Thanksgiving and how it has become an American Tradition©

By Arlene Correll

(Painting by Arlene Correll)

When I was a kid growing up and coming out of the “Great Depression’ era, there were only 3 big holidays in our meager lives in Brooklyn, New York.  Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving and some times those days were pretty meager!

However, I can remember some times when we seemed to be sort of flushed and those holidays would be pretty good feasts, sometimes with our relatives and sometimes just our immediate family.

I can remember “friendly” family fights over the wishbone from the Thanksgiving turkey. Known as a "lucky break" the tradition of tugging on either end of a fowl's bone to win the larger piece and its accompanying "wish" dates back to the Etruscans of 322 B.C. The Romans brought the tradition with them when they conquered England and the English colonists carried the tradition on to America.

When we were flush enough to afford a big turkey, our parents got up early in the a.m. to start cooking it.  From the first Thanksgiving to today's turkey burgers, turkeys are an American tradition dating back centuries. According to the National Turkey Federation, 95 percent of Americans eat turkey at Thanksgiving. Regional twists offer variations on the traditional roasted bird, including coffee rubbed turkey from Hawaii, salt encrusted turkey from New England, and deep fried turkey from the South.

I can remember living in both Brooklyn and Queens, that there was a tradition on Thanksgiving morning. We kids would all get dressed up as beggars and go door to door, between 9 a.m. and noon, begging with the question, “Do you have anything for Thanksgiving?”

We all carried sacks because sometimes we would get apples, oranges, nuts, cookies, candy and if we could sing and dance we even had pennies given to us. (We never celebrated Halloween as we know it today.  Our version of Halloween activity was to run up behind kids we did not like in school or hit them with socks filled with flour or draw big lines of colored chalk down the back of their wool coats.)

Thanksgiving Day parade when we were kids. I was 30 years old before I attended my first one and that was to take our kids to see it.

The first American Thanksgiving Day parade was held in 1920, organized by Gimbel's Department Store in Philadelphia, not Macy's as most people believe. The NYC Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade tradition actually began in 1924, and has grown into an annual event of balloons, bands, and floats, enjoyed by more than 46 million people each year in person and on TV.

Did you ever wonder how the Macy’s Day Parade got started?  It actually stems from European tradition.  In the 1920's many of Macy's department store employees were first-generation immigrants.  Proud of their new American heritage, they wanted to celebrate the American holiday with the type of festival they loved in Europe.

Meanwhile, like most everyone in this country, we kids all learned about the pilgrims and the Indians and the feast they apparently served and shared together.  However, most of that is taken out of context and perhaps really all wrong.

of prayer and fasting. It was basically a harvest feast and shared with the Indians who probably brought more food to the feast than the Pilgrims did, because the Pilgrims were ill prepared for their pilgrimage, their harvest was meager and was starving their first winter.

The feast is described in a firsthand account presumably written by a leader of the colony, Edward Winslow, as it appears in Mourt's Relation:

with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty."

From this we know that the feast went on for three days, included 90 "Indians," as Native Americans were called then, and had plentiful food. In addition to the venison provided by the Native Americans, there was enough wild fowl to supply the village for a week. The fowl included ducks, geese, turkeys and even swans.

I have uncovered some interesting facts while trying to really figure out what Thanksgiving means in this country and especially where it came from.

Also, I tried to discover what other nations have a similar holiday; what’s it called and how it is celebrated.  Did you know that eight nations of the world have official Thanksgiving Days? The nations are Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Korea, Liberia, Switzerland and the United States.

In 1997, the 185 nations of the United Nations proclaimed the year 2000 as the International Year of Thanksgiving and asked The Center to help deliver messages of gratitude and thanksgiving to the world.

In South America, many of the native Indian cultures contain expressions of gratitude and thanksgiving, and in modern Brazil a special public day of thanksgiving and prayer has been designated for the fourth Thursday of November every year since 1949.

In the British Isles and Europe, the harvest thanksgiving is observed in Protestant and Catholic churches with special altar decorations. In Belfast, Northern Ireland, land has been set aside to establish a Thanksgiving Square there.

When plans for the square in Belfast were announced, then Secretary of State Dr. Mo Mowlam said, "Northern Ireland has known much pain and suffering. Now we are at the beginning of a new era of peace and prosperity. The creation of this place of thanksgiving is symbolic of a better tomorrow for us all."

