Thanksgiving, a national holiday embedded in American mythology, has changed over the years from an emblem of American history and unity to a day that includes eating, shopping, and watching televised football games and parades. Below are a few factoids of Thanksgivings past. When I was a child, billboards advertising a certain brand of turkey
Articles Tagged Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving in 18th Century Salem, Mass.
This is a blog about Thanksgiving, the quintessential American holiday. It is not about the First Thanksgiving, or the late 19th century Thanksgiving, or the 20th Century Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving. This Thanksgiving story is about Thanksgiving in late 18th and early 19th century New England, specifically Salem, Massachusetts, the setting of my upcoming novel. At
Thanksgiving in 18th Century New England
Recent research for my current project has turned up a few interesting insights into how eighteenth century New Englanders celebrated Thanksgiving, which makes an interesting change for the annual stories about the first Thanksgiving in 1621. Over a hundred years since the Pilgrims stepped ashore, colonial Americans did not worry about starvation or share the
The First Thanksgiving Feast
Over the years, historians have shared stories about the multi-cultural harvest event that took place in Plymouth in 1621. The usual version is that when the Pilgrims arrived on Cape Cod, the Wampanoag People showed them how to plant corn, and that when the harvest came in, everyone celebrated. If you don’t look too closely,
Cranberries — An American Fruit
Do you recognize this iconic Norman Rockwell picture? The artist created it in 1943 with the title Freedom from Want to illustrate one of Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms justifying American participation World War II. The illustration went on to represent the perfect American Thanksgiving Celebration. Three generations gather around the dinner table to enjoy a truly
Turkey, Football, & Shopping
At its most basic level, the holiday of Thanksgiving is about being grateful and eating a special meal. The menu generally includes a roast turkey, or tofu turkey. Pumpkin pie is a staple dessert choice, but far from the only one. The rest of the menu includes family favorites. Once the meal is over, thoughts
HOW TO ORGANIZE THANKSGIVING DINNER
To aid in your Thanksgiving preparations, I have modified a schedule I first heard in home economics class shortly after the pilgrims invented this annual feast. Are you ready? T-DAY MINUS 5 and 4. The weekend before the Thanksgiving holiday, is behind us now. But this is what you should have done. Clean your kitchen.
YE THANKSGIVING CELEBRATION
Once upon a time on November 11th, 1620, a ship called the Mayflower dropped anchor at the tip of Cape Cod. The 102 passengers thought they were going to Virginia, but things don’t always turn out as expected. The Pilgrims made the best of a bad situation and built shelters on shore. It was a
BLACK CATS & NUTCRACKERS
Spoiler Alert – Don’t read this blog if you dislike Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. Today’s image shows what happens when holiday decorations crash into each other. This phenomenon often occurs at craft and card stores, where we’re sure to find Valentine’s decorations and cards on January 2. But such confusion is seldom on public display at
A DANGEROUS SEASON FOR TURKEYS
Once again we have arrived at the official Holiday Season. It is three days until Thanksgiving which this year also marks the first day of Hanukkah – a joint festival that no matter what year you were born, will not recur in our lifetime. In four days we celebrate the annual Black Friday Shopping Extravaganza,
