Holiday holds odd placement

by Kay Hoflander

November 26, 2005

As our story begins, Robert is confused about when Thanksgiving Day will happen this year.

Robert (aka Robby to his family) is away at college studying weighty and honors-level curriculum. Robby is also planning the trip home for Thanksgiving break.

Note: The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

“So just when is Thanksgiving this year?” Robby asks.

To which Mom incredulously replies, “It is always the fourth Thursday of each November. How could you possibly have missed that all the way through grade school and high school!”

Robby comes back with, “But Mom, the date is different each year.”

Mom rejoins in her best impression of Charlie Brown characters Lucy and Linus, and cries in mortification, “Argh, you Blockhead!”

To which Robby, who by all standards is quite brainy, proceeds to give Mom a history lesson on Thanksgiving. He just does not know when it falls this year. Sure knows his history though.

Here, then, is the abridged version of “The History of Thanksgiving Day”, according to Robby and Mom, student and editor, in that respective order.

• The Pilgrims arrived in America in the fall of 1620 after fleeing religious persecution in England. The trip had a stopover in Holland where they lived awhile collecting their fortunes. Unfortunately, the Dutch were too loose in their lifestyle for the Pilgrims’ liking. The Pilgrims thought the Dutch might corrupt their children and destroy morality. So, off they sailed after a few years to a new land filled with hope and freedom.


• Luckily, when they arrived at Plymouth Rock, now well-known to all school-age children, they found the perfect spot to locate. It was a campground, long abandoned by Native Americans. A clear fresh-water stream was nearby, and a variety of wildlife and native flora were plentiful.


• Unfortunately, the first winter was brutal and nearly half the settlers died from both illness and the cold, harsh weather. By the next year with the help of friendly English-speaking natives, Samoset and Squanto of the Abnaki tribe, the Pilgrims were able to survive and enjoy a bountiful harvest. Some speculate this occurred during the full moon of October.


• Time to celebrate, and, celebrate they did! Most historical records of that first thanksgiving celebration, as proclaimed by Pilgrim Governor William Bradford, say it lasted three days.


• Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoag, and his tribe joined the Abnaki and the Pilgrims at the festival. After all, they had all worked together planting crops, salting meat, and tapping maple trees for sap. They played games, ran races, and just had a jolly old time, not to mention the fact that the food they enjoyed was strange, quirky, and quite delicious. Turkey, salted deer meat, corn, fish soup, berries and nuts were the fare of the day.


• The custom continued throughout the years even though some harvests were bleak.


• During the American Revolutionary War in the late 1770’s, the Continental Congress suggested a day of national thanksgiving.


• On Nov. 26, 1789, George Washington issued a day of proclamation and a public day of “thanks-giving” and prayer.


• President Abraham Lincoln also declared “a day of thanksgiving and praise” on the last Thursday of November, 1863.


• For 75 years after that, the President of the United States formally designated each year that Thanksgiving Day would be celebrated on the last Thursday of November.


• In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt knew that businesses needed help staying afloat during the Depression and decided to lengthen the shopping period before Christmas. He set Thanksgiving one week earlier in order to help out the economy. No kidding. Pundits say he would have done anything back then to get the country out of the Depression. When he changed it to the third week of November, some folks took to calling it “Franksgiving!”


• Finally, in 1941, Congress ruled that the fourth Thursday of November would be the official day of Thanksgiving and would, thereafter, be a legal, federal holiday.

Now, you know all Robby knows about Thanksgiving and more, but I digress. Back to our story.

Robby, still not clear on when Thanksgiving will occur this year, asks Mom what day she plans to have her big Thanksgiving feast.

In desperation and with her voice filled with resignation, Mom replies, “Hey honey, do this. Check the TV listings for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. That is the day we will have our big dinner.”

“OK, Mom. See ya. By the way, I have a ton of laundry I am bringing home.”

Sigh. “Bye son.”

End of true story.