The board of Belfast's Thanksgiving Square includes people of all faiths and cultures, but the patron is Myrtle Smyth, a woman intent on spreading the message that thanksgiving can heal. In 1999, Smyth attended the Thanksgiving World Assembly in Dallas, Texas, where leaders met to talk about capitalizing on the good things in life. That experience encouraged Smyth to continue her quest to establish a Thanksgiving Square in her native Belfast.

Throughout history, countries in Asia—including Japan, India, Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka—have hosted festivals in gratitude for each year's rice harvest. In Africa, many tribal expressions of gratitude are similar to this ancient prayer: "The year has come around again, great

Lord of our land—never can we thank you for your good deeds and all your blessings."

Canada seemed to have a difficult time deciding when a day of Thanksgiving should occur. From 1879 to 1898 it was celebrated on a Thursday in November; from 1899 to 1907 on a Thursday in October (except in 1901 and 1904 when it was celebrated on a Thursday in November); from 1908 to 1921 on a Monday in October; and between 1922 and 1930 the Armistice Day Act declared that Thanksgiving would be celebrated on Armistice Day, the Monday of November 11. In 1931 the Act was amended and the old practice of Parliament declaring a day of Thanksgiving each year was resumed.
 
On January 31, 1957 Parliament issued a proclamation to fix permanently the second Monday in October as "a day of general Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.“
 
Much like the United States’ Thanksgiving Day, the Canadian celebration includes parades and festive meals, often including turkey and all the “fixins.“ Yet, again, at the heart of the celebration is the idea of giving thanks for the goodness of the season past.

Thanksgiving and gratitude have marked important milestones in American life for hundreds of years.  I think it is still important to continue the tradition especially as our lives get busier and many families get scattered all over the country.  However, there no longer seems to be any, “Over the river and thru the woods to Grandmother’s house we go”, as the old song goes.  I can remember us kids singing that for the adults.

Here are the words. Written By: Lydia Maria Child; Music By: Unknown

Over the river and thru the wood,
To grandfather's house we go;
The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh,
Thru the white and drifted snow, oh!

Over the river and thru the wood,
Oh, how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes and bites the nose,
As over the ground we go.

Over the river and thru the wood,
To have a first-rate play;
Oh, hear the bell ring, "Ting-a-ling-ling!"
Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day-ay!

Over the river and thru the wood,
Trot fast my dapple gray!
Spring over the ground,

Like a hunting hound!
For this is Thanksgiving Day.

Over the river and through the wood,
And straight through the barnyard gate.
We seem to go extremely slow
It is so hard to wait!

Over the river and through the wood --
Now Grandmother's cap I spy!
Hurrah for fun! Is the pudding done?
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie

The Thanksgiving holiday celebrated each November in the United States is a cherished American tradition, but its roots go far back into human history, according to research conducted by The Center for World Thanksgiving at Thanks-Giving Square.

According to research conducted by The Center for World Thanksgiving at Thanks-Giving Square, the first Americans observed rituals and ceremonies to express gratitude to a higher power for life itself. A Seneca Indian ritual, for example, states, "Our Creator ... Shall continue to dwell above the sky, and this is where those on the earth will end their thanksgiving." Another quotation attributed to American Indians before Columbus is, "The plant has its nourishment from the earth and its limbs go up this way, in praise of its Maker ... like the limbs of a tree."

In prehistoric times, the first Americans observed rituals and ceremonies to express gratitude to a higher power for life itself.

Timeline of American Thanksgiving Holiday

Today, Thanksgiving heralds the coming of Christmas.  The day after Thanksgiving, often an additional day off has become “Black Friday” the day when the Christmas shopping frenzy first starts. Like football, this has become a cultural symbol of the holiday and the season.

Thanksgiving is the day we all go off our diets and stuff ourselves with mash potatoes, gravy, stuffing (my favorite part of the bird), cranberry sauce, and all sorts of goodies, including deserts.

Classic Thanksgiving Stuffing

Optional Ingredients:
1/2 c. dried cranberries or 3/4 c. fresh cranberries
1 tart apple (like Granny Smith), diced
1/2 c. nuts (like walnuts or pecans)

Directions:
Sauté onion and celery in butter until soft.

