A brief history of Thanksgiving

Mom’s Corner

Since Thanksgiving is just around the corner, I decided to delve into some little known Thanksgiving facts.  First of all, according to Penny Coleman author of  Thanksgiving:  The True Story, the first Thanksgiving was actually celebrated in America in 1541.
Explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado and his expedition held a thanksgiving celebration in Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas panhandle.  Also according to Coleman, President Jefferson considered a federal Thanksgiving “the most ridiculous idea ever conceived.”
The Thanksgiving we typically think of was held by the Pilgrims in 1621  sometime between Sep. 21 and Nov. 1.  The 50 surviving colonist and 90 Wampanoag Indians feasted for three days and included food not typically served on modern Thanksgiving Day menus, like shellfish, boiled pumpkin, berries, and deer.
Thanksgiving did not become a national holiday until 1863, with President Lincoln’s proclamation declaring the last Thursday of November as Thanks-giving Day.
Although earlier Presidents, with the exception of President Jefferson who had considered Thanksgiving to be “the most ridiculous idea ever conceived,” had urged the American people to observe Thanksgivings.  None of the Presidents prior to Lincoln had ever made it a national holiday. In fact, President Madison declared that Thanksgiving should be held twice in 1815.
Thanksgiving remained as the last Thursday until 1941 when President Roosevelt moved it up one week to prolong the holiday shopping season.
Of course it should be noted that President Lincoln was urged by Sara Hale, who is considered the “Mother of Thanksgiving,” to declare a national day of Thanksgiving.  It was due to her urging that President Lincoln finally proclaimed a Thanksgiving holiday.  She also was the first person to advocate women as teachers in public schools, day nurseries for working mothers, and propose public playgrounds.
She wrote two dozen books and hundreds of poems, including “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”  Go, Sara!
OK, now that I’ve covered the history part of Thanksgiving, let’s talk turkey.
The turkeys we think of are not the wild turkeys the pilgrims would have enjoyed.  Our domesticated turkeys weigh twice as much and are too big to fly.  We eat about 535 million (yes, million) pounds of turkey on Thanksgiving.  The tradition of pardoning a turkey on Thanksgiving by Presidents started in 1947.  However,  it goes back to when President Lincoln pardoned his son’s pet turkey.  Baby turkeys are called poults, and only male turkeys gobble, therefore they are called, yep, gobblers.
Did you know that cranberries were really used by American Indians to treat arrow wounds and dye clothes?   Nice, huh?  I’ll never look at cranberries the same again.
I hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving! If you have a comment or suggestion for Mom’s Corner, please e-mail it to:  moms-corner@juno.com.