The history of Thanksgiving day

The First American Thanksgiving is attributed to the autumnal feast held by the Pilgrims and
Massasoit in 1621. The Mayflower passengers, having survived a rather challenging winter in the
'New World' and having managed to harvest their surviving crops, hosted a feast which was an
English tradition that signaled the end of harvest time.

The Massasoit's religion demanded that they help those who came with empty hands. The recently
landed newcomers had been in such need during their first year in the territory. Additionally, the
Massasoit were members of the widespread confederacy of Algonkian-speaking people known as the
League of Delaware. They were also the most important and influential sachem of the Wamapanoag.
It was because of the Massasoit's generosity and in hopes to negotiate a land deal that they were
invited to the harvest celebration with the Separatists. The most noteworthy and historically familiar
member of the Native party was Squanto, who was the only non-Separatist who had been formally
educated and baptized a Christian.

The date of the feast is unknown. However, it must have occurred previously to December as that is
the month that one of the only written accounts first is documented. There are only two known
written eyewitness reports of the event; that of Edward Winslow and William Bradford who
described the details of the fishing and hunting expeditions and the fact that the festivities lasted
three days.

The Massasoit, ninety individuals in totem, provided five deer for the feast. Among some of the other
edible items were duck, geese, turkey, fish, and corn. It is unlikely that the dishes presented were
extravagant because the colonists weren't aware when the next ship docking would take place and
would have conserved whatever spices they had.

There are many myths surrounding the modern day celebration of Thanksgiving. Although
Thanksgiving as a holiday can be traced to the harvest celebration of 1621, it was neither a feast held
annually or meant as a celebration of giving thanks. Just two years later, in 1623, there is no mention
of a Thanksgiving feast.

The Pilgrims were primarily a Separatist group who arrived in Massachusetts the previous year. Their
visual use in Thanksgiving decorations is often misconstrued. The familiar black and white garb with
the large buckles that we see today is incorrect. The appearance is related to Puritans who arrived in
the Americas later and who only used the black and white garb occasionally. Buckles weren't in
production until the late 1600's as well.

When a member of the Mayflower party would die, an inventory of their belongings would be
assessed. Most inventories revealed a tendency for darker colors, but many people had a wide range
of color in their clothing collections.

The Pilgrims weren't the only ones misrepresented in latter day artwork and stories. The Massasoit
are typically depicted in costumes that are more closely related to Plains tribes.

The first national Thanksgiving was declared in 1777 by the Continental Congress. It wasn't yet an
observed holiday and several other 'Thanksgiving' days were proclaimed inconsistently until 1815.
Thanksgiving reverted to being a regional event until 1863 when two days were declared. The first
being August 6th after the victory at Gettysburg and the second being the first last-Thursday-in-
November celebration. Abraham Lincoln was the first American President to proclaim Thanksgiving a
nationally observed holiday as the insistence of a long-time advocate, Sarah Hale. However, in 1939,
Franklin D. Roosevelt believed the holiday to fall too close to Christmas and made a motion for it to
be celebrated on the third Thursday in November. Not every State complied. In 1941, a joint
resolution of Congress chose the fourth Thursday in November, which is not always the last Thursday
in the month.

Today, Thanksgiving isn't considered Thanksgiving unless there is a bountiful feast of turkey and all
the trimmings, images of Pilgrims and Native Americans, or the ever popular pumpkin. Through the
years, it's become a religiously affiliated holiday and trips to local churches as well as providing a
banquet for the less fortunate have become seasonal traditions.

Bibliografie: http://coco.essortment.com/historythanksgi_rmtf.htm

Cum şi de ce sărbătoresc americanii Ziua Recunoştinţei

Fanfare, trupe de dans, clovni şi majorete invadează în fiecare an bulevardele din New York, de Ziua
Recunoştinţei, într-o paradă americană ce strânge milioane de spectatori… recunoscători.
Veche de 400 de ani, Ziua Recunoştinţei – Thanksgiving Day, în engleză – este una dintre cele mai
importante sărbători tradiţionale pentru americani, englezi şi germani deopotrivă, pentru fiecare însă
având o istorie diferită.

