By admin on Dec 1, 2008 in Home And Family | 0 Comments
Lillian Wills asked:
There are many dishes that are found throughout the United States that are considered traditional Thanksgiving food. It is up to you and what you feel is a tradition that your ancestors wanted you to teach your family and friends through food and activities that are being held during the Thanksgiving holiday. You may be people that are bringing dishes to help you out while you are hosting.
Traditional Thanksgiving food is a wonderful thing to have knowledge about especially if you have the recipes to make it all. You can pass them down to the younger generations so they can teach their own kids about importance that our ancestors want them all to know about Thanksgiving. So make sure you have room for more recipes when your guests bring their dishes over which can include any of the following.
A Thanksgiving traditional dish is a vegetable tray to start the whole event off with so that you can keep their hungry under control while the turkey finishes cooking. It can be served with a fresh dill dip.
With all the vegetables available after harvest, green beans can be used in several dishes. This traditional Thanksgiving dish there is green beans, ham, onions and potatoes.
You may want to serve a cheese ball with cracker as an appetizer to keep the guests happy while they are enjoying football or hockey. There are various kinds of cheeses to choose from and make sure that the nut that is on the outside is one that no one is allergic to.
As the host you need to make sure that your guests are comfortable, so you may offer them a drink of some kind or if you have an open kitchen they can have access to a cooler full of a variety of drinks. This makes you look great in the guest’s eyes because you are helping them take care of a need.
A traditional favorite for Thanksgiving is deviled eggs. No matter where you go they are there as an appetizer.
A fresh green salad can also be a great starter when we are talking about a feast that last hours. It is traditional on Thanksgiving to feel so full that you are ready to take a nap.
You can enjoy your Thanksgiving with numerous appetizers or even starters but for a traditional dinner it is all about the turkey and mashed potatoes. The rest of the equation is easy. Make sure everyone is having a good time and that everyone is getting plenty to eat remember to include that famous pecan pie that grandma used to make.
By admin on Nov 28, 2008 in News And Society | 0 Comments
Dominique Halet asked:
Traditions of Thanksgiving in Canada
Like all the harvest festivals throughout history, the overt celebration of gratefulness of the Earth’s bounteousness is through a fabulous feast! Gathering up with the family for a day of enjoyment and fellowship is easier in Canada than in many other countries. While the official Thanksgiving Day is on Monday, Canadians usually celebrate it during the entire three-day weekend.
After the main meal, it is traditional to kick back and relax while watching the featured “Thanksgiving Day Classic” football game. Not to be confused with the American version of football, the Canadian Football League offers a doubleheader schedule of games for the Thanksgiving Day celebration.
Besides the indoor activities or the family dinner, the weekend of Thanksgiving is traditionally the occasion for a last big outdoor extravaganza. Either participating or watching the numerous Thanksgiving Day parades that are such an entire part of the holiday will get one out of the house and into the end of the summer air. The Thanksgiving weekend is also traditional for taking that last outdoor getaway before winter sets in and is a perfect time for hiking, fishing or simply enjoying the outstanding autumn colors.
While the Thanksgiving Day celebration is a secular event, those with a religious mind have their own Thanksgiving traditions that they partake of in their churches. With the old European harvest festivals in mind, most churches are decorated with the traditional cornucopias, wheat sheaves, pumpkins, gourds and corn ears. There are particular scriptural texts and hymns that are emphasized at this time of the year to celebrate the harvest and their gratefulness to their God for providing for them.
Traditions of Thanksgiving in the United States
While Thanksgiving is celebrated yearly in the United States since 1863, it has been often bounced around and given different reasons for celebration. By the mid-20th century it had been firmly placed at the end of November and made a Federal Holiday.
Even though it is a secular holiday, since the beginning of the nation has a religious overtone. Though set aside as a day to thank God for the bounty of the Earth, this is not required.
Although not the first Thanksgiving event in the history of the United States, the “official” point of origin is taken from the Plymouth Colony of Massachusetts. Therefore the traditional decorations include Pilgrims, pumpkins, Indians and turkeys. In honor of the harvest, corn stalks, ears, cornucopias and gourds also find their way into Thanksgiving Day displays. Plays and pageants are often performed with this theme in both schools and religious institutions.
