Opinion

History shows that Thanksgiving had ancient origins. American’s, for the most part, hold our holidays as personal American traditions. Today, from family favorites to time honored classics, traditions often make memorable moments serving as reminders of friends and family, of times long since past, and of memories shared. How do traditions come about? It is started by someone and can become the catalyst for great holidays. Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in the United States. In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is the first Thanksgiving celebration held in the British colonies in the New World. A second celebration of thanksgiving by the Pilgrims was observed in 1623 to mark the end of a long drought that had threatened the year’s harvest. Governor Bradford proposed a religious fast. Days of fasting and thanksgiving were celebrated throughout the New England settlements on a sporadic basis. The American concept of Thanksgiving developed in the New England colonies. In fact, historians have noted that Native Americans tended to commemorate the fall harvest with celebrating and feasting long before Europeans came to America’s shores. Thanksgiving falls under a category of festivals that spans cultures, continents and millennia. This holiday to express thanksgiving for God’s bounty continued until 1863, when in the middle of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held on the last Thursday of November. Most families follow age old traditions, but many have their own traditions. The President of the United States annually grants parole to two turkeys that will get to live out their lives on a farm. A thanksgiving feast may include Traditional foods such as turkey and dressing, gravy, sweet potatoes, cornbread, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce. Popular pie flavors are pumpkin, pecan, sweet potato, and apple. Followed by various activities that may include a football game and a nap! My ol’ Daddy always said, “A feller that eats his fill of turkey an’ dressing will more than likely take a nap purty soon, no matter what is going on!”