Istoria "Recunoştinţei" la New York

New York-ul se laudă astăzi cu cea mai sonoră paradă cu prilejul acestei zile, dar istoria sărbătorii a
luat naştere prima dată în Massachusetts, pe atunci, colonia Plymouth.

Primii care au sărbătorit Ziua Recunoştinţei au fost pelegrinii şi puritanii din Anglia, primii colonişti
europeni sosiţi în "Lumea Nouă" în căutarea libertăţii religioase. Se spune că pentru noii locuitori,
clima a fost atât de aspră încât recolta înregistrată în 1621 nu a fost decât un miracol, aşa încât, în
semn de recunoştinţă, aceştia au mulţumit lui Dumnezeu pentru recoltă printr-o festivitate.

Canada mulţumeşte mai devreme

În Canada, Thanksgiving Day se sărbătoreşte în a doua zi de luni din octombrie, dar şi istoria sărbătorii
cunoaşte o altă poveste.

Conform legendei, în urma unei călătorii lungi în jurul lumii, un explorator britanic, pe nume Martin
Frobisher, se stabileşte în Canada, deşi încercase să ajungă în Orient.

Recunoscător pentru faptul că a ajuns teafăr în urma ocolului lumii, în anul 1578 acesta organizează o
ceremonie, în regiunea care astăzi poartă numele de provincia Newfoundland and Labrador.
Răspunsul locuitorilor la gestul lui Frobisher a fost fireşte apreciat, astfel că exploratorul a fost
înnobilat, iar în memoria sa golful Frobisher Bay a primit numele său.
"Recunoştinţa" lui Lincoln

În SUA, cea care a impus Sărbătoarea Recunoştinţei a fost jurnalista Sarah Josepha Hale. Prin influenţa
sa editorială – articole, scrisori oficiale -, în 1863, aceasta reuşeşte să îl convingă pe preşedintele
Lincoln să sărbătorească, în ultima zi de joi a lunii noiembrie, Ziua Naţională a Recunoştinţei.

Abia în 1941, în urma rezoluţiei date de Congresul SUA şi mai târziu, Ziua Recunoştinţei devine oficial
sărbătoare naţională.

În Regatul Unit, Ziua Recoltei se sărbătoreşte în biserici şi în sate într-o duminică după strângerea
recoltei în acea localitate, dar nu este o sărbătoare deosebit de importantă.

În Germania sărbătoarea este cunoscută sub numele de "Erntedankfest" şi este serbată încă de pe
vremea coloniştilor, astăzi fiind celebrată cu precădere în şcoli, cu muzica, dansuri şi poeme despre
toamnă.

Mâncărurile tradiţionale de Ziua Recunoştinţei sunt curcan umplut la cuptor, jambon, cartofi dulci,
porumb, şi plăcinta de dovleac.

Thanksgiving Day
Almost in every culture in the world there is a celebration of thanks for rich harvest. The American Thanksgiving
began as a feast of thanksgiving almost four hundred years ago.

In 1620, a religious community sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to settle in New World. They settled in what is
not known as the state of Massachusetts. Their first winter in America was difficult. They arrived too late to grow
a rich harvest. Moreover, half the Iroquois Indians taught them also how to grow other crops and how to hunt
and fish.

In the autumn of 1621 they got a beautiful harvest of corn, barley, beans and pumpkins. The colonists had much
to be thankful for, so they planned a feast. The colonists learned from Indians how to cook cranberries and
dishes of corn and pumpkins.

In following years many of the colonists celebrated the harvest with a feast of thanks. After the United States
gained independence, Congress recommended one yearly day of thanksgiving for the whole country. Later,
George Washington suggested the date November 26 as Thanksgiving Day. Then, after the civil war, Abraham
Lincoln suggested the last Thursday in November to be the day of thanksgiving.

On Thanksgiving Day, family members gather at the house of an older relative, even if they live far away. All give
thanks for everything good they have. Charitable organizations offer traditional meal to the homeless.

