Happy Thanksgiving America!

Thanksgiving Day is celebrated with lot of fervor and merry-making in America. Celebrated on the fourth Thursday in the month of November every year, it is a time for communal thanksgiving, feeling gratitude, lavish feasts. It is a time to remember the pilgrims. The original pilgrims celebrated the autumn harvest with a feast of thanks. The feast popularly known as the 'First Thanksgiving Day Feast' was held as a gesture of thanks to almighty God . It was celebrated in the year 1621. After the United States gained independence, Congress recommended one yearly day of thanksgiving for the whole nation to celebrate.

Tribute to Native Indians

Until recently, people believed Thanksgiving Day to be a celebration of pilgrims, offering food to Indians. It is , however, a day marked as a gesture of thanks and gratitude to Lord almighty for his blessings. It is also a celebration to mark the respect towards Indians for teaching the pilgrims how to cook. Pilgrims could not have survived without the help of the native Indians.

Time for celebrating Traditional Harvest

Thanksgiving Day is a time of festivity, family meals and reunions in America. Carved turkeys, Pumpkin Pie, Corns, Cranberry Sauce are the traditional dishes adorning the dinner tables in almost every house. A time for feasting, Thanksgiving Day epitomises the holiday mood of people.

Tradition of Gifting

Thanksgiving is a time for gifting your family and friends. The day is a time to show your gratitude and respect to your elders, friends, your siblings and also your colleagues. Popular gifts include thanksgiving flowers, jewellery, baked cookie hampers, chocolate gift baskets, candy-wreaths, wine etc.

Black Friday and Festive Spirit

Thanksgiving day is the official beginning of the Christmas season. USA witnesses maximum sales volume on the very nest day. The following Friday after thanksgiving is famously known as 'Black Friday'. This is so, because of the standard accounting practice of writing profits in black. The ongoing festive spirit, shopping spree, helps the shopkeepers to register maximum sales and profits. The entire atmosphere during the time is euphoric, people get in a holiday mood. Families visit restaurants, amusement parks, gift each other, decorate their house and make merry to their hearts' content.

Comments

[Haruko]

Good morning from Tokyo. I am so sorry i always forget what time is it in Cyprus. I wanted to tell you that this year our very own thanksgiving day was november 23. Japan’s Thanksgiving Day is called Kinro Kansha no Hi = thanksgiving day for labor…or Labor Thanksgiving Day. On this day, the Japanese express thanksgiving to one another for work done throughout the year.However, before Labor Thanksgiving Day became what it is now, it was called Niinamesai (Harvest Festival). Many churches have a similar festival over here.

[Anastasia]

Hi Haruko. Right now it's 00:31 in Cyprus. A half hour after midnight. Thank you very much for sharing the info about your country. I honestly did not know there was a thanksgiving day in Japan. We don't celebrate Thanksgiving here but we do celebrate Labour Day on May 1st

[Laura]

Thank you for sharing this very informative blog on thanksgiving. I might just as well bake a pumpkin pie for the weekend.Take good care of yourself and have a lovely weekend.

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[Emma]

I cooked literally all day for my two mommies and their mom and my husband, who showed them all how to play Wii Sports. Watching them together pretty much made me fall in love with my husband all over again, so I didn't bristle too much when my mother insinuated she would disown me if the husband and I ever split.I made turkey; homemade cranberry sauce; way too much stuffing; mashed red potatoes with pecorino romano, shallots, and arugula; green beans with lemon-hazelnut butter; and a bourbon-pecan pie with bourbon and chocolate drizzle and vanilla ice cream.I poured boiling water all over myself in the middle of prep, and was already having the heaviest day of my period, but it was still pretty much the best day of the year. I can't wait until next year. Hope I will survive !

I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor

[Anastasia]

My dear Emma, if ony I could be amongst you and yours. Your festive meal sounds like an ode to the palate. Hmmmm...you will survive! I love this song!

[Jeff]

It was a blast......aside from the cousin we hardly ever see, that showed up with his trailer park trash Becky and her 3 kids. 1 of whom felt a need to run her grimmy fingers around the rim of the Red Velevet cake, I'd been eyeing all afternoon.

If ever a person could have been killed by looks alone, that lil trick woulda died on the spot.

[Stefania]

I have heard about thanksgiving celebrated in America but I didn't know what exactly they celebrate and why. Thanks , Anastasia mou, for this very interesting and enlightening information. Have a great weekend

[David P]

I remember looking forward to the extra days off from school. Of course, homework was still part of the four days of my delightful vacation.

Mom, was always busy with cleaning and then it seems like she would spend hours in the kitchen preparing different dishes.

Candy, peanuts lots of other snacks were laid out on the coffee table in the Lazy Susan. All of us were told not to eat too much or, forbidden to even touch the tasty treats as not to spoil our appetite for the big Thanksgiving meal.

Of course, all of us snatched up a morsel or two when mom was not looking!

The frangrance of the homemade meal is still a memory that still elates in the nostrils of my mind.

I cannot forget the noisy clatter in the kitchen in the wee hours of the morning when the Turkey was cleaned and stuffed and then hoisted into the oven with magnificiant care.

Then of course as the clock ticked into several hours, the turkey, now permenating its irrestible smell throughout the house and was brought out temporaily to baste it from its own juices.

Soon one of us would alert mom to a fight that just broke out amongst ourselves, which always got resolved by her discreet yell of "Behave or else!"

I was anxious to see the realitives come in as they showed up at our door, Grandma Hazel and her husband Steve, Aunt Arlene and her family. We also may have my stepmoms sister come in from Skokie, Illnois, Aunt Ruth and Uncle Jack.

I look back and wonder sometimes, how on earth did we make room for all the company?

Dad, was a drinker back then and I remember him always offering people alcoholic beverages. Of course, the kids got soda pop.

Finally we all sat down to eat...us young kids sat at the card table and the adults sat at the dining room table or the kitchen table. A short prayer was said and then we all dug in.

Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, fresh fruit salad, cranberry sliced on a plate. Now, that was a meal I must say, fit for a King!

Stuffed to the gills, no one had room right away for the wonderful desserts that I would sit and stare at!