So for my friends and followers not entitled to a couple of days off work for this holiday, let me being by shedding some light on this day of giving thanks.
Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November with large Thanksgiving dinners being held on this day, usually as a gathering of family members and friends.
In the United States, certain Thanksgiving meals normally feature turkey (so much so that Thanksgiving is sometimes referred to as "Turkey Day"). Stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet corn, vegetables, and pumpkin pie are commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner. As an alternative to turkey, many vegetarians or vegans eat tofurky, it’s unlikely that I will get to try this as me being a veggie is has caused many raised eyebrows and the mention of tofu generally arouses the gag reflex of those Americans in my presence.
So to break it down Barney style; The tradition of Thanksgiving started some four hundred years ago when some of the people in England, for various religious reasons, fled their homes, and went far off to a country called Holland and began to call themselves "Pilgrims."
In Holland, the Pilgrims were happy for a while, but then for further reasons, they made up their minds to move to America. The Mayflower was the vessel which would take them across the sea.
After sailing two months the Mayflower came in sight of land; but instead of finding grass and flowers and birds, there was nothing to be seen but rocks, sand and hard bare ground because it winter.
Some of the Pilgrims went on shore to see if they could find any houses or people, but they only saw some wild Indians, who ran away from them. They searched and searched until they found somewhere to live. Then at last, on Christmas Day, all the tired Pilgrims could leave the ship settled on a spot now called Plymouth Rock. But the weather was cold, the snow fell fast and thick, the wind was icy and they got very sick that first winter. But over time the sun shone more brightly, the snow melted, the leaves began to grow, and spring had come again.
Some friendly Indians had visited the Pilgrims during the winter and one of the kind Indians was called Squanto came to stay with the Pilgrims, and showed them how to plant corn, peas, wheat and barley.
As the seasons passed the Pilgrims learned the land when autumn came, the fathers gathered the barley and wheat and corn that they had planted, and found that it had grown so well that they would have enough for the long winter that was coming.
"Let us thank God for it all," they said. "It is He who has made the sun shine and the rain fall and the corns grow." "Then," said the Pilgrim mothers, "let us have a great Thanksgiving party, and invite the friendly Indians."
So they had the first Thanksgiving party. The men went out hunting, and brought back so many wild ducks and geese and great wild turkeys that there was enough to eat for almost a week. Then the Pilgrim mothers made the corn and wheat into bread and cakes.
The friendly Indians all came with their chief Massasoit and each meal, before they ate anything, the Pilgrims and the Indians gave thanks for everything good that has happened for them. The Indians sang and danced in the evenings, and every day they ran races and played all kinds of games with the children.
And that my friends, is thanksgiving. So now I am off to celebrate and give thanks and eat lots.
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