Thanksgiving USA

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Thanksgiving USA

***** Location: USA
***** Season: Early Winter
***** Category: Observance

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Explanation

Thanksgiving, a holiday we celebrate in the US by eating way too much and watching American Football--Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday in November. It has been celebrated on this day since 1941 on the fourth Thursday of November.
Kate




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The Pilgrims' 1621 Thanksgiving

The tradition of the Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving is steeped in myth and legend. Few people realize that the Pilgrims did not celebrate Thanksgiving the next year, or any year thereafter, though some of their descendants later made a "Forefather's Day" that usually occurred on December 21 or 22. Several Presidents, including George Washington, made one-time Thanksgiving holidays. In 1827, Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale began lobbying several Presidents for the instatement of Thanksgiving as a national holiday, but her lobbying was unsuccessful until 1863 when Abraham Lincoln finally made it a national holiday with his 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation.

Today, our Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday of November. This was set by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939 (approved by Congress in 1941), who changed it from Abraham Lincoln's designation as the last Thursday in November (which could occasionally end up being the fifth Thursday and hence too close to Christmas for businesses). But the Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving began at some unknown date between September 21 and November 9, most likely in very early October. The date of Thanksgiving was probably set by Lincoln to somewhat correlate with the anchoring of the Mayflower at Cape Cod, which occurred on November 21, 1620 (by our modern Gregorian calendar--it was November 11 to the Pilgrims who used the Julian calendar).

There are only two contemporary accounts of the 1621 Thanksgiving: First is Edward Winslow's account, which he wrote in a letter dated December 12, 1621. The complete letter was first published in 1622, and is chapter 6 of Mourt's Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth.

Foods Available to the Pilgrims for their 1621 Thanksgiving

FISH: cod, bass, herring, shad, bluefish, and lots of eel.

SEAFOOD: clams, lobsters, mussels, and very small quantities of oysters

BIRDS: wild turkey, goose, duck, crane, swan, partridge, and other miscellaneous waterfowl; they were also known to have occasionally eaten eagles (which "tasted like mutton" according to Winslow in 1623.)

OTHER MEAT: venison (deer), possibly some salt pork or chicken.

GRAIN: wheat flour, Indian corn and corn meal; barley (mainly for beer-making).

FRUITS: raspberries, strawberries, grapes, plums, cherries, blueberries, gooseberries (these would have been dried, as none would have been in season).

VEGETABLES: small quantity of peas, squashes (including pumpkins), beans

NUTS: walnuts, chestnuts, acorns, hickory nuts, ground nuts

HERBS and SEASONINGS: onions, leeks, strawberry leaves, currants, sorrel, yarrow, carvel, brooklime, liverwort, watercress, and flax; from England they brought seeds and probably planted radishes, lettuce, carrots, onions, and cabbage. Olive oil in small quantities may have been brought over, though the Pilgrims had to sell most of their oil and butter before sailing, in order to stay on budget.

OTHER: maple syrup, honey; small quantities of butter, Holland cheese; and eggs.

Read a lot more about it here:
http://members.aol.com/calebj/thanksgiving.html


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Thanksgiving History

The Plymouth Thanksgiving Story
A very informative collection of information, including some challenging observations from a Native American viewpoint. Recommended reading!

Plymouth, Massachusetts: It's History and People

Thanksgiving Articles by Ralph F. Wilson.

The First Thanksgiving Proclamation

http://www.2020tech.com/thanks/

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More information about the Pilgrims and Thanksgiving

PILGRIMS ^ The Pilgrims were a Separatist group. They left England because King James I did not permit religious freedom. Everyone was expected to belong to the Church of England.

MAYFLOWER COMPACT ^ The Pilgrims signed an agreement for self-government.

SQUANTO ^ the colonists' Indian interpreter and friend. He had learned English from explorers. He lived at the Plymouth Colony. He taught the Pilgrims how to live in the wilderness and showed them how to plant crops. The Indians gave the Pilgrims seeds for Indian corn. Squanto died in 1622.

MASSASOIT ^ the chief of the Wampanoag Indians. A peace treaty was signed and not broken by either side.