Foods, eaten at the first thanksgiving, have become traditional. The traditional thanksgiving meal consists of
roast turkey stuffed with herb-flavored bread, cranberry jelly, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie. Other dishes may
vary as to region: ham, sweet, potatoes, creamed corn.

A Celebration of Thanksgiving

The origins of Thanksgiving predated the Pilgrims at least 2,000 years. After
the harvest of each year was safely stored for the winter, Celtic priests, the
Druids, would mark the end of their calendar with prayers to their sun god
 for protection during the period of darkness and cold of winter. These harvest festivals evolved and became
combined with a Christian Feast of Saints.

The first formal celebration of Thanksgiving in North America was held by an English explorer, Martin Frobisher,
who attempted to establish an English settlement on Baffin Island, after failing to discover a northern passage to
the Orient in 1576. Canada established the second Monday in October as a national holiday, "a day of general
thanksgiving," in 1957.

The Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock held their Thanksgiving in 1621 as a three day "thank you" celebration to the
leaders of the Wampanoag Indian tribe and their families for teaching them the survival skills they needed to
make it in the New World. It was their good fortune that the tradition of the Wampanoags was to treat any visitor
to their homes with a share of whatever food the family had, even if supplies were low. It was also an amazing
stroke of luck that one of the Wampanoag, Tisquantum or Squanto, had become close friends with a British
explorer, John Weymouth, and had learned the Pilgrim's language in his travels to England with Weymouth. Wild
turkey was on the menu, along with corn (Pilgrim's wheat), Indian corn, barley, peas, waterfowl, five deer
(brought by the Indians as their dish to pass), bass and cod. Since then, we've added such delicacies as ham,
sweet potatoes, corn on the cob, popcorn, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. What? Pumpkin pie is not
authentic? The Pilgrims probably made pumpkin pudding sweetened with honey, but they didn't have sugar, crust
or whipped topping. Life was tough back then.

The turkey tradition was really pushed by Benjamin Franklin, who wanted to make it the United States national
symbol because it is a quick runner, wary, with sharp eyesight, and exhibited a regal
stance, at least to Franklin. While the bald eagle nudged out the wild turkey for our official
national symbol, Norman Rockwell has probably made the image of the family
Thanksgiving turkey even more famous, and certainly more mouth watering.

The actual day we celebrate Thanksgiving in America was picked by our presidents,
starting with George Washington who declared a one-time holiday. Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday
in November to be "...a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens."
Franklin D. Roosevelt moved it to the fourth Thursday of November in 1939, to prevent a 5 week November from
shortening the Christmas shopping season.

T for time to be together, turkey, talk, and tangy weather.

H for harvest stored away, home, and hearth, and holiday.
A for autumn's frosty art, and abundance in the heart.
N for neighbours, and October, nice things, new things to remember.
K for kitchen, kettles' croon, kith and kin expected soon.
S for sizzles, sights, and sounds, and something special that abounds.

Did You Know?

Americans did not invent Thanksgiving. It began in Canada. Frobisher's celebration in 1578 was 43 years before
the pilgrims gave thanks in 1621 for the bounty that ended a year of hardships and death. Abraham Lincoln
established the date for the US as the last Thursday in November. In 1941, US Congress set the National Holiday
as the fourth Thursday in November.
Frobisher and early colonists, giving thanks for safe passage, as well as pilgrim celebrations in the US that began
the traditions of turkeys, pumpkin pies, and the gathering of family and friends.

There are three traditions behind our Canadian Thanksgiving Day.

1. Long ago, before the first Europeans arrived in North America, the farmers in Europe held celebrations
at harvest time. To give thanks for their good fortune and the abundance of food, the farm workers filled a
curved goat's horn with fruit and grain. This symbol was called a cornucopia or horn of plenty. When they came
to Canada they brought this tradition with them.