Alongside the omnipresent turkey are prepared additional Native American foods such as mashed and sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, corn, and cranberry sauce. It is still proper to offer a prayer at the beginning of the meal, whether to a God or general good fortune. Many organizations take this time to put together food drives for donating Thanksgiving meals to the poor and needy.
The Thanksgiving Day parades are the biggest and most popular of the year, rivaling and generally even beating out the Christmas parades.
American Football is also a part of the Thanksgiving celebration. Both major leagues hold special game events on Thanksgiving Day and several of the teams always play on this day. In schools, it is the end of the football season and the games played near the Thanksgiving Day holiday are traditionally scheduled as longstanding Rivalry Matches between schools.
Another of the great Thanksgiving traditions actually takes place on the day after. Called “Black Friday”, it is the official beginning of the Christmas shopping season and retail stores often start it off with big sales and special shopping events.
Whether in Canada or in the United States, religious or secular, it is a great excuse to celebrate and appreciate the things we have!
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By admin on Nov 27, 2008 in Homeschooling | 0 Comments
Mimi Rothschild asked:
Giving thanks during harvest time is nothing new. Different nations and people groups from all over the world have been celebrating the harvest since the beginning of agriculture, as chronicled in the Old Testament. Today, we in the USA celebrate Thanksgiving, a time to give praise to the Lord for his mercy and love. Most people know that the first thanksgiving celebration had something to do with Pilgrims and Indians, but there’s much more to the story than that! For one thing, it didn’t look a thing like this Norman Rockwell painting. Let’s dig deeper and find out together about the storied history of Thanksgiving. You may be shocked by what you find!
Setting Sail for the New World
The Pilgrims were a group of Christians that desired to worship the Lord in the way they saw fit. They found the oppressive monarchy in England to be restrictive of their freedoms and first left for Holland. Believing the Dutch way of life to be contradictory to Biblical teaching, they then planned to set out for the New World. Meanwhile, the Separatists desired to leave England for very similar reasons. They desired to “separate” from the church in England and likewise set out for the New World. Together they struck a deal with a London stock company and organized a pilgrimage to what is now called North America. They boarded the Mayflower in 1620 and set sail for uncharted territory.
Landing on American Shores
Although the Pilgrims and Separatists set out for Virginia, they experienced strong winds and currents that eventually brought them to Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts. Upon landing, they dropped to their knees and gave thanks to the Lord for bringing them safely across the perilous Atlantic Ocean. Unfortunately, they were far from safe. The Pilgrims and Separatists had to weather the bitterly cold winter months. Unprepared for such drastically low temperatures, they lost almost half of their men that they had sailed with on the Mayflower. Fortunately, the Wampanoag helped the settlers throughout their first winter by offering provisions and guidance.
Meeting the Native Americans
Once winter had passed, the colonists worked hard to prepare enough food to get them through the next winter. God smiled upon the colonists and blessed them with a bountiful harvest. Wishing to thank the Lord for His provision, they feasted for three days. Ninety-one Wampanoag Indians joined the Pilgrims and Separatists for the feast. They celebrated together with a variety of activities like archery, axe throwing, and of course, feasting.
But, the feast was not the smorgasbord that we know today. The settlers most likely did not dine on turkey legs and certainly not warm pumpkin pie. We do know that they ate “fowl,” most likely something tougher and more sinewy than a plump turkey. The pilgrims didn’t live in log cabins or wear funny hats or buckles. They didn’t hunt with those curved blunderbusses either. These are all romantic images that have been sold to us by marketers and artists hoping to cash in on the Thanksgiving spirit. In fact, a lot of historians question that the Pilgrims even landed at the Plymouth Rock we normally associate with that famous landing!
Becoming a Nationally Recognized Holiday
Thanksgiving was not an annual event yet. In 1623, three years later, the settlers prayed during a devastating drought that the Lord would provide rain for their crops. When God answered their prayer with a full day of steady rain the next day, the colonists declared another day of thanksgiving. Twenty-three years later, Thanksgiving became a holiday when Edward Rawson, Charlestown, Massachusetts’s city council clerk, signed it into a holiday. A century later, George Washington suggested that America could celebrate a national day of thanksgiving. His colleagues thought it was a silly idea.
Yet another century later, Sara Josepha Hale, a magazine editor, petitioned lawmakers and politicians to declare Thanksgiving a national holiday. After forty long years of petitioning, President Abraham Lincoln finally declared that the last Thursday of November would be a national day of thanksgiving.
