What are your views and opinions on Thanksgiving?

[MickyMacgraw]

Please forgive my ignorance because I am not very learned in this subject, but isn't celebrating thanksgiving Celebrating The Slaughter Of Native Americans?

[boxtops]

I am sorry to express my ignorance too, but I thought it was Thanksgiving for a safe crossing of the Atlantic, being freed from the religious persecution in Britain, and finding a new place to live.

[dotty.]

No it's another version of the Harvest Festival and is more about the slaughter of Turkeys in the USA

[dotty.]

Yes Boxtops the first one in the colonies was about that but was based on the tradition of the Harvest Festival , they just so happened to have overcome great hardship and desperation,

[pastafreak]

Micky...see my answer to you on the other thread..........

[jaydah]

DBD....its similar to our Harvest Festival. GSP!

[pastafreak]

http://www.scholastic...c_thanksgiving/feast/

[MickyMacgraw]

Thanks pastafreak and jaydah, I'll have a little read later. Some of friends and family celebrate Thanksgiving and some refuse to, and there seems to be a debate on exactly what they're celebrating and it's origins.

[jackthehat]

"Feed the trolls, tuppence a bag........tuppence..........tuppence........
tuppence
a bag.." :o)

[Clanad]

Actually, the first Thanksgiving (here in the U.S., since there are variations in Canada and other countries) was attended by over 90 men from the Wampanoag tribe who lived near the colony of Plymouth, of which only 53 members survived from the 110 who had arrived a year earlier. In the spring of 1621, through a series of fortunate events, an Indian named Squanto of the Abnaki tribe met with the remnants of settlers. He (and others) taught the Pilgrims how to survive and indeed, prosper in the newly found wilderness.
So much so, that the harvest in October of 1621 was very successful, preparing them for the oncoming second winter.
The feasting, playing of games and giving of thanks lasted for 3 days. This was probably in mid- to late October.
The annual giving of thanks to God became a semi-regional tradition for many years, but wasn't officially recognized by President Abraham Lincoln in the midst of the Civil War in 1863 and the date (4th Thursday in November) wasn't set until President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed it into law in 1941.
It's lost much of it's earlier reliance on prasing God to the point that the next day, Friday, is probably more important, in that it's "Black Friday" which is the biggest Christmas shopping day of the year. So named since many businesses don't actually go into the "black" until that day... So much for tradition...

[MickyMacgraw]

Hi there clanad and thank you for an informative answer, I still fail to see how many have interwoven Genocide of the Native Indians into this story? But regarding the story of events I keep on hearing conflicting versions of events including this one.

http://www.geoffmetca...rsttday_19991126.html

[pastafreak]

That made for some interesting reading.

[mike11111]

Simply thanks for the Pilgrim Fathers arriving safely in America, no more, no less.

[pastafreak]

That's what I tend to think mike.....trying to interpret it with modern day political attitudes doesn't do it any justice.

[NazNomad]

... and Canadians celebrate it earleir because the harvest season falls earlier in Canada compared to the United States due to the simple fact that Canada is further north.

[jno]

just to add to Clanad's reply... it's a remarkably uncommercial festival, which is why Christmas shopping doesn't start until after it. People who think Americans commercialise everything should be there for Thanksgiving.