with one another until quite late. Plans are made, as are shopping lists, because the Christmas season begins the day after.
