Happy Thanksgiving!....or Whatever It's Called...

Well, it's that time of year again. The time when we gather with our loved ones, or family, whichever is available. We eat too much, drink too much, and basically feel ill for 24 hrs. Then, if we're lucky, we eat leftovers for the next few days. I believe that it's the leftovers that make it nearly impossible for us to eat turkey again for a long time. We're so sick of it that we can't stand the thought of eating it again for several months! It's this time of the year that we wrap ourselves in the ignorance that has become our Thanksgiving myth. Curiously, our modern day holiday bears no resemblance to the first Thanksgiving in 1621. Here, courtesy of the History Channel, are a few myths surrounding our overindulgence holiday.

1) The pilgrims had a holiday with the Wampanoag Indians called Thanksgiving in which they gave thanks to God.

The real story- The Pilgrims were there, the Wampanoag Indians were there but that's the only thing the truth and the holiday story have in common. The pilgrims decided to have harvest feast to celebrate a fruitful year. It was a secular feast, not the religious Thanksgiving we are lead to believe. It would have been considered blasphemous to include the Indians in the actual Thanksgiving.

2) The first Thanksgiving lead to the actual Thanksgiving we know now.

The real story- This was a one time deal for the pilgrims. They had a nice dinner, but that's the last dinner they would have as a harvest festival for a long time. The Thanksgiving we know today wasn't started until 1817 by the New York Congress.

3) They ate Turkey, corn, and pumpkin pie.

The real story - Have you ever tried to hunt a turkey? The damned things are hard to shoot, they spook very easy. So why do we think that men with muzzle loaded guns could do it? The truth is that vegetables were out of season, there was little sugar or vanilla, so there were no sweets or vegetables to be had. There were no ovens, so no cakes or pies. The pilgrim hunters tended to shoot foul mainly quail and the like, no turkeys. They were also able to dry venison (deer meat) so it was also served. The few written records on the event show that there was venison, quail and foul, and dried indian corn....that's it.

4) The pilgrims had their feast on the fourth Thursday in November.

The real story - You don't really believe that do you? If you have a harvest feast, it usually occurs around harvest time. So...the feast occurred somewhere between the middle of September and the first of November. The exact date was not recorded.

Well, there you have it. The rest of the story.

Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a good feast!