|
The last Thursday in
November is a day our nation comes together, slowing hectic lives and
celebrating time-honored traditions, a day to gather family and friends in
a meal, reflecting what we have to be thankful for, whether those things
be small or large. The Thanksgiving dinner symbolizes the bounty of good
things and not just the food that we have been blessed with. It is a day
in which new immigrants and the young learn to become part of the United
States fabric while elderly and long-standing citizens pay homage to their
past history and remembrances. Although the basic meal and celebration is
similar for all, side dishes and activities differ from family to family.
In every household it is a day eagerly anticipated, a day when waistlines
become constricting and when, inevitably, at least one guest falls asleep
watching a long football game after dinner.
People have long believed that spirits or gods controlled the outcome of
their harvest and paying homage to the harvest gods became an important
part of cultures. The Greeks honored Demeter, goddess of grains, at an
autumn festival, Thesmosphoria. The Romans held the fall festival Cerelia
to honor Ceres, goddess of corn, offering pigs and fruits to her. Harvest
festivals throughout the world continued well after the fall of the Roman
Empire. In England, The Harvest Home celebration was held in the fall
after the fields had been harvested. The Puritans transformed and brought
the fall harvest celebration to North America where it was eventually
transformed into the holiday we know today.
In 1609, the Puritans left England for Holland to flee religious
prosecution. The Puritans became worried their children would come to
adopt the ways of the Dutch, which they considered frivolous and so they
brokered a deal with the Merchant Adventurers, a group of English
investors, to provide the sea passage to America in exchange for seven
years work. In America they would be able to start their own community.
When they landed, it was November, too late to grow crops, and 50 of the
original 110 survived the subsequent harsh winter.
The Pilgrims were concerned about the local Native Americans, but the
nearby tribe was peaceful and on March 16, 1621 a tribe-member came into
their village and said to the Puritan's surprise, "Welcome." His
name was Samoset and he had learned English from fishermen off the cost of
Massachusetts. He lived in a village along with Squanto, another native,
who also spoke English and had spent some time in England after being
rescued by English slavers. Squanto taught the Pilgrims invaluable lessons
about the natural resources of their new land, teaching them how to tap
the maple trees for syrup, which plants were edible, how to grow corn
since the wheat they had brought from England would not grow in the rocky
soil.
By the next fall, the Puritans successfully harvested enough corn for
storage, fruit to dry, fish to salt and meat to cure for the long winter
ahead. Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving to be
hosted by the Puritans with the natives as their honored guests. The feast
lasted three days with games and displays of hunting skill. During the
following year a bountiful harvest was not produced so Thanksgiving was
not held. The third year, there was a severe drought and Bradford declared
a day of fasting and praying; shortly thereafter it rained and a day
of thanksgiving was proclaimed. These original Thanksgivings and
subsequent ones held by the Puritans were holy days. In addition to the
food and games, most of the day was spent in church service. The Puritans
had long since abandoned celebrating many typical Christian holidays such
as the saints days and Christmas which they rejected for being as
blasphemous as holidays with pagan roots like Harvest Home. The Puritans
believed ritual honoring of individuals served only to legitimize an
ecclesiastical hierarchy, something fundamentally un-Christian.
Thanksgivings, however, eased the human need for celebration and joy while
respecting their strict religious beliefs. The holiday of Thanksgiving
spread throughout the thirteen colonies and was heartily adopted by other
Puritans and immigrants who had traveled across the seas to find a new
life. Although people had long given thanks and held harvest festivals,
these celebrations became the first true North American holiday.
The first Thanksgivings were not well documented so it is not precisely
known what was served. The dinner was more than likely eaten outdoors
since no building would have been big enough to accommodate all of the
Puritans and the 90 tribe-members present. The menu probably included
fish, shellfish, dried fruit, corn, berries, fowl and venison. Since it
was the British who were in charge of cooking the meal, it can be safely
assumed that they adapted their cuisine to use these new foods. Thirteen
Pilgrim women were responsible for all of the cooking. British cooking
placed the emphasis on meats, both game and fowl, while wheat or corn
products and fruits were less important. Sweet foods were rare and
would have only been prepared for special banquets such as Thanksgiving.
Venison would have been the main game meat for the meal and, as Edward
Winslow documented in 1621, the tribe had brought five deer to the feast.
The fowl would have included geese, ducks, perhaps a swan and a wild
turkey, quite small compared with today's average size. Some spices,
reserved from the Mayflower voyage, would have been added to the dishes
presented to the more important people at the dinner. There were no dairy
products, as cows had not yet been brought over from Europe. Every dish,
sweet or savory, would have been served at the same time, not in courses.
By the 1640's, Thanksgivings across New England were proclaimed almost
yearly but not without debate. Some ministers and governors felt
that yearly celebrations would instill a feeling of overconfidence in
God's generosity. By the 1660's, Thanksgivings were firmly rooted in
society and no governor tried to exclude the day from the calendar.
The day was still arranged around a series of church services. By the
early 1700's, many communities ceased the afternoon service so people did
not have to walk miles in the cold four times in one day. Since there was
more time not dedicated to prayer or work, games, dancing, ice skating,
and sport became an integral part of the afternoon. Later, as people began
to move far and wide throughout the colonies, the annual pilgrimage home
began to take form.
Outside New England, Thanksgiving was not widely celebrated. As the dinner
portion of the day grew in importance and the harvest was usually
bountiful, more pies were baked and more meats were roasted. Since the
early Colonialists did not celebrate Christmas, some of the usual treats
were sorely missed and so plum pudding and mince pies became an essential
part of the Thanksgiving menu, just as turkey pie and pumpkin pie had
become. In 1705, the town of Colchester, Connecticut postponed
Thanksgiving in order to wait for a shipment of molasses so the
indispensable pumpkin pie could be made.
Thanksgiving proclamations became vehicles for governors and ministers to
endorse the Revolutionary War and the preservation of rights. In 1777, a
national day of Thanksgiving was proclaimed for the 13 colonies after the
colonial army defeated General John Burgoyne in the Hudson Valley. This
put Thanksgiving well on its way to becoming an annual holiday. Even
during the height of the Revolution when many families had to do without
certain foods, Thanksgiving was celebrated from New Hampshire to Georgia.
Because of the war colonialists had no access to raisins for mince pie or
beef for roasts. But celery was just being introduced to the colonies from
England and it was one of the first vegetables to be eaten raw.
A 1779 letter from a schoolgirl in Boston reads, All the baking of pies
and cakes was done at our house and we had the big oven heated and filled
twice each day for three days before it was all done, and everything was
Good, though we did have to do without some things that ought to be used.
Neither Love nor Money could buy Raisins, but our good red cherries dried
without the pits did almost as well . . Of course we could have no Roast
Beef. None of us have tasted any beef this three years back. . .
But, Mayquittymaw's Hunters were able to get us a fine red Deer, so that
we had a good haunch of venison on each Table. These were balanced by huge
Chines of Roast Pork at the other ends of the Tables. Then there was one
big Roast Turkey and on the other a Goose and two big Pigeon Pasties
[pies]. Then there was an abundance of good vegetables of all the old
Sorts and which I do not believe you have yet seen. . . It is called
Sellery [celery] and you eat it without cooking."
Gabriella True from New
York/California writes articles on France, Holidays and Food for www.splendidpalate.com
and other websites. She can be contacted at gabriella@splendidpalate.com. |