Thanksgiving tradition

How Did Thanksgiving Become an American Tradition?

/ sandramervillehart

by Sandra Merville Hart

As an author of several Civil War novels, I’ve read many soldiers’ diaries and daily journals. It’s a fascinating glimpse into army camps, battles, attitudes, beliefs, and even the weather.

One tidbit I learned in a soldier’s diary is that the annual celebration of Thanksgiving in his state took place in October. That made me curious about those early celebrations.

On October 3, 1789, President Washington issued a proclamation declaring Thursday, November 26, 1789, a national day of thanks to God. He reminded Americans that the Almighty’s care and provision had led them through the Revolution and helped them establish a new government and Constitution.

There were public celebrations and church services. Washington attended St. Paul’s Chapel in New York City. Those who were imprisoned for debts in the city weren’t forgotten—Washington gave them food and beer.

The proclamation did not establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday. Presidents John Adams and James Madison issued their own proclamations but none of these established a yearly celebration.

Some states began to choose days for an annual Thanksgiving, with New York as the first in 1817. There was no uniformity of the date selected and not every state participated.

Beginning in 1827, Sarah Josepha Hale, writer of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and editor of Godey’s Lady Book, wrote letters to presidents and other politicians in hopes they’d establish a national day of Thanksgiving. Those letters continued for 36 years. As the unrest between the North and South escalated, Sarah hoped that declaring the holiday would unite people. She urged President Lincoln to make it a permanent custom and became known as the “Mother of Thanksgiving” for her efforts.

President Lincoln was the one to set aside the last Thursday in November as an annual observance of the day in 1863—during the middle of the Civil War.

In 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt moved the holiday to the fourth Thursday in November to allow for an extra week of Christmas shopping.

Today we celebrate the holiday with family and friends. Turkey is the traditional main dish with a variety of side dishes and pumpkin pie for dessert. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and watching sports are also a mainstay. I enjoy watching Christmas movies after the dishes are done.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sources

History.com Editors. “Thanksgiving 2024,” History.com, 2024/11/20 https://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving.

Maranzani, Barbara. “How the ‘Mother of Thanksgiving’ Lobbied Abraham Lincoln to Proclaim the National Holiday,” History.com, 2024/11/20 https://www.history.com/news/abraham-lincoln-and-the-mother-of-thanksgiving.

Silverman, David J. “Thanksgiving Day,” Britannica, 2024/11/20 https://www.britannica.com/place/Turkey/The-central-massif.

“Thanksgiving (United States),” Wikipedia, 2024/11/20 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_(United_States).

A Humble Thanksgiving Meal for the Ingalls

/ sandramervillehart

by Sandra Merville Hart

I recently read On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Her family moved to Minnesota when she was seven and first stayed in a sod house built into the creek bank. The details of everyday life in the 1870s fascinated me.

The Ingalls family was very poor. They had moved into the sod house too late to plant crops so finances were tight. The author described the family’s Thanksgiving meal.

Cooking was challenging because there wasn’t a fireplace in the sod home. Their small stove didn’t have an oven.

Her pa had shot a wild goose for their supper that her ma cooked into a stew. She also made dumplings that were cooked in the gravy.

The family ate mashed potatoes and corn dodgers (hearty cornmeal bread similar to corn muffins) served with butter and stewed dried plums. Milk was their beverage.

What grabbed my attention is what they did to remember the humble meal of the Pilgrims before the Native Americans helped them.

Three grains of parched corns sat beside each tin plate, a tradition that reminded them that’s all the Pilgrims had to eat on the long-ago day. How their new neighbors changed the course of their lives that day! There was much to be grateful for.

Laura considered the corn a treat as she thought of the Pilgrims. It was crunchy and brown. The sweet taste crackled on her tongue as she ate it.

I love learning about long-forgotten holiday traditions. Some of them find a home in my historical novels. 😊

Sources

Wilder, Laura Ingalls. On the Banks of Plum Creek, HarperTrophy, 1971.