This column was first published in November 2008.
When I was a kid in grade school I remember a class assignment every year at this time to draw a picture or write an essay or compose a poem about what we were thankful for. In the early years it was pretty easy — mom and dad, turkey dinner, nice teacher (yeah, by November even first graders know from whence the perks come).
As we got older, everyone tried to second guess the teacher and what she expected to get a good grade. We were all thankful for peace, good health, little brothers and sisters, getting an education. The thing I was most thankful for was that at about seventh grade those assignments stopped and Thanksgiving became what it was intended to be: Four days off from school.
I can honestly say that in many, many years of teaching I never made such an assignment at this time of the year, whatever the grade level. Although I’m sure, being an English major, I made some really lame assignments otherwise.
I have a friend who used to have her first graders prepare a “feast” at Thanksgiving time to give them an understanding of the meaning of the word “feast,” which occurs often in first grade accounts of the first Thanksgiving. They spent early November studying the Mayflower and the Pilgrims and why they wanted to have a celebration and give thanks.
The students also discussed what those early settlers might have had for their meal. Then my friend let them decide on a menu for their feast. First graders understand eat, drink and be merry! They know what should be included in a party so dinner was heavy on the sweet side, but contained enough carrot sticks and cheese straws to satisfy teacher and parents. (I told you first graders are wise to the ways of adults). Each feast was different, and it was the assignment my friend enjoyed most all year.
Thanksgiving has come to mean “feast” in most people’s eyes. We plan a sumptuous meal, or rely on memories of the one from mom’s kitchen, and spend days preparing it. Little remains of the original Pilgrims’ menu except the turkey (and that may be myth). I remember one Thanksgiving in a village where we had moose head soup and roasted beaver, main dishes of every “feast” in that community.
In some households it would not be a festive dinner without tamales and pazole. In others, spring rolls and steamed dumplings. The diversity of the U.S. population blends and adds to our customs making our American holiday more universal every year.
We used to invoke Pilgrims and Indians until it was no longer politically correct and maybe not completely historically accurate. Frankly, I liked the idea of Squanto showing the early settlers how to make a living in the new land. Who doesn’t still put a fish in the hills with the corn?
The 50 years of peace between the settlers and the Indians that followed that first dire winter is more than we, as a country, have enjoyed at one time since. The early immigrants and the Native Americans joined together in a real celebration when harvest was finished. The Pilgrims brought in fish and fowl, the Indians supplied deer and together they had corn, barley and other grains from the fields that had produced abundantly because the Indians shared their agricultural knowledge. Diary entries from that time suggest a very grateful settlement that was finally on its way to success after a horrible beginning thanks not only to God but to the friendly Natives.
Unlike Christmas, which has the weight of religion behind it, Thanksgiving has only about 400 years of history to bolster its traditions. We all know that customs change a little as time goes by. Practices dear to the hearts of past generations have faded or even disappeared as we pick up and carry on new ones.
For instance, now, when the fourth Thursday in November arrives, likely the first rite observed will be to turn on the TV to watch Snoopy, Garfield and SpongeBob float their way along while the pies bake and turkeys are stuffed. Later, many diners will observe the fairly recent habit of savoring the pumpkin pie with one eye on the TV watching some guy race down a field being chased by other males bent on stopping him by any means, including maim and torture, before he can arrive at the end zone to perform his tribal dance.
Do you think our national holiday has lost some of its luster? Thanksgiving really is more than four days off from school …it is the day before the biggest Christmas shopping day of the year!
This year, between Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the first kickoff, I hope everyone will take a minute to reflect on what there is to be thankful for besides the usual good health, bright and beautiful grandkids, good friends, and a snug home: finally the Never-Ending political campaign is over, gas prices are down some, in a month we’ll start gaining daylight, and you don’t have to write an essay.
