11.24.16 Happy Thanksgiving
Nov 24, 2016 1:34:45 GMT -5
Post by Q3 on Nov 24, 2016 1:34:45 GMT -5
Adam arriving at the X Factor Afterparty. Sorry for the out-of-focus shot but he looks so happy I could not resist!
What are you thankful for?
11.24.16 by Q3
Today is Thanksgiving in the U.S. and it is one of the American things I wish we could export to the whole world. It is my favorite holiday (just barely beating Halloween for me! Sorry Adam!)
Most countries have some sort of harvest celebration – Thanksgiving is the U.S. harvest festival but it is also more. And Thanksgiving is not just celebrated in the U.S. it is also celebrated in Canada on the 2nd Monday in October (codified in 1957). Canadian Thanksgiving is actually older than the U.S. version and based on European harvest festival traditions. In an odd quirk of history, in the 17th century Americans Tories who were loyal to England and immigrated to Canada during the American Revolution brought pumpkin pie and other U.S. Thanksgiving traditions to Canada. But the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday was transformed over the course of U.S. history and the holidays are as different as the two countries. Canada’s Thanksgiving is low-key, not universally celebrated and a nice day. American Thanksgiving is a product of our more turbulent and more dramatic history.
There are many harvest thank traditions around the world, but in 1621 Pilgrims who had settled in Massachusetts held a non-religious Thanksgiving celebration – they are reported to have said grace and then had three days of feasting, games and drinking. That is what distinguishes American Thanksgiving. In spite of all attempt to “convert” it into a religious holiday, it has remained a secular holiday – a holiday open to all Americans regardless of origin or religion – Native American or Immigrant.
Festivals of Thanksgiving were observed sporadically on a local level for more than 150 years. Then in 1789, Elias Boudinot, member of the House of Representatives from Massachusetts, moved that a day of Thanksgiving be held to thank God for giving the American people the opportunity to create a Constitution to preserve their hard won freedoms. A Congressional Joint Committee approved the motion, and informed President George Washington. On October 3, 1789, the President proclaimed that the people of the United States observe "a day of public thanksgiving and prayer" on Thursday, the 26th of November.
The next three Presidents proclaimed, at most, two days of thanksgiving sometime during their terms of office, either on their own initiative or at the request of a joint Resolution of Congress. One exception was Thomas Jefferson, who believed it was a conflict of church and state to require the American people hold a day of prayer and thanksgiving. President James Madison proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving to be held on April 13, 1815, the last such proclamation issued by a President until Abraham Lincoln did so in 1862.
Most of the credit for the establishment of an annual Thanksgiving holiday may be given to Sarah Josepha Hale. Editor of Ladies Magazine and Godey's Lady's Book, she began to agitate for such a day in 1827 by printing articles in the magazines. She also published stories and recipes, and wrote scores of letters to governors, senators, and presidents. After 36 years of crusading, she won her battle. On October 3, 1863, in the midst of the U.S. Civil War and after the Union victory at Gettysburg, President Lincoln proclaimed that November 26, would be a national Thanksgiving Day, to be observed every year on the fourth Thursday of November.
So, today many of us will feast on American foods – turkey, cranberries, pumpkin, squash, green beans and lima beans, corn, peppers, potatoes and sweet potatoes, blueberries and pecans, and some of us will give thanks.
Note: I am not sure how Brussels Sprouts sneaked into Thanksgiving but this Roman vegetable is now a part of the “standard” Thanksgiving menu. There are a few other non-American items that have been incorporated: onions, carrots and celery, and European apples and mushrooms. Oh and, and of course, wheat and cheeses.
And as we go through a time that tests Americans and asks us to be open to others and do better than our leaders, I think this holiday is more important than ever. This holiday where origin and religion are set aside – this holiday where we feast to celebrate the bounty we have been given – this holiday when we are all equally able and asked to say “Thanks.”
Even if you do not celebrate Thanksgiving today and even if you are not American, take a moment to post one thing you are truly thankful for.
With that, let me give a bit of thanks to all of you for the joy and fun you have added to my life.
Happy Thanksgiving 2016