Thomas Jefferson said “what?” about Thanksgiving? And a few more fun facts about Thanksgiving Day.

So, let’s get started . . .

1. Abraham Lincoln instituted the very first official Thanksgiving in 1863. This was only after Sarah Hale, the author of the nursery rhyme “Mary had a Little Lamb and editor of the woman’s magazine, Lady Godfrey’s Book, bombarded congress with letters and public outcry to make Thanksgiving a national holiday.

2. George Washington wanted a day of thanks, and while some of congress

Thomas Jefferson

supported the idea, Thomas Jefferson said something to effect that an official Thanksgiving Day was one of the stupidest things he’d ever heard of. Hmmm, I wonder what he’d think about it now?

3. On Thanksgiving Day, American’s eat enough to gain an average of 1.3 pounds. And speaking of the holiday feast, did you know that Ben Franklin wanted to make the turkey our national bird? I think we did well in choosing the bald eagle instead, don’t you?

4. The tradition of pardoning a turkey dates back to President Lincoln. When Abe’s son Thad befriended a turkey slated for the Whitehouse dinner table, his father, the most powerful man in the world…saved the critter from a fated demise. Thus, unwittingly pardoning the first turkey. Oh, and for an added layer of information, the turkey’s name was Jack. J

5. Though the tradition of playing football on Thanksgiving has been historically met with controversy from religious folks who want to keep the day dedicated to

giving thanks, football has had a strong hold in the traditions of the day. Thanksgiving Day Football’s popularity exploded when in 1876 Yale and Princeton played their first game in front of a crowd of nearly 40,000 people. Then, in 1934, the Detroit Lions began their Thanksgiving Day traditional game playing the Chicago Bears, followed by the Dallas Cowboys joining in the holiday tradition in 1966. I grew up in Michigan and my aunt, uncle and cousins never missed a Thanksgiving Day Lion’s game . . . regardless of how they played. (My Michigan people understand)

6. In 1924, the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was actually a Christmas Day Parade, and instead of balloons and floats, the event boasted live animals, clowns and cowboys. Created to draw attention to the New York City Macy's store, (AKA) the Macy’s Day Parade paid store employees to dress up in

Felix the Cat

costume and walk with the Central Park Zoo animals six miles from Herald Square to Harlem. The gimmick worked. 250,000 people attended the first parade and the tradition was born. Macy’s kept the same format for three more years. In 1927, Felix the Cat was the first gigantic balloon float . . . and the rest, as they say . . . is history.

7. When and where the actual first Thanksgiving took place is somewhat controversial, but the traditionally celebrated, Pilgrim and Wampanoag attended, Pilgrim Colony located, Thanksgiving feast of 1621, was a three-day feast. Both the Wampanoag and Pilgrims brought food to share. There was a variety of seafood, venison, waterfowl, berries, pumpkins, and wild turkey. Much of the same fair is served on today’s traditional Thanksgiving tables. In fact, it’s estimated that Americans eat 46,000,000 turkeys on Thanksgiving Day alone. Modern Americans have added the cornbread-sausage stuffing (or whatever your geographical area adds to their bread dressing) and gravy but pumpkin and apple pies and corn casserole have a long history of feeding Americans during our Thanksgiving feast.
 

As Thanksgiving quickly approaches, I hope you take a moment to reflect on what fills your heart with thanks. As for me, I can’t help but remember my best friend who passed away a few months ago. On the same day she lost her battle with cancer, I won mine. Life is . . . funny. She made me a better person, and I’m so grateful for her part in my life. I’m also filled with gratitude for a new friend I’ve recently made, and I’m excited to see where our future might lead.

Thanks for joining me today here at Heroes, Heroines and History and I wish you all a very blessed and joyous Thanksgiving Day. 

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Multi award-winning author, Michele K. Morris’s love for historical fiction began when she first read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House book series. She grew up riding horses and spending her free time in the woods of mid-Michigan. Married to her high school sweetheart, they are living happily-ever-after with their six children, three in-loves, and ten grandchildren in Florida, the sunshine state. Michele loves to hear from readers on Facebook, Twitter, and here through the group blog, Heroes, Heroines, and History at HHHistory.com. 

Michele is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.

Thanksgiving Traditions

Thanksgiving Then and Now
by Martha Rogers

For most families, Thanksgiving is a time to come together for good food and good fellowship. Every family has its own traditions. Some of those have been passed down for generations, and some are made new as the family expands and grows.