The FIRST THANKSGIVING ^ The winter was very difficult. Half of the Pilgrims died. But the harvest in 1621 was bountiful.The Pilgrims had their first Thanksgiving feast. They had Indian corn. Four Pilgrims hunted wild turkeys. Fishermen caught cod and bass. The Pilgrims invited Massasoit, who came with 90 Indians. Indian hunters brought five deer. The feast lasted three days.

Read the full story here:
http://eleaston.com/thanks-history.html

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Worldwide use

Guyana

kigo for the wet season

In Guyana we are getting now celebrating Thanksgiving(US holiday) every year especially in the city of Georgetown. Maybe because everyone here probably has a close relative now in USA especially in New York.

opening flowers
in the early sun
thanksgiving

tree shades
by the wayside
thanksgiving

resurrection
of the burnt out store
thanksgiving

Kenneth Daniels
(Guyana, 2009)

THE SOUTH AMERICAN SAIJIKI


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Things found on the way

Haibun

In 1620 a band of Puritan Pilgrim families sailed aboard the Mayflower from England to the New World. In that harsh New England Winter nearly half of their number perished. The following year, with the help of the Native American Indians, their homes were strong and harvest bountiful, they would survive. With this new hope no ordinary harvest feast but a festival was held. Now every year, the last Thursday of November, we celebrate with parades and football games, we gather our families together and have a Thanksgiving Day feast. We say prayers and count ourselves blessed for the roof over our heads, the pantry stocked, the table filled with food and surrounded with love.

slowly looking
around the table
Thanksgiving Day
.. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Thanksgiving Day parade
the New York cold
on TV

Michael Baribeau


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Children's Poem for Thanksgiving
Author unknown

For all the grandmas in the world
For all the grandpas too
For Mommy and my Daddy
For happy things to do
For food to eat and friends too love
Dear God I want to say
That I am very thankful
On this Thanksgiving Day

Michael Baribeau

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HAIKU

Thanksgiving --
all my favorite colors
in the sunset

Cindy

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Thanksgiving Day-
watching football
out the window

Michael Baribeau


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Related words

***** Roasted Turkey



Roasting a bird unstuffed is faster. If you like stuffing but want to spend less time in the kitchen, bake it alongside the turkey instead of inside it.
Don't let low holiday prices seduce you into buying the biggest turkey you can find. Smaller birds thaw faster, cook faster, are more succulent, and far easier to handle. If you're eager for leftovers, buy two and roast the second while you eat your holiday meal.

More recipies are here:
http://www.outofthefryingpan.com/recipes/turkey.roasted.shtml

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All the stats you'd ever want to know on
turkeys, cranberries, sweetpotatoes, pumpkin pie, stuffing, mashed potatoes, football games, and clogged drain pipes.
Thanksgiving by the Numbers
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1123/p20s01-ussc.html
gK, November 2005


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Thanksgiving baking
The recipe book dusted
With last year's flour.

Happy Haiku Forum, butterflypsyche


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image credit - www.pinterest.com

Thanksgiving-
a presidential pardon
lets the turkey roam free

Angelee Deodhar
2013

In modern times the President of the United States, in addition to issuing a proclamation, will "pardon" a turkey, which spares the bird's life and ensures that it will spend the duration of its life roaming freely on farmland.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !



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turkey 七面鳥 shichimenchoo
Meleagris gallopavo

animal topic for all seasons




Smoke and fog mingle-
the wild turkeys run to me
hungry for some grain

Lisette Root
Happy Haiku Forum, January 2011


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looking past
an Angelina Jolie face --
Princess Turkey

Chen-ou Liu, Canada

Note
Princess Turkey is a delicious North American Chinese dish made up of turkey mince with mushrooms and bamboo shoots, sometimes ham included.

Kigo Hotline, January 2011


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. "mountain turkey", yama shichimenchoo
山七面鳥（やましちめんちょう） 　
another name for
wild goose, nogan 野雁（のがん）

animal kigo for late autumn


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Canadian Thanksgiving

Harvest Thanksgiving (Christian communities) Harvest Festival,


Worldkigo Database

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