Explaining Thanksgiving to a Non-American

I've spent all of my working life employed by or at the service of non-Americans. It started out with Germans and Luxembourgers and has included Japanese, Dutch, Belgians, Moroccans, Chileans, Russians, South Africans, Spaniards, Greeks and a myriad of others along the way. American culture - for better or worse - has had an out sized influence and reach around the world for much of the last century. For those foreign nationals domiciled in the USA for any significant length of time, it's very easy to be lulled into the American lifestyles and traditions. We aren't exactly a subtle brood.

For my foreign friends and colleagues who interact with Americans and American culture from afar, Thanksgiving can be a confusing time. You probably know a little about the turkeys and the pilgrims and the shopping frenzy, but few likely have a real comprehension of what Thanksgiving means to the average American.

I'm going to do my best to explain this uniquely American holiday - OK, yes, Canada has their own Thanksgiving (they do theirs in October and it has a different backstory, sorry, eh) and there are similar holidays that have been adopted around the world. First, a politically-incorrect disclaimer here. While it may offend some neighbors to the south (and north), in the every day vernacular, we Americans refer to ourselves as well, Americans. Yes, we know there is a South America and a Central America and even a couple of other North American cousins, but no true American will refer to themselves as anything but an American. Whether we're making it great again or not, is subject for a completely different discussion. So, for the purposes of this American holiday tale, I shall call us as we are, Americans.

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, I can proceed:

BACKSTORY:

Like all things American these days, Thanksgiving is a holiday surrounded by controversy. The story we all learned in school is about an intrepid group of some 100 puritans who departed Plymouth, UK in 1620 aboard the small merchant ship Mayflower heading for the new world seeking religious freedom and the promise of free land. About two months later, they dropped anchor nearby what today is Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They were a bit north of their intended destination - having expected to arrive at the mouth of the Hudson River (New York). After remaining off-shore for a month, they crossed the Massachusetts Bay and began establishing the new colony of Plymouth.

Throughout that first brutal winter, most of the colonists remained on board the ship, where they suffered from exposure, scurvy and outbreaks of contagious disease. Only half of the Mayflower’s original passengers and crew lived to see their first New England spring. In March, the remaining settlers moved ashore, where they received a visit from an Abenaki Indian who greeted them in English. 

Several days later, he returned with another Native American, Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe who had been kidnapped by an English sea captain and sold into slavery before escaping to London and returning to his homeland. Squanto taught the Pilgrims how to cultivate corn, extract sap from maple trees, catch fish in the rivers and avoid poisonous plants. He also helped the Pilgrims forge an alliance with the Wampanoag, a local tribe.

In November 1621, after the Pilgrims’ first corn harvest proved successful, Governor William Bradford organized a celebratory feast and invited a group of the fledgling colony’s Native American allies, including the Wampanoag chief Massasoit. And that was the first Thanksgiving - at least that's what they taught us in school.

The truth, perhaps, is a bit murkier. The Native Americans tell us that the very first Thanksgiving was nothing more than an appropriation of traditional harvest festivals. Some of the details of that first one in 1621 are believed to be true, but to the indigenous people of the region (and the Americas in general), the arrival of the colonists wrought decimation by disease, massacre, war, displacement and loss of tribal lands. As the colonists spread across America, they would mark each victory or massacre of an Indian village with a "thanksgiving" feast. This tradition continued well into the next century. For those of Native American heritage, Thanksgiving is instead a day of mourning.

From Washington to Lincoln to Roosevelt by way of a Little Lamb

In 1789 America's first president, George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation; in it, he called upon Americans to express their gratitude for the happy conclusion to the country’s war of independence and the successful ratification of the U.S. constitution.

In 1817, New York became the first of several states to officially adopt an annual Thanksgiving holiday; each celebrated it on a different day, however, and the American South remained largely unfamiliar with the tradition. 

In 1827, the writer Sarah Josepha Hale - author of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb”—launched a 36 year campaign to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday. Abraham Lincoln finally heeded her request in 1863, at the height of the Civil War, in a proclamation imploring all Americans to ask God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.” He declared that Thanksgiving would take place on the the final Thursday in November, and it was celebrated on that day every year until 1939, when Franklin Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week in an attempt to spur retail sales during the Great Depression.

So there we have it. Probably more history than you expected or cared to read. A story that took us from the myth of friendly pilgrims and Indians, to a grateful nation celebrating independence, to one that looked to soothe the wounded and orphaned of a horrific civil war and ended basically where we are today - a holiday that means different things to different Americans and kicks off a season of wanton consumerism.

THANKSGIVING IN 2019

For most Americans, Thanksgiving is about tradition. Like most things American, tradition can be a very individual thing. One thing that we all share as Americans is a disparity in the number of celebrated holidays and guaranteed vacation time - when compared to the rest of the world. While half of Europe is off the entire month of July, Americans are hard at work. And while it seems that there's a religious holiday being observed in Latin America (and half of Europe) a couple of times each month, the only religious holiday officially recognized in America as a national holiday is Christmas Day.

Officially, Americans have 10 national holidays each year. That's it. Of those 10, at least four (Martin Luther King's Birthday, President's Day, Columbus Day and Veteran's Day) could be called bank holidays - meaning that most businesses remain open and only banks and government offices are closed. For the record, there is no law that requires American companies to offer employees paid vacation days. This means that the average American worker is only guaranteed 6 days off of work with pay annually. If you're in the service industry, you're really screwed. If you think I'm making this stuff up, have a look through the chart on this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_annual_leave_by_country

That brings us back to Thanksgiving. As Americans, we all know that unless we're working in the travel, restaurant or the public safety industry, we will have that fourth Thursday in November as a day off every year.

