Happy Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is right around the corner and to honor it, most people in the United States cook huge amounts of food. It’s a tradition that’s been honored since the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620.
When they arrived, it was December, and they were ill prepared for the long, cold winter that Massachusetts had in store for them. Because of this, 46 of the original 102 Pilgrims died, causing great sadness and mourning. That spring, however, they experienced a bountiful first harvest and Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving and prayer to God. He also invited the 91 Indians who helped the remaining Pilgrims survive their first winter.
The food they ate that year included venison, plums, geese, ducks, eel, clams, lobster and barley. It is not certain if any turkey was even eaten, because at the time the word turkey was used to refer to any wild fowl.
The holiday was celebrated on and off for many years after that. In 1789, George Washington proclaimed a National Thanksgiving Day to be celebrated on the last Thursday in November, but it was later discontinued by Thomas Jefferson who believed it to be a “kingly practice.” One woman refused to let the holiday go, however. Sarah Josepha Hale who is best known for her poem, “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” continuously wrote to the presidents and governors for 40 years, requesting that Thanksgiving become a national holiday. Her persistence paid off when in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national holiday called Thanksgiving. And, finally in 1941, Thanksgiving became a legal holiday by Congress.