Add herbs and stir the mixture.

In a large bowl, toss onion mixture with the bread and any of the optional ingredients.

Pour stock over the bread mixture to evenly coat.

Put stuffing in the turkey and follow cooking instructions for the turkey. Or, place stuffing in a buttered casserole dish and bake at 350°F for 30-40 minutes.

And what is Thanksgiving without Pumpkin Pie?  

milk, sugar, and spices (mixture usually consisting of cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and cloves).  Considered a "soft" pie because it is made with an unbaked crust and uncooked filling that is baked until the crust has browned and the filling is set.  After letting the pie cool to room temperature, it is usually served with a dollop of softly whipped cream.  Shall we all give thanks to Libby? They are the guys who pureed the pumpkin and put it in a can.  How easy can it get?

Ginger Pumpkin Pie

Minced Pie was a must in our house, both at Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I love it to this day!

Centuries ago, pies, tarts, and tartlets were all characterized by having a filling in a pastry crust or “coffin.” A small pie was known as a tartlet and a tart was a large, shallow open pie (this is still the definition in England). Mince pies have changed in shape and content over the years. Three centuries ago, a mince pie was a huge dish called “Christmas pye” and described as “a most learned mixture of Neats-tongues (ox tongue), chicken, eggs, sugar, raisins, lemon and orange peel, various kinds of spicery, etc.” Over the years, the pies grew smaller, and the meat content was gradually reduced until the pies were simply filled with a mixture of suet, spices and dried fruit, previously steeped in brandy. This filling was put into little pastry cases that were covered with pastry lids and then baked in an oven. Essentially, this is today’s English mince pie.

When mincemeat is made in the English kitchen, all the family takes turns in stirring and making a secret wish. The mixture is always stirred clockwise, the direction in which the sun is assumed to proceed around an earth at the center of the universe. To stir in a counter-clockwise direction is to ask for trouble in the coming year!

Today, we can get great mince pie filling in a jar.

Mince Pie

1 pie shell
1 1/2 c. mince meat
3 c. sliced apples
1 c. flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
3 tbsp. butter

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spread mince meat over bottom of pie shell. Arrange apple slices on top. Combine flour and sugar. Cut in butter to make crumbs. Sprinkle over apples. Bake at 400 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes. Serve warm.

Mince Pie for the Die Hard

4 lbs. lean beef
3 lbs. currants
2 lbs. beef suet
¹/₂ lb. finely cut citron
Baldwin apples
1 quart cooking brandy
3 quinces
1 tablespoon cinnamon and mace
3 lbs. sugar
1 tablespoon powdered clove
2 cups molasses
2 grated nutmegs
2 quarts cider
1 teaspoon pepper
4 lbs. raisins, seeded and cut in pieces
Salt to taste

Cover meat and suet with boiling water and cook until tender, cool in water in which they are cooked; the suet will rise to top, forming a cake of fat, which may be easily removed. Finely chop meat, and add it to twice the amount of finely chopped apples. The apples should be quartered, cored, and pared, previous to chopping, or skins may be left on, which is not an objection if apples are finely chopped. Add quinces finely chopped, sugar, molasses, cider, raisins, currants, and citron; also suet, and stock in which meat and suet were cooked, reduced to one and one-half cups. Heat gradually, stir occasionally, and cook slowly two hours; then add brandy and spices.

Thanksgiving Apple Cranberry Tart

Ingredients:
1 pkg. of pre-made piecrust (contains two circles of dough)
1 egg
2 T. water
Cinnamon and sugar mixture
1 c. fresh cranberries (or 1/2 c. dried cranberries)
2 small (or 1 large) baking apples (like Granny Smith), diced or sliced with a food processor
1/2 c. nuts (like pecans or walnuts), chopped
1 T. lemon juice
1 T. flour
1/4 c. brown sugar
2 T. butter

Directions:
Roll out one of the piecrusts into an 11-inch circle. Press into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Poke holes in the dough with a fork.

Beat to combine egg and water. Brush crust with the egg mixture. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake for 15 min at 375°F, or until golden brown.

