I’ve not been writing or really doing as much of anything as much as I should, but considering that today’s Thanksgiving I feel that I should write at least something. For a lot of Americans, probably most now that I think of it, today is really just a day where we eat a bunch of Turkey and watch Football, maybe watch some of the Thanksgiving day parade as well. For The more liberal Americans, today is usually a controversial day as the history it unfortunately delves a lot into racial politics and genocide. The part time gig I have working in retail shows me that most people really don’t care, though, as our puny Thanksgiving section was quickly swallowed whole by our big giant Christmas section before November even started!
As for me, for the entire month of November I didn’t really care at all. I knew that even if I was going to be celebrating and seeing family members, I was going to be scheduled to work on Thanksgiving, and I always knew that many of the early colonials weren’t as thankful as much as they were greedy and unfortunately did stab the natives in the back, so for me I was always in this boat of who cares? All in all it just seemed like a day where we just all get together to stuff our faces full of turkey and potatoes while we watch the three football games today, which is fun and all but just isn’t very meaningful in the slightest.
It wasn’t until just a few hours ago when I was watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with my nephew that I really got
“Your worst battle is between what you know and what you feel” -Unknown. When cultures collide, A person tends to have conflicts with others and also with themselves. In “Thanksgiving: A Personal History” By Jennifer New, She experiences internal conflict because she is confused on how she should celebrate her first thanksgiving as an adult, to either use old traditions she did as a child or to start a new thing as an adult.
This year Thanksgiving is on November 23,2017. Every year my family Thanksgiving is the best, to me at least. So we always have Thanksgiving at my Grandmas and Grandpas, but not this year we are having it at my house. Which I mean could be good and bad. Good is it is at my house so it’s cool and bad, the house has to be completely spotless or my mom will freak out. Normally what we do every year is we get my family together and have dinner, mess around, and watch football. This year my dad's brother is coming with his three daughters and his wife and my grandpa and grandma. I really can’t wait to see them all because I don't really see them that much as I would like to. When we have a family dinner like this we always have a lot of food for everyone.
But what is this year has been unkind to you? It could be that this Thanksgiving is going to be different from others. Maybe there is a seat at the table that is going to be empty for some reason. Maybe the table will look a little less full because of finances. Could it be that there are some who, because of struggles, burdens, and problems, would rather skip Thanksgiving? Maybe you’re here this morning and you know you should be thankful, you know it’s that time of year, but because of everything going on, because of the pressure and the problems that you are facing, because of the uncertainty you are facing, you would prefer to skip ahead a week. You don’t even know if you can find a reason to be thankful.
Being only one month apart in date, Christmas and Thanksgiving have two very different seasons. In November, when its considered fall, leaves have changed colors, the temperature has dropped some and the air brings crisp breezes. Often than not, you’ll see hay rides being offered, corn mazes and folks not quite in their full winter attire. But when Christmas time rolls around snow has fallen, not a trace of leaves on the trees and a bit too cold for hay rides and corn mazes. This would be one month later, in December, where you will see town’s people bundled up in their warmest winter gear, building snowmen or making snow angels. Two individual seasons that are
It is mind boggling to know that despite the quest for knowledge and learning the truth behind our history, yet a vast number of people still celebrate thanksgiving. What are we really thankful for?
William Bradford’s “Of Plymouth Plantation” opened my eyes about Plymouth and Thanksgiving. First of all, there was a part in Bradford’s background that caught my eye: Thanksgiving. I am sure that many of us at some point visualized Thanksgiving as a large feast. However, I found it shocking that his narrative does not emphasize a feast, but rather a document of what it was like in Plymouth and the interactions with the Native Americans. Either way, I still found it interesting how Thanksgiving came to be. It would be nice to read another person’s viewpoint of Thanksgiving and to see if there really was a feast or not.
When I imagine “The First Thanksgiving”, I think of peace and harmony. Then my History complex comes in, I remember all of the rape, cannibalism, and disease spreading that happened in the years before “The First Thanksgiving” ruin my picture perfect scene. The Pilgrims did not have a farming aspect when they came to The New Colony but with the help of the Native Americans they learned how to survive. When I was younger we always were taught that this time, in history, everyone got along and they were happy. The Pilgrims came to have religious freedom and not to be treated as second class citizens. This is a notable act but they had various pathogens that they were immuned to but the Natives were not. Historians say that the pathogens that
Thanksgiving Holiday means so much to me. I love to celebrate that extended weekend with my family. On the eve of the big day, my cousins and I meet at an elder’s house and then the festivities began. This shared feast started in 1621 with the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians sharing a harvest feast ("Thanksgiving," 2016). A portion of the food can be prepared the day before. We decide who would handle what task and when it time clean up the second generation, always try to make the third generation do it. We then continue to cook and clean and reminisce of our past year. Sometimes we would bring up our childhood pranks and stories of family members that passed and present. On the day of Thanksgiving we finish cooking,
Specific Purpose: To inform on the history and traditions of Thanksgiving, as well as the new era traditions of the holiday.
Thanksgiving is a holiday when the whole family gets together and feast. In my family this is when all of my family members come together. The thing about my family is that we are like a broken family. Everyone doesn’t get along. So that causes a lot of problems on the table. My family is also outspoken and they like to start trouble. So that’s when the arguments start.
Many U.S. holidays are celebrated in similar fashions among several different families nationwide. Dressing our children up in funny themed costumes to receive candy from people we don’t know or celebrating America’s freedom with fireworks shows and barbecued meats are just a few ways some holidays are celebrated in the U.S. Thanksgiving is one of those many American holidays celebrated in traditional fashion; though not as old as one might imagine, but through the course of the late eighteen to the early nineteen hundreds, change to the popular Holiday may not be as recognizable to the common
Thanksgiving is a holiday that is celebrated in America, but it has a fairly dark history to what most people know. Most people know that the Pilgrims came over to America on a boat called the mayflower and made friends with the Native Americans then they celebrated it and made this holiday. While this is somewhat true there is more to it than that. For example the Pilgrims may have came on a boat called the Mayflower, but it wasn’t to make friends with the Native Americans but to spread
This week, families across our state are unboxing their Thanksgiving décor, choosing table cloths, and deciding who is going to be responsible for what dish next Thursday. It’s that time of the year when we come together, forget our family drama for at least a week and get in the holiday spirit. Unfortunately, this holiday season comes with a different taste to many. Hundreds of Iowan families and I will share our Thanksgiving meal with uncertainty, anxiety and fear.
Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate our joys with friends and family. Unfortunately, if you are the person designated to cooking the holiday dinner, the joys can turn into complete and total fear. I'll never forget the first time I made Thanksgiving dinner for twenty family members and friends. I waited until the last minute to start and the dinner ended in a complete disaster. In the years following that failure, I have learned that preparing a Thanksgiving dinner is easy...if you plan ahead.
Thanksgiving is a day to give thanks to your life and everyone and everything in it. Thanksgiving is thought of in different ways and is celebrated in unlike ways. Families have divergent meals, places that they visit on Thanksgiving, and activities that they enjoy taking part in on Thanksgiving. Overall, no matter what traditions there are, what meals you have, or the activities enjoyed on Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving is truly a wonderful holiday.