Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Penultimate thanks day copy
We now present the next-to-last entry for the thankful week of 2005. So here is our final look at some Thanksgiving myths. On the Nov. 24 program we talk thanks, with our former A-man Charlie, Splash Michelich contributing. Come digest with us.
So two more myths …
In America today, families eat what the Pilgrims ate in the first Thanksgiving feasts. False.
The foods on the tables at the first harvest feasts were not much of what you and I call traditional. The colonists ate venison and wild fowl, deer, ham, fish, lobster, seal, swans, puddings and breads. These were not served in courses, either. All foods were placed on the large, long tables and people filled their plates with what they wanted. Sometimes they even went for what they didn’t want. And, there were no forks. They would spoon their food or use their fingers.
And …
The Pilgrims ate turkey on the main day of celebration. False.
The Pilgrims did not eat turkey during harvest feasts. How did America get the idea of a turkey meal for Thanksgiving? It was the Victorians’ Thanksgiving—they made Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863—that introduced turkey as the dinner's centerpiece. Abe Lincoln issued two Presidential Thanksgiving proclamations that year; one in August, a second in November. The August celebration grew unpopular because few people had the energy to do anything during 1863's record-hot summer, no less give thanks. After Lincoln was shot in the head, only to die the next day of a decimated brain, Congress made November the official month of the holiday.
So two more myths …
In America today, families eat what the Pilgrims ate in the first Thanksgiving feasts. False.
The foods on the tables at the first harvest feasts were not much of what you and I call traditional. The colonists ate venison and wild fowl, deer, ham, fish, lobster, seal, swans, puddings and breads. These were not served in courses, either. All foods were placed on the large, long tables and people filled their plates with what they wanted. Sometimes they even went for what they didn’t want. And, there were no forks. They would spoon their food or use their fingers.
And …
The Pilgrims ate turkey on the main day of celebration. False.
The Pilgrims did not eat turkey during harvest feasts. How did America get the idea of a turkey meal for Thanksgiving? It was the Victorians’ Thanksgiving—they made Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863—that introduced turkey as the dinner's centerpiece. Abe Lincoln issued two Presidential Thanksgiving proclamations that year; one in August, a second in November. The August celebration grew unpopular because few people had the energy to do anything during 1863's record-hot summer, no less give thanks. After Lincoln was shot in the head, only to die the next day of a decimated brain, Congress made November the official month of the holiday.
