November 28, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving marks start of holiday season

By Bill Highlander
Editor

The holiday season began with Thanksgiving Day. The tradition of giving thanks for those things in our life that are important, usually centering around our family, our faith, and celebration.

“The First Thanksgiving,” as painted by Jean Louis Gerome Ferris (1863-1930).

While festive occasions for giving thanks are cited in history as early as the 16th century, Americans generally look to the event in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621 The Pilgrims observed their first harvest.

George Washington declared days during his presidency/ President Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day in 1863. In 1943, Congress required that Thanksgiving be observed on the fourth Thursday in November, making the date a federal law.

Thanksgiving Day now kicks off a long weekend, where government and many businesses take time off, except for retail. The day after Thanksgiving, called Black Friday, is usually the biggest shopping day of the year. Many stores go into the black with increases in revenue, gaining a large part of their profits for the year. That may not be the case this year, although price cuts and sales hopefully drove shoppers to purchases.

Sometimes referred to as “Turkey Day”, the bird is the most popular food on the table. The National Turkey Foundation estimated that 47 million turkeys would be consumed.

Traditionally, the favorite foods include stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, yams with marshmallows, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie.

It’s usually one of the busiest travel times of the year, although AAA says that many will eschew air and car travel this year and stay close to home, due to the economic situation.

Families gather not only around the dinner table, but also the television. Millions of viewers watch the Macy’s Parade in New York City. And the football games are a tradition too. But the winless Detroit Lions may not be a big draw this year.

Back to food. Football fans know about the turduchen if they listen to John Madden. Turduchen is a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey. It can be purchased in markets and online. It’s said that stuffing birds inside other fowl may have started in the 19t century and, supposedly, the world record is 17 birds.

Whatever you are thankful for and however you celebrate it, have a wonderful holiday season.