In a bowl, combine the apples, cranberries and nuts. Toss with lemon juice, flour and brown sugar. Place in baked tart shell, mound slightly in the middle. Cut butter into small pieces and place on top of the apple mixture. With a cookie cutter, cut Thanksgiving shapes (like leaves or small turkeys) out of the other piecrust and place them on top of the apple mixture. (Alternatively, cut the crust with a knife and weave together the strips to form a lattice.) Brush top crust with egg mixture and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 375°F for about 1 hour, until mixture bubbles.

Cooking your turkey. 

Thanksgiving Turkey Tips:

• To figure out how what size turkey you will need, plan for .5 lbs per person. If you want to have leftovers, plan for .75 lbs per person.
• Make sure to remove the giblets from the cavity of the turkey before cooking.
• Rinse and dry the turkey, salt the inside cavity and put butter or oil on the skin.
• If you are stuffing your turkey, add 15 min. per pound to the total cooking time.
• Tent the turkey with foil for the first half of the cooking to help retain moisture in the meat.
• Let the turkey rest for 30 min. (out of the oven) before carving. This will let the juices return to the meat and give you a tender and juicier finished product.

Turkey Soup is an inevitable thing!

One of the things I like best about Thanksgiving and Christmas...the turkey carcass. I can hardly wait for the dinner to be over so I can get what's left to throw in the soup pot. Turkey soup has got to be the best part of the whole turkey eating process.

The leftover turkey sandwich runs a close second so I usually save some of the meat for that purpose. But once I have had 1 or 2 sandwiches, in the pot she goes.  I love cold turkey sandwiches on rye bread with lots of mayo, lettuce, salt and pepper.

I love hot turkey sandwiches with stuffing and gravy, but most of all I love Turkey soup!

Each Turkey Soup is it's Own Creation

I really don't have any particular recipe for turkey soup and it usually depends what other leftovers are available. Each soup has a personality of its own, kind of like a work of art. In my opinion anything goes when it comes to turkey soup making.

The Whole Carcass Goes in the Pot

I usually start by breaking up the carcass into smaller pieces, cracking the larger bones, and throw the whole works into the pot (usually my biggest pot). Then I cover it with water by 2 or 3 inches and simmer it over a very low heat while covered.

Simmer Until the Meat Falls off the Bones

After a few hours the meat will start to fall off the bones. Once the meat is free of all the bones I run the soup through a strainer and let the stock cool. I separate all the bones from the meat and discard them.

Once the stock has completely cooled, I skim the fat from the surface and return the stock to the pot and reheat it. The meat is returned to the pot along with an onion or two, a couple of bay leaves, and a good amount of minced garlic.

Barley, Rice, noodles or Macaroni

I usually like to use either barley, rice, noodles, or macaroni in my soup, with a preference for rice. I throw a handful or two in the pot before any other vegetables go in. The same with barley, noodles or macaroni. Once this becomes tender, then I begin adding my veggies.

No Vegetable is Safe from the Pot

I personally like lots of vegetables in my turkey soup. Potatoes, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, peas, celery, and green pepper are among my favorite vegetables to use...but I wouldn't rule any out. It depends what I have on hand and I especially like using any leftovers from the turkey dinner. Remember green pepper, broccoli and cauliflower are going to give a different flavor to your soup.

I often use potatoes to thicken the soup somewhat and will add a few right away and let them cook right down. After they have completely dissolved then I start adding the other vegetables, plus a few more potatoes, saving the broccoli and green pepper for last.

Add the Seasonings You Like

Once the vegetables are tender, add your favorite seasonings. If the soup isn't thick enough, mix a little flour and water and add it to the soup, bringing it to a boil until it thickens. If it is too thick, add a little more hot water. Remove the bay leaves and serve.

Turkey Soup is Indestructible

The main thing is...don't be scared to experiment. You can't hurt a turkey soup and I find that each year they just get better and better. If there is any soup that isn't eaten just put it in the freezer for later. Remember...its a long time between Christmas and Thanksgiving

So, when all is said and done, after the day, after the turkey hash, turkey sandwiches, and turkey soup, last, but certainly not least, Thanksgiving is about giving thanks for the people and blessings of the past year. From pre-meal prayers to providing holiday meals to the homeless, the holiday is truly a celebration of praise and thanksgiving.

 “Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… may your day be filled with….Peace, light and love, 

Arlene Correll  

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