Thursday, November 23, 2006

Thoughts on Thanksgiving - NaBloPoMo#23

Thanksgiving can be a tricky holiday when you aware of the history behind all of it. At the same time harvest celebrations have been around for a long time so why not reclaim the holiday in that light. It's a good time to recenter ourselves and remind us to be thankful.

Here are some tidbits to learn a bit more about thanksgiving that you can share with your family iffin' you want:

Dear dh found this website here with some thoughts on thanksgiving from a historical (and moral maybe?) perspective written by a teacher with Native America Heritage. I found more of the same here but a little bit easier to read and another article here.

A Native American shares her view on Thanksgiving here and why she celebrates it.

Sarah Hale wrote letters to the President(s) for 17 years to get a national holiday started. Finally in 1863 President Lincoln made it so. Before that Thanksgiving was celebrated intermittently as a national holiday. I've never heard of Sarah Hale and her connection with thanksgiving. It figures what we learn is school is HIStory.

Roosevelt tried moving Thanksgiving up one week to bolster the economy. So the idea of shopping early and consumerism was alive in well even in the depression, sad to say.

On a some what silly note, each year there is a turkey who is granted amnesty and gets to live the rest of his life luxury.

Where did I find out about most of this? Watching Good Eats with Jade.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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