Post #273,674
11/22/06 10:08:45 AM
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A question to our non-American members
Last night my daughter asked me if other countries celebrated Thanksgiving, and I said "no, it's an American tradition started by the Pilgrims". She then asked if other countries have something like Thanksgiving. I didn't know, so we hit Google to see what we could find. No luck.
So, the question: does your country, or do you know of a country, that has a holiday similar to America's Thanksgiving?
lincoln
"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from." -- E.L. Doctorow
Never apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon 5 problem.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the United States.
[link|mailto:golf_lover44@yahoo.com|contact me]
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Post #273,679
11/22/06 10:20:06 AM
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No, though rural, UK villages may celebrate the harvest.
Matthew Greet
Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?
- Mark Renton, Trainspotting.
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Post #273,682
11/22/06 10:38:46 AM
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Canada does
I've worked with and for Canadians, so learned of thier Thanksgiving awhile back. [link|http://www.twilightbridge.com/hobbies/festivals/thanksgiving/canada/|Here's] some info.
--
Steve
[link|http://www.ubuntulinux.org|Ubuntu]
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Post #273,692
11/22/06 12:45:58 PM
11/22/06 12:48:03 PM
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Started by the Pilgrims?
Not according to the Smithsonian - and they should know because they have the paperwork.
One of their series on American myths just before the Bicentenial was on Thanksgiving. It was signed into our holiday schedule by Abraham Lincoln under pressure from one of those periodic Christian revivals we have in this country.
The Thanksgiving story was made up completely out of whole cloth, just as the Pilgrim's costumes were, and their hunting wild turkeys with a blunderbuss - a splatter gun used as a short range anti-boarding weapon on ships. I think the costumes were copied from inside the lid of a box of Dutch Master cigars.
The only actual record of a "feast" in the Plymouth colony was a note by one of the leaders lamenting an out-of-control beer bash that lasted days and ate up much of the winter supplies. He mentioned that some Indians came by when they smelled the food and were sent out to get deer. The sanctimonious thanks to God part was completely made up in Lincoln's day.
If turkeys were eaten - completely unconfirmed - they were likely Mexican turkeys brought over on the ship. By time of the Pilgrims' voyage Mexican turkeys had completely displaced the peacock as festival bird in Europe and it certainly would have been within reason for them to bring some.
Wild turkeys are smart, fast and extremely difficult to bag. Many enthusiastic turkey hunters with modern gear have never been able to actually get one - and you certainly aren't likely to get one with a blunderbuss.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #273,699
11/22/06 2:46:37 PM
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Links please
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Post #273,700
11/22/06 2:53:30 PM
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Links
[link|http://www.infoplease.com/spot/tgturkey1.html|Infoplease.com]
[link|http://www.history.com/minisites/thanksgiving/viewPage?pageId=874|History.com]
[link|http://www.allabouthistory.org/thanksgiving-history.htm|allabouthistory.com]
Looks like Lincoln formalized it on its current date.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. (Herm Albright)
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Post #273,701
11/22/06 3:14:37 PM
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None of that backs Andrew's core statements
The only actual record of a "feast" in the Plymouth colony was a note by one of the leaders lamenting an out-of-control beer bash that lasted days and ate up much of the winter supplies. He mentioned that some Indians came by when they smelled the food and were sent out to get deer. The sanctimonious thanks to God part was completely made up in Lincoln's day.
I want to see that.
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Post #273,705
11/22/06 3:39:15 PM
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Well, the middle one admits the feast was secular . . .
. . and that the "day of thanksgiving" a couple years later definitely did not include a feast.
According to the Smithsonian article the only actual record of the first one was a complaint by one of the leaders about the rowdiness and amount of beer and supplies consumed, and mention that Indians wandered in and were sent out to get deer.
Most commentators are reluctant to be as brutal about it as Smithsonian Magazine was.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #273,702
11/22/06 3:27:13 PM
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Unfortunately 1975 was before much . . .
. . was linked on the Internet. Thanksgiving, Paul Revere's ride, the Boston Tea Party and other mythology were published one to an issue of Smithsonian Magazine (to which I had a subscription - but don't believe I kept those issues) during the year before the Bicentenial.
One distraught citizen wrote a letter saying, "I know all this stuff must be true because you have all the evidence, but isn't this the wrong time to be publishing it?".
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #273,703
11/22/06 3:34:20 PM
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Some more linkies.
[link|http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1127/p13s02-lign.html|Christian Science Monitor], via the [link|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving#Pilgrims|Wikipedia].
Cheers,
Scott.
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Post #273,707
11/22/06 5:13:05 PM
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Not in Belgium
But then again, we don't need excuses to haul out the beer and the boar...
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Post #273,720
11/22/06 7:57:11 PM
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Not in Australia.
It's regarded as a US holiday, like July 4th is. We don't mind because we have our own, too. We don't have an equivalent to Thanksgiving, but we do have an equivalent to the latter: Australia Day, January 26th.
Wade.
"Don't give up!"
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