It’s a holiday that is celebrated in many cultures as a time of giving thanks for a bountiful harvest. Both Canada and the United States celebrate a Thanksgiving Holiday on the North American continent.

Two of the many things associated with fall and Thanksgiving

Good Food

The Colors of the Season

The history of our holiday is based both on legend and fact. The legend has our Pilgrims in the state of Massachusetts being the first to celebrate a harvest after a harsh winter in 1620-21 when they had so little food. During the spring of 1621, it is said that the Wampanoag Iroquois Indians taught the Pilgrims how to grow corn and other crops and how to hunt and fish.

Traditions that stem from that celebration include the foods from the harvest such as corn, barley, beans, cranberries, squash, and pumpkin as well as deer, turkey, and other wild game. The Pilgrims and the Indians came together and celebrated with a large feast.

In 1789, George Washington suggested a date to observe a day of thanksgiving for the nation on November 26 and call it Thanksgiving Day. Later presidents were not so keen on the idea because it seemed to be a religious holiday and violated the separation of church and state. Because of this, only two presidents, John Adams and James Madison were the only two to proclaim a day of thanksgiving.

As early as 1846, the editor of Godey’s magazine published editorials which encouraged readers to celebrate what she called the “Great American Festival” in hopes it would unite the country and avert a war among the states.

In 1863, in the midst of a civil war of such magnitude and severity that it tore our nation apart, Lincoln asked all Americans to set aside the last Thursday of November as a day of giving thanks.

Here is an excerpt from that speech:

“It has seemed to me fit and proper that these gifts should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people; I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea, and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and a Prayer to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.” (Abraham Lincoln, October 3,1863)

Families gathered after the proclamation to give thanks for the blessings they

had received in the previous year.

After that, it became a yearly celebration, and from those early days many traditions have evolved. Family traditions abound from the kind of dressing to be served and the kind of meat with which it is served to the activities planned for the day. Some families use the holiday as a time for family reunions that spread across generations while other may only include the immediate family.

One tradition that seems to be enjoyed by a great many people judged by the crowds which attend them, is that of the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Macy’s parade in New York began in 1924 and is the best known one today. It was immortalized in the film Miracle on 34^th Street. Now, many other cities across our nation have similar parades attended by young and old alike.

Football has also become a tradition dating back to the early days of television in the 1950’s and even earlier on radio. College rivalries made for great games enjoyed by those who attended in person or watched on the screen of their television sets.

This is a picture of my own table ready for Thanksgiving

No matter where you live, or how large or small your family is, Thanksgiving is most likely celebrated at your home or the home of a relative. It is indeed, a day to reflect on and give thanks for God’s great blessings of the past year.

This month, in honor of the holiday, I’m giving away a copy of my novella, Thanksgiving in the Valley. Leave a comment below to tell me about one of your Thanksgiving family traditions to be entered in a drawing for the book, either paperback or e-book. Be sure to leave your email address as well, so I can contact you.

From our house to yours:

Travis fell in love with Violet when she was fourteen. Now, ten years later, he returns to Ridgewood Valley as a lawman and still loves her. Violet has always loved Travis and when he returns from serving in the U.S. Cavalry, her love

grows. Because she’s a preacher’s daughter, and he has less than stellar reputation while in the cavalry, he doesn’t feel worthy of Violet’s love and tries to avoid her. A few days before Thanksgiving, while he is away on a man hunt, Violet is shot during an attempted robbery of the church’s offerings. When Travis returns to town and learns of Violet’s injuries, he realizes he can’t live without her. Will this Thanksgiving Day be one of great blessings for these two hearts?  

Martha Rogers is a multi-published author and writes a weekly devotional for ACFW. Since receiving her first novel contract at age 73, Martha has written and published over 50 books. Martha and her husband Rex live in Houston, Texas where they are active members of First Baptist Church. They are the parents of three sons and grandparents to eleven grandchildren and great-grandparents to five. Martha is a retired teacher with twenty-eight years teaching Home Economics and English at the secondary level and eight years at the college level supervising student teachers and teaching freshman English. She is the Director of the Texas Christian Writers Conference held in Houston in August each year, a member of ACFW, ACFW WOTS chapter in Houston, and a member of the writers’ group, Inspirational Writers Alive.

Find Martha at:  www.marthawrogers.com, www.hhhistory.com                   Twitter:  @martharogers2
          Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarthaRogersAuthor