by Sarah G.
Some would say it's the middle child between Halloween and Christmas, the one everyone always forgets about. Stores even begin displaying their Christmas decorations and decor on November 1 not even giving it a chance. Regardless, Thanksgiving is an important, enjoyable holiday, the day pilgrims and Indians declared peace, the day we all get to eat a lot of good food without judgment, and the day to give thanks to what we have.
The true reason we celebrate Thanksgiving is not because of a rich legend about pilgrims and Indians getting along; historians say that there was a feast that year together with colonists and Wampanoag Indians. The feast they had was certainly not turkey, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. They did have access to all the main ingredients, but the colonists would not know how to make these things. The “pilgrims” are also mistaken for people who came here to the New World in search of religious freedom and wore black and white clothing with buckles on their shoes.
The pilgrims did come for religious freedom, but it was later found that in Holland there were very high degrees of religious tolerance. The pilgrims wore color, men and women both, including red, green, blue, and violet. In the 1600’s, no one celebrated Thanksgiving the way we do. Some colonies had feasts, but mainly November 25th was just a regular day to them. Later, George Washington declared November 26, 1789 as Thanksgiving, but only for that year, and it had no connection to pilgrims and Indians; he wanted to make everyone grateful for all they had.
The person we have to thank for the national holiday is Sarah Josepha Hale. She read about the Indians and pilgrims having a feast and became obsessed with having it as a holiday. She began a campaign to persuade President Abraham Lincoln to make it a national annual holiday; she used her magazine to write articles about it in 1846, sending letters to every governor in the United States and territories. Finally, in 1863 President Abraham Lincoln set the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day to be celebrated annually. Canada has a Thanksgiving, too, but they celebrate it October 11.
Thanksgiving is a time to gather with family, make special moments, and perhaps observe family traditions. Some of the more common traditions include breaking the wishbone of a turkey, watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade, and taking a nap after eating.
Everyone has different traditions, including people here at school. A student shared, “I go over to my grandma’s house the day before Thanksgiving, and I help her cook...well, she tells me what to do and I do it. We pray before we eat, and while we eat, we go around the table and say what we are thankful for.” Another student that shares similar traditions says, “My grandparents come over to my house, and my mom, my grandma, and I all help cook Thanksgiving dinner. My brother and I help set the table, and we all gather around with our plates, and I say the prayer. We go around while we are eating and say what we are thankful for. After we eat, we get dessert and play monopoly.”
Some Thanksgivings are really busy, especially those with multiple family gatherings to attend. “My parents are divorced, and I have to go to two Thanksgivings. I help cook for both sides. We both pray before we eat, and both sides go around and say what we are thankful for. I do all this on Thanksgiving Day and go Black Friday shopping with my sister the next day.” One of my favorite traditions is to decorate for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving with my family.
At school for Thanksgiving, we get two remote days November 22nd-23rd; we also have three days off--November 24th - 26th. On Friday the 19th, there will be an assembly at the end of the day to kick off Thanksgiving Break. The assembly will include the Pie Games and the teachers and students receiving the highest bids will receive a pie to the face. Students will also participate in mini-games to win prizes. Tickets will be sold during both lunches to bid on a teacher to pie, the person with the highest bid will get to pie that teacher. Students, don’t feel so confident about pieing a teacher; teachers can also bid on students to pie. No one is safe!
Comments