Thanksgiving Day is one of the most respectful holidays in the American calendar. It is a symbol of union and religious traditions that commemorates the original meeting of pilgrims with Native American inhabitants. This day is celebrated in a family circle with a huge table of meals and awesome mood. The all-star of the evening is a big roasted turkey that can go with mash potatoes, salads, and other additional dishes. Despite quite a popular history of the holiday, here are a few facts about the day of honoring the successful harvest by pilgrims together with local people.
Traditional Thanksgiving
Historical background
Originally, Thanksgiving Day was only connected with Pilgrims feasts, however, it all changed when the Puritans wanted to preserve the tradition in the New World. At that time the Catholic Church marked a lot of commemoration days during the year and the Puritans were eager to get rid of all of those days to leave a single one.
Some consider the first celebration of Thanksgiving to take part in Plymouth at the beginning of XVII century. Nonetheless, there is no actual proof of the event taking place at that time. As the story tells, the colony of Plymouth struggled because of the harsh winter and their crop was not rich. They went through starvation, illnesses, calamities, and deaths. Luckily, the Native Americans were really merciful to them and showed a few new efficient methods to improve the survival of the incomers on the lands of New England.
Many treat this story as a myth as the main roots of the celebration are going to the Puritan Feast during the time of Thanksgiving that is a common tradition among the people in the New World.
In the USA the last Thursday of November was regarded as the original date for Thanksgiving Day in the beginning of XIX century, despite the fact that the celebration traditions varied from state to state. What is interesting that later, in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln announced the celebration to have a common date for the entire country after a pedestrian writer, Sarah Josepha Hale, has spent more than 40 years trying to unite the entire America and set a single celebration day.
Main traditions
Apart from chicken, there are some other traditional meals, serving on the holiday table. Among them are dumplings, ham, pies with various stuffing, nuts mixtures, and others. What is even more relevant are the sweets that are served for the evening – custard, pudding of different tastes, candy canes, fudge, and everything of such kind. Alcohol is also a nice addition to the cooked meals, so Americans do not mind drinking some egg not, apple cider, buttered rum, and of course the sweetest nonalcoholic drink – hot chocolate.
Not only food is distinct at this day. Along with its original religious background, churches make a special holiday service focusing on thanking prayers to God.
In general, the entire day is built around gratitude – gratitude towards friends, relatives, pets, ancestors, all kind of professions for everything that people have at the moment being.