2. In the year 1578, the English navigator Martin Frobisher held a formal ceremony, in what is now called
Newfoundland, to give thanks for surviving the long journey. He was later knighted and had an inlet of the
Atlantic Ocean in northern Canada named after him - Frobisher Bay. Other settlers arrived and continued these
ceremonies.
3. The third came in the year 1621, in what is now the United States, when the Pilgrims celebrated their
harvest in the New World. The Pilgrims were English colonists who had founded a permanent European
settlement at Plymouth Massachusetts. By the 1750's, this joyous celebration was brought to Nova Scotia by
American settlers from the south.
At the same time, French settlers, having crossed the ocean and arrived in Canada with explorer Samuel de
Champlain, also held huge feasts of thanks. They even formed "The Order of Good Cheer" and gladly shared their
food with their Indian neighbours.
After the Seven Year's War ended in 1763, the citizens of Halifax held a special day of Thanksgiving.
The Americans who remained faithful to the government in England were known as Loyalists. At the time of the
American revolution, they moved to canada and spread the Thanksgiving celebration to other parts of the
country. many of the new English settlers from Great Britain were also used to having a harvest celebration in
their churches every autumn. Eventually in 1879, Parliament declared November 6th a day of Thanksgiving and a
national holiday. Over the years many dates were used for Thanksgiving, the most popular was the 3rd Monday
in October. After World War I, both Armistice Day and Thanksgiving were celebrated on the Monday of the week
in which November 11th occurred. Ten years later, in 1931, the two days became separate holidays and Armistice
Day was renamed Remembrance Day. Finally, on January 31st, 1957, Parliament proclaimed....
Now, more than ever, we're reminded to treasure our families, communities, and the institutions that raise our
spirits, help the less fortunate, and express our passions. As we move forward, join us in a new tradition. This
year, during the Thanksgiving holiday, as you come together for family, friendship, food and fellowship, celebrate
Giving Day.

 Make a Giving Day commitment to support your favorite cause with a gift of time or money

 Express your values, compassion, and passions with your loved ones by sharing your Giving Day
commitment at Thanksgiving dinner

 Build a new tradition by encouraging others to celebrate Giving Day

Thanksgiving Day
The English Puritans were trying to "purify" the Church of England, but finally they formed
their own church. They left England and went to Holland and then to America. They became
"Pilgrims" because they were travels in search of religious freedom.

In the fall of 1620 the Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic Ocean on their ship, the Mayflower. The trip
was very difficult, and many people got sick. But while they were on the crowded ship, the
Pilgrims agreed on a form of government for their new colony. This agreement, the Mayflower
Compact, established the principles of voting and majority rule.

Finally on December 22 the travels landed the Plymouth, Massachusetts. There as not enough
food for the long, cold winter, and many settlers died. Then some friendly Indians, Samoset,
Chief Massasoit, and Squanto, showed to the Pilgrims how to hunt, fish, and plant corn,
beans, and other foods. Because of their help, the Plymouth settlers had a good harvest the
next fall.

Governor William Bradford declared some special day of thanksgiving. The

Pilgrims and the Indians had three-day feast of deer, wild turkey and fish. There
were also nuts, corn, beans, pumpkins wild fruits, cranberries, and other foods. The
first Thanksgiving celebration was a great success.

President Abraham Lincoln established Thanksgiving as an official national holiday.

Now every year on the fourth Thursday of November American families and friends
gather, have a feast, and give thanks. Some traditional Thanksgiving food are turkey,
dressing, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie.

Turkey Noodle Casserole

 1 pkg frozen peas, thawed under cool running water (10 ounce)

 2 cups diced cooked turkey (or ham)

 1 1/2 cups cooked noodles

 butter or margarine

 1/4 cup chopped onion

 8 ounces sliced mushrooms

 1 can (10 1/2-ounce) cream of mushroom soup

 1/2 cup milk

 salt, to taste

 1/4 teaspoon curry powder

 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning

 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Combine turkey, noodles, and peas in a 2-quart buttered casserole dish. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan.
Sautй onion and mushrooms; blend in soup, milk and seasonings. Pour soup mixture over meat; top with
shredded cheese. Bake in a 350 degree F. for about 20 to 30 minutes.
Serves 4.