Thanksgiving Survival Guide

Article by: Jeff Campbell, November 2007

Howdy, Pilgrim

The popular myth of the 'first Thanksgiving' - buckle-shoed Pilgrims sharing a harvest celebration with welcoming Native Americans - contains an acorn of truth. In December 1620, 102 English settlers founded the Plymouth Colony, and that winter, 46 of them promptly died. However, with the help of local Wampanoag Indians, the colonists' 1621 harvest was exceptionally bountiful, and they held a three-day feast - with wild fowl (but no pie, as they lacked sugar and flour), games, and around 90 Wampanoag - to thank God they'd survived.

After that, they pretty much forgot about it. Subsequent harvest festivals were rare, and the Pilgrims and Indians soon had what might politely be called a 'falling out'. In fact, a 1676 'thanksgiving' was notable because it celebrated a military victory over the Indians.

In 1789, President George Washington proposed 'a day of public thanksgiving and prayer' to express gratitude for the nation's founding, but it wasn't until 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it a national holiday, that all states celebrated Thanksgiving annually. Then, in 1941, Congress established Thanksgiving as a federal holiday on the fourth Thursday in November - thus creating the all-important four-day weekend. 

Family Time

It's hard to imagine Thanksgiving without those four days. They are what allow college students, extended family, and reluctant black sheep time to travel. As with the first Thanksgiving, the modern gathering is fuelled by hopeful visions of familial unity (a la Norman Rockwell's iconic painting Freedom from Want), although it's also become notorious for igniting tinderboxes of familial discontent (a la the movies Home for the Holidays, Pieces of April, etc).

Still, Americans love Thanksgiving because it remains so wonderfully simple: gather, feast, be grateful you've survived. Napping is expected; TV watching encouraged. People play games, then maybe see a movie or go shopping. 'Giving thanks' is universal: there's no formal church service, no need to be religious, and no presents. This makes Thanksgiving easily the most relaxed and adaptable US holiday, and each boisterous, crowded table reflects its own cultural and culinary traditions.

Thanksgiving also inspires Americans to be at their most generous and inclusive: dinner invitations are commonly extended to friends (and travellers) who are away from home, and many people choose this time to volunteer in soup kitchens to help feed the needy.

Finally, the raison d'etre of Thanksgiving, its central event, is enjoying the most abundant meal possible. What's not to like? First you eat, then you spend the next three days resting up enough to tackle the leftovers.

Still, Americans love Thanksgiving because it remains so wonderfully simple: gather, feast, be grateful you've survived.

A Cornucopia of Eats

Here's the definitive modern Thanksgiving meal: roast turkey, baked ham, bread stuffing (or dressing), gravy, sweet potatoes, some sort of conscience-salving vegetable (typically green beans or corn on the cob), cranberry sauce, and for dessert: pumpkin, pecan, and apple pies with ice cream or whipped cream.

Variations are legion - both on what is served and how it's prepared - but by the time they are adults, most Americans are so fiercely attached to the meal they grew up with that it 'just isn't Thanksgiving' if it isn't prepared exactly that way every time.

Some stuff the bird, some don't. Some insist on cranberries, some dismiss them. Italian homes might add homemade pasta and sauce, Jewish homes matzo ball soup. Japanese homes will serve sushi, hibachi barbecue, and rice (instead of potatoes), while some Hawaiian communities gather to cook pork, sweet potatoes, and taro in an imu (an underground oven).

Nearly every meal keeps turkey as its centrepiece. Around 45 million birds are eaten on Thanksgiving Day; by tradition, that morning the US president pardons one, which lives the rest of its days in a petting zoo. When not roasted, turkeys might be deep fried (in the south) or replaced with a boneless turducken (a chicken stuffed in a duck stuffed in a turkey) or a vegetarian tofurky (a tofu or meatless turkey).

Marching in the Streets and on the Field

After eating, parades and football dominate Thanksgiving. Most people watch both on TV, but attending a parade is fun - and free.

If you're after football, the NFL's Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys each play Thanksgiving Day games, while the weekend adds a bevy of college games.

As for parades, the most famous is Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, complete with enormous helium-balloon characters (think Snoopy and Superman), marching bands, floats, waving beauty queens and B-list celebrities, and the arrival of Santa Claus in Herald Square. Over 2.5 million people attend, and the evening before, the balloons are inflated near the Museum of Natural History (come watch!) Other cities with large parades include Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, and Phoenix.

Or you can visit the original Plimoth Plantation (near Boston). Over 70,000 people come on Thanksgiving to listen to costumed role-players describe colony and Native American life in the 1620s and to enjoy an authentic Pilgrim-era Thanksgiving feast.

What's not to like? First, you eat, then you spend the next three days resting up enough to tackle the leftovers.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

America has 114 million households, and around Thanksgiving everybody is heading for the one they call home. An estimated 37 million Americans travel over 50 miles for Thanksgiving; about 80% drive, while 4.6 million fly. In other words, roads and airplanes are packed.