The day after Thanksgiving "Black Friday" phenomenon started some time in the 1950s, as retailers looked to entice shoppers as a kick off to the Christmas shopping season. As that shopping frenzy started to become more intense with Black Friday-only, door-buster deals being offered by retailers, many Americans were opting to use personal vacation time or call in sick and take the extra day off. For employers this created a dilemma leaving offices understaffed or with disgruntled workers who were missing out on the bargain of the year. As a result more and more offices have opted to make the Friday after an "office" holiday; closing the doors for the day and created the resulting 4 days weekend/extravaganza which is what we now call the Thanksgiving weekend. Public and private schools, as well, adopted the idea of the 4 day weekend mid 20th century. The irony of regular office workers having the Friday off is that banks and government offices remain open and those employees are forced to work (or take a personal vacation day). Karma is a bitch.

The Thanksgiving Day Feast

The feast component of Thanksgiving has remained at its core, since that very first one. For most Americans, Thanksgiving is the meal. It's typically a gathering of family around the same table - some coming from great distance - to share the meal and the company. In our current political climate, that communal table can be a landmine for some who need to tread lightly around that certain uncle, cousin or brother-in-law who doesn't share opinions. Add copious amounts of alcohol to the mix and it can be an explosive situation.

Norman Rockwell and TV commercials have long painted that picture-perfect ideal of the American family around the groaning board. Everyone on their best behavior sharing stories and reminiscing about holiday's past - dressed in their Sunday finest. The table is set with the family's best china, silver and crystal ware - all eagerly waiting on mother in pearls and an apron to carry out the roasted bird, while father sharpens the carving knife.

For some of us Americans, that very well may be what happens each year. It was the case for me through most of my childhood and into early adulthood - sans Mom in the apron and pearl necklace. For many it's become a much more casual or anxious event - depending on your family dynamics. Sure, there is still a table full of food and family does feel an obligation to come together for the day or at least the meal. My wife became a vegetarian about a dozen years ago, so the whole idea of preparing the traditional turkey dinner lost out to the reality that it was better to let a restaurant take care of the cooking and let the individual choose whether they want that traditional Thanksgiving meal. From the crowds at the restaurant each year, we're clearly not the only ones choosing to let someone else do the cooking.

The traditional Thanksgiving meal is heavily turkey-centric. The roast bird is the star of the show, for sure. The turkey and America go back a long way. Benjamin Franklin - one of the founding fathers, "discoverer" of electricity and the dude on the $100 bill - lobbied to have the turkey declared the country's national bird instead of the bald eagle. Thankfully, he lost that battle. Of course, through much of the first century of America's existence, turkeys were plentiful in the wild, relatively easy to hunt and big enough to feed a large family - making them the perfect choice for the holiday table. It wasn't until the 1940s, that commercial turkey farming became a big business in America.

Of course, the turkey alone doesn't make the meal. There are a lot of important co-stars. Depending on where you live and your ethnicity, those co-stars probably includes a bread stuffing/dressing, gravy, potatoes in some form or fashion, cranberry sauce (which isn't actually a sauce, but is really a tart, sweet gelatin), a multitude of vegetables, breads, pastas and other starches. Some families may opt for a ham, beef roast or roast pork. It always come down to tradition.

And no discussion of Thanksgiving food tradition would be complete if we forgot about dessert. Pumpkin pie has long been the iconic dessert of choice. The tradition of baking pumpkins predates the American colonies and goes back to Britain and France. By the early 18th century, the pumpkin pie became a staple on New England Thanksgiving tables and the tradition spread. Pumpkins, of course, have little flavor. It's the combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves that gives the pie it's distinctive aroma and taste. What that humble pie and spice combination has wrought in the intervening 200 years is a seasonal onslaught of all things "pumpkin spice" flavored and orange colored - from lattes and frappes to beer, cheese, taco shells, lip gloss and yes even spam.

Less we not forget football and parades and the fat guy with the white beard

Since everything used to be closed on Thanksgiving Day, there was little else to do before or after the meal but to sit around and commune with our friends and family. Well even before the age of the smart phones and social media, Americans where choosing to have no part in this forced social interaction. As early as 1934, the first professional football (that's American football) games were being broadcast. Until 1965, the annual Thanksgiving Day game was between the Detroit Loins and the Chicago Bears. As from 1966, the Dallas Cowboys (self-professed to be America's team) have played a Thanksgiving Day game against a different opponent each year. In 2006, a third game was added to the TV schedule for the day.

If football isn't your cup of tea, there are the parades. The famous Macy's Thanksgiving Day period dates back to the 1920's and was long a nationally televised event. If you've never been to an American parade, this is the granddaddy of them - famous for the marching bands, the detailed floats and ever more elaborate giant balloons. The parade goes on for several hours. Perhaps you were a fan of the Seinfeld TV series? There's an episode involving a Woody Woodpecker balloon encountering an infamous fate during the Thanksgiving Day parade.

The Thanksgiving Day parade has become a yearly event in most major cities around America and in many small towns. Switch on your TV any time of the day on Thanksgiving and it's a pretty good bet you will find a parade being broadcast.

Whether the Macy's parade, one of the big ones around the country or a local village, there's always one person who brings up the end of the parade. That's the chubby guy with the white beard and the red suit. There is never a question or doubt that the end of the parade and - in fact - that the arrival of Thanksgiving Day marks the official start of the Christmas season. Let the shopping begin.

Here's a quick recap, in case you cheated and just scrolled down to the end

So to make a long story short, Thanksgiving is a non-religious, federal holiday that falls on the 4th Thursday of each November. It commemorates thankful immigrants breaking bread with the