Christina's Take on Turkey (Day)

I love tradition, party planning and holidays, but Thanksgiving is probably my fourth favorite holiday. It’s not that I dislike it, because of course I love getting together with family to give thanks, eating green bean casserole and having a “holiday weekend,” but it ranks below Halloween, Christmas and Easter. Why is that? Maybe because I don’t like the color brown. Or maybe because I am not a fan of pumpkin pie.

So when writing this article, I decided to look back into history and see how the tradition of Thanksgiving dinner began. In the back of my mind, I remembered hearing that the Pilgrims and Indians didn’t actually eat turkey, cranberries and sweet potatoes. What’s the deal then? I need to be accurate in my knowledge before my 4-year old starts asking questions.

The first Thanksgiving was actual called a “harvest celebration” and was between the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag. Although wild turkey was in their diet, there was never any mention of it in history, when referring to the “big day.” And there also would have been cranberries in both the settlers and the Wampanoag’s meal, but certainly not as sauce with added sugar. Spices (sugar included) were very expensive at this time in England, so the odds that a settler would have access to it would be slim to none. I could continue to explain how both white and sweet potatoes were also not introduced at that time, but I think you get the picture.

I naturally then wondered how we all came to eat the exact same meal the last Thursday in November every year? It is agreed by historians that the term “Thanksgiving” came to be 200 years after that 1621 celebration. The day refers to the Separatists of colonial New England that celebrated three holy days, one of which was a feast of thanks. This was celebrated after continued hardships were solved (like not receiving supplies from England for many months.) It actually would have been a day with lengthy church services and a day of fasting!

Over the years, as new colonists and new faiths came to America, the holiday became more secular and eventually was established by the government. Surely this must have been when the menu was created?

I searched high and low and I found very little that explains the origin of our current Thanksgiving menu. It is generally agreed that turkey is served as a nod to the Pilgrims – who ate wild turkey. Otherwise, it is believed that the side dishes were chosen around the same time that Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving to be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of every Thanksgiving, in 1863. And finally, it makes sense to believe that the menu was chosen to go with the Autumn season and the coming Christmas holiday.

But who created my favorite – the green bean casserole? It remains a mystery, at least to me. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

To read other blogs by Christina Ramon, founder of Mommy Wisdom, please visit http://mommywisdomblog.blogspot.com/