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Thanksgiving Facts to Share with Your Grandchildren
Nov. 23, 2005 - Thanksgiving is one of the best
holidays for many families - it's often a day to gather at grandmother's
for family sharing, without the stress and hyper-activity of other
holidays, like Christmas. Below is a story about the first Thanksgiving
and some interesting facts by the U.S. Census Bureau that may provide
you some interesting things to share with your grandchildren.
America’s ‘First Thanksgiving’ Story Put to the Test
By Ted Landphair,
Voice of America
Nov. 23, 2005 - Americans mark our annual
Thanksgiving holiday Thursday, November 24. It often revolves around a
lavish dinner for family and friends that begins with a solemn prayer of
thanks for our blessings. The Thanksgiving tradition is modeled after
the harvest-home feasts of many cultures—especially what’s been called
the First Thanksgiving in colonial Massachusetts.
It’s the story of a cold, late-fall day in 1621,
when about 50 English settlers called Pilgrims—who had barely survived
their first winter in the New World while another 50 perished—shared a
harvest-time feast with neighboring Wampanoag Indians. This pleasant
tale, embellished over generations, brings extra warm feelings to a
beloved family holiday.
But according to curators at Plimoth Plantation—a
living-history museum in the same settlement where the Pilgrims and
Indians marked that harvest more than 300 years ago—the Thanksgiving
story is laced with myth and exaggeration. For one thing, the event
likely took place in October, closer to the corn harvest.
Kathleen Curtin, a food historian at Plimoth
Plantation, says about 90 native men—there’s no record of Wampanoag
women coming along—conferred and ate with the Pilgrims for a full three
days. And it’s unlikely anyone called it Thanksgiving.
For these Puritans who came over, Thanksgiving had
a particular and special meaning, Ms. Curtin says. And it was held after
there had been a very fortuitous event. Not common, everyday events. So
a successful harvest is more in that range of something you expect, you
hope for from God. You hold a Thanksgiving when something amazing has
happened. The defeat of the Spanish Armada in England—THAT’S an occasion
for a Thanksgiving.
The Pilgrims were religious separatists, an
offshoot of a strict sect called the Puritans, who are pictured as a
starchy, pious lot not likely to throw a party.
They were very religious people at a very religious
time, Ms. Curtin notes. However, they also came out of merry, old
England. And beer- and wine-drinking and feasting and celebrating were
also part of their lives. They weren’t completely without joy and
happiness, that’s for sure.
The skimpy records of the 1621 conclave mention
fowl. But Kathleen Curtin says these were likely geese and
ducks—certainly not plump, domesticated turkeys like American families
stuff and roast today. And you can forget the First Thanksgiving
illustrations of long tables, piled high with breads and pumpkin pies
and cranberry sauce.
The English knew of cranberries, she says. The
Wampanoag ate them. They didn’t have enough sugar, though, to turn them
into cranberry sauce. Pumpkins were around, but it’s very unlikely they
had pumpkin pie, lacking the wheat flour and the ovens needed to make
those pies.
At Plimoth Plantation, Linda Coombs is the
associate director of the Wampanoag Indigenous Program. She, too,
discounts some of the tall tales from that harvest time in 1621. She
says the Wampanoags went off and shot five deer as their contribution to
the festivities. But contrary to legend, they brought no popcorn—a
variety of corn that did not then exist in Massachusetts. Nor did they
wear resplendent feathered headdresses like those of Plains Indians.
Wampanoag attire was spare and practical. And Ms. Coombs lances an even
bigger Thanksgiving fantasy.
The whole myth is that the Indians welcomed the
English into their land, says Ms. Coombs, and they ate turkey and lived
happily ever after—and that this was THE first Thanksgiving, the first
of many, many up until now. The whole underlying concept there is that
native people just willingly and gladly accepted colonization. That was
not the case. It was not the case then, and is not the case now.
The alliance between Pilgrims and Wampanoags lasted
just 50 years before broken treaties led to fighting and bloodshed.
There’s one more Thanksgiving image that’s WAY out
of step with reality. Perhaps you’ve seen sketches of men in Pilgrim
costumes—fine coats, shiny shoes, and steeple hats with big buckles
above their wide brims. In the 17th century, only the wealthy dressed so
formally. The struggling Pilgrims wore beaver hats and deerskin coats.
After the year they had had, they were likely thankful to have those
clothes, and to be alive.
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Thanksgiving Day Facts
Nov. 23, 2005 - What many regard as the nation’s
first Thanksgiving took place in December 1621 as the religious
separatist Pilgrims held a three-day feast to celebrate a bountiful
harvest. The day did not become a national holiday until 1863 when
President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November as a
national day of thanksgiving. Later, President Franklin Roosevelt
clarified that Thanksgiving should always be celebrated on the fourth
Thursday of the month to encourage earlier holiday shopping, never on
the occasional fifth Thursday.
256 million
The preliminary estimate of the number of turkeys raised in the United
States in 2005. That’s down 3 percent from 2004. The turkeys produced in
2004 weighed 7.3 billion pounds altogether and were valued at $3.1
billion. (Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service at <http://www.usda.gov/nass/>)
Weighing in With
a Menu of Culinary Delights
44.5 million
The preliminary estimate of the number of turkeys Minnesota expects to
raise in 2005. The Gopher State is tops in turkey production. It is
followed by North Carolina (36.0 million), Arkansas (29.0 million),
Virginia (21.0 million), Missouri (20.5 million) and California (15.1
million). These six states together will probably account for about 65
percent of U. S. turkeys produced in 2005. (Source: USDA National
Agricultural Statistics Service at <http://www.usda.gov/nass/>)
649 million
pounds
The forecast for U.S. cranberry production in 2005, up 5 percent from
2004. Wisconsin is expected to lead all states in the production of
cranberries, with 367 million pounds, followed by Massachusetts (170
million). Oregon, New Jersey and Washington are also expected to have
substantial production, ranging from 18 million to 52 million pounds.
(Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service at <http://www.usda.gov/nass/>)
1.6 billion
pounds
The total weight of sweet potatoes — another popular Thanksgiving side
dish — produced in the United States in 2004. North Carolina (688
million pounds) produced more sweet potatoes than any other state. It
was followed by California (339 million pounds). Mississippi and
Louisiana also produced large amounts: at least 200 million pounds each.
(Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service at <http://www.usda.gov/nass/>)
998 million
pounds
Total pumpkin production of major pumpkin-producing states in 2004.
Illinois, with a production of 457 million pounds, led the country.
Pumpkin patches in California, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York
also produced a lot of pumpkins: each state produced at least 70 million
pounds worth. The value of all the pumpkins produced by these states was
about $100 million. (Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics
Service at <http://www.usda.gov/nass/>)
2.1 billion
bushels
The total volume of wheat — the essential ingredient of bread, rolls and
pies — produced in the United States in 2005. Kansas and North Dakota —
combined — accounted for about 33 percent of the nation’s wheat
production. (Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service at <http://www.usda.gov/nass/>)
$5.2 million
The value of U.S. imports of live turkeys during the first half of 2005
— all from Canada. Our northern neighbors also accounted for all of the
cranberries the United States imported ($2.2 million). When it comes to
sweet potatoes, however, the Dominican Republic was the source of most
($2.3 million) of total imports ($2.6 million). The United States ran a
$1.7 million trade deficit in live turkeys over the period, but
surpluses of $3.5 million in cranberries and $10.6 million in sweet
potatoes. <http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/www/>
13.7 pounds
The quantity of turkey consumed by the typical American in 2003 and, if
tradition be true, a hearty helping of it was devoured at Thanksgiving
time. On the other hand, per capita sweet potato consumption was 4.7
pounds. (From the upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States:
2006)
The Turkey
Industry
$3.6 billion
The value of turkeys shipped by the nation’s poultry processors in 2002.
Those located in Arkansas led the way with $581.5 million in shipments,
followed by processors in Virginia ($544.2 million) and North Carolina
($453.0 million). Businesses that primarily processed turkeys operated
out of 35 establishments, employing about 17,000 people. <http://www.census.gov/prod/ec02/ec0231i311615.pdf>
The Price is
Right
$1.00
Cost per pound of a frozen whole turkey in December 2004. (From the
upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2006)
Where to Feast
3
Number of places in the United States named after the holiday’s
traditional main course. Turkey, Texas, was the most populous in 2004,
with 496 residents; followed by Turkey Creek, La. (357); and Turkey,
N.C. (267). There also are 16 townships around the country named
“Turkey,” three in Kansas.
<http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/005268.html>
<http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/BasicFactsServlet>
8
Number of places and townships in the United States that are named
“Cranberry” or some spelling variation of the name we call the red,
acidic berry (e.g., Cranbury, N.J.), a popular side dish at
Thanksgiving. <http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/BasicFactsServlet>
20
Number of places in the United States named Plymouth, as in “Plymouth
Rock,” legendary location of the first Thanksgiving. Plymouth, Minn., is
the most populous, with 69,797 residents in 2004; Plymouth, Mass., had
54,604. Speaking of Plymouth Rock, there is just one township in the
United States named “Pilgrim.” Located in Dade County, Mo., its
population was 135.
<http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/005268.html>
<http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/BasicFactsServlet>
107 million
Number of occupied housing units across the nation — all potential
gathering places for people to celebrate the holiday. <http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/hvs/historic/histt15.html>
Editor’s
note: The preceding data were collected by the U.S.
Census Bureau from a variety of sources and may be subject to sampling
variability and other sources of error.
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