Thanksgiving facts (and maybe some factoids thrown in too)
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- Thanksgiving’s place as an American public holiday is almost entirely down to the campaigning of nineteenth century journalist and noted bonnet wearer Sarah Josepha Hale. From 1846 until 1863, when Lincoln established legislation to create Thanksgiving as a national holiday, Hale wrote numerous pieces and letters advocating that what, up to then, had been only a New England celebration should be celebrated by the whole nation. Hale was also responsible for penning “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, though she failed to see the obvious cross-promotional opportunity by not rewriting the nursery rhyme. “Mary Had a Little Turkey, its skin was crisp and tasty…”
- On Thanksgiving, American children must watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on penalty of death. 37% of death row inmates in Texas are in for failing to watch Snoopy and Woodstock.
- Mashed sweet potato is a popular side to the Thanksgiving dinner. This will often be served with a marshmallow topping. This is to try and ensure that the US hits its target of all Americans over the age of 15 having type 2 diabetes by 2016.
- On Thanksgiving morning, the President will pardon one turkey of a crime it didn’t commit. 45 million of its innocent comrades will be slaughtered, but this lone turkey survives as a soldier of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find it….maybe you can hire “The Turkey”.
- Many people will try and deep-fry their turkey; some of them will become Darwin Award nominees.
- in 1939, FDR tried to move Thanksgiving. As they were five Thursdays in November, 1939, FDR tried to move the holiday to the second-last Thursday of the month rather than the last Thursday. The thinking was that by not moving Thanksgiving there would be fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas than normal, something the large retailers who lobbied FDR didn’t want. Numerous governors did not go along with the President’s rulings so in various parts of the US Thanksgiving was celebrated on different days. In 1941, FDR moved the holiday back to being held on the last Thursday of the month.
- That Americans flock from all over the country to spend time with their family and yet they call this day “thanksgiving” really puts to bed the notion that Americans don’t do irony.
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Perhaps you’re trying to keep politics out of this blog, but I (an American who has repatriated after many years abroad) just learned something I never knew about Thanksgiving, which is that it’s a holiday whose meaning is subject to political debate.
I mean, I knew it was considered by some to be politically incorrect, a way of glossing over all the bad stuff New World settlers introduced to the Indians (including genocide, smallpox, land-stealing, and alcoholism) by maintaining that the Indians were happy to sit down for a meal and celebrate the successful European invasion.
But it turns out the libertarians, conservatives and now Tea Partiers have gotten their hands on the holiday, seeing it as a parable for why socialism won’t work in this country. By their telling, the Pilgrims were celebrating the bumper crop they’d harvested as a result of abandoning their collectivist ways and embracing capitalism. No, I’m not making it up! See “The Pilgrims Were … Socialists?” by Kate Zernike in this past Sunday’s NYT.
ML Awanohara
November 22, 2010 at 9:25 pm
Not so much keeping politics (or religion, which is an area I do intend to get into too) out of the blog as choosing the right moments or posts to broach it. I always intended my blog to be a lot more reflective and stylistically more like “my rock and a hard place” post from last week. Instead, I’ve settled into a style that is a mixture of snark and self-deprecation, probably as it’s a style that I find easy to write at speed.
I came across, for the first time today when googling for this post, the idea that the pilgrims only succeeded by abandoning socialism, or rather proto-socialism. Thanks for the NYT link. I’ll certainly have a read.
awindram
November 22, 2010 at 9:59 pm
Interesting–I certainly take your point about speed. Reflective takes time, as I’m finding with my own blog. I’ve really slowed down of late–have been envying how prolific you are!
ML Awanohara
November 23, 2010 at 8:01 am
lol @ A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving being required viewing. I didn’t even realize that there was one until two years ago. I’ve always been a big fan of A Charlie Brown Christmas and I watch it every year. I hate most Xmas music but you can pry the Charlie Brown Xmas music from my cold dead hands.
Renee
November 23, 2010 at 7:22 pm
Yeah, A Charlie Brown Christmas is the best of the lot. It (and those other early peanut cartoons from the 60s) have a real charm to them.
The Snowman is probably the English equivalent of A Charlie Brown Christmas or Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer – a cartoon on every Christmas that we have to watch as children. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubeVUnGQOIk
awindram
November 23, 2010 at 10:55 pm
that’s really neat. The music is really nice and so is the animation. not like hearing the Frosty The Snowman song 50 million times, ick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmuJDmjq-xQ
Renee
November 24, 2010 at 12:01 pm
[...] title of this post comes from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, which, as Culturally Discombobulated explains, is required viewing for all American children. Here’s the opening segment, which [...]
Another holiday to worry about | The Sceptical Expat
November 28, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Forget Charlie Brown. Put the children to bed and watch Scent of a Woman instead.
Kate
November 29, 2010 at 6:13 am
lol!
bookmole
December 15, 2010 at 5:08 am
Technically, Thanksgiving is held on the 4th Thursday of the month, which may or may not be the last Thursday in the month of November.
It's Me
December 3, 2010 at 11:46 am
Thanksgiving friggin rocks.
Brah
December 15, 2010 at 12:20 pm
[...] When pondering what to write about Thanksgiving it finally dawned on me that I could simply recycle last year’s post. It contains Thanksgiving facts, some true and some spurious. You can find it here. [...]
Reheated Turkey: Thanksgiving facts (and factoids) « Culturally Discombobulated
November 22, 2011 at 4:01 pm