Sunday 12 October 2008

Thanksgiving

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Tomorrow is officially Canada’s national holiday of celebrating Thanksgiving, set on the second Monday of every October. In the United States Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.

My family has always had the dinner celebration on the Sunday, which is the reason for this post. Actually, I am having two turkey dinners, one at home late this afternoon and one tomorrow with friends.



[2-Pumpkin, squash, berries and Indian corn]


Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a traditional North American holiday, which is a form of harvest festival. Early English settlers took the idea of harvest thanksgiving to North America.

In England, an early Harvest Festival used to be celebrated at the beginning of the Harvest season on 1 August and was called Lammas, meaning ‘loaf Mass’. Farmers made loaves of bread from the fresh wheat crop. These were given to the local church as the Communion bread during a special service thanking God for the harvest.

The date and whereabouts of the first Thanksgiving celebration is a topic of modest contention, though the earliest attested Thanksgiving celebration was on September 8, 1565 in what is now Saint Augustine, Florida. Despite any scholarly research to the contrary, however, the traditional “first Thanksgiving” presented by Chief Massasoit is venerated as having occurred at the site of Plymouth Plantation, in 1621.

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For those celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend enjoy the sumptuous meal: turkey, ham, yams, salads, garden vegetables, bread stuffing, cranberries, mashed potatoes with turkey gravy, bread rolls, followed by pumpkin or apple pie with ice cream; with family or friends.



Researcg: Wikipedia
Photo credits: [1]-reportergimmiTM-CC, [2]-kmontgomery-CC-nc-nd, [3]-www.richardcawood.com-CC-nc.

7 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

I'm thankful for Lana so I guess I am celebrating Thanksgiving.

Travis Erwin said...

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Gary's third pottery blog said...

That is one honking big roasted bird. Happy weekend Barbara!

Barbara Martin said...

Charles, you better take Lana out to dinner then.

Travis, thank you.

Gary, while growing up with three older brothers, my mother always went to the Farmer's Market where she would get a 40-odd pound turkey. Domestic turkeys will get that large, especially the males when they are neutered. Of course, it came fresh back then complete with head wrapped in brown paper with a sturdy string tied around to hold it in place, the feet and the innards. It was a chore getting the bird cleaned, stuffed and squeezed into the oven, often before 6 a.m.; and not fully roasted until 4 p.m. in the afternoon. My mother always roasted meat at 325F for 20 minutes per pound. She had learned to cook and roast meat on one of those cast iron stoves with the fire inside.

Come Tuesday I will definitely be full of turkey, and looking forward to turkey chowder.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Exactly the meal we eat. Have a happy day.

Barbara Martin said...

Patti, thank you.

A said...

In France we do not celebrate Thanksgiving. Y hope your family and friends celebrations will be happy and serene.
Y'm sure that the turkey will be excellent, Y feel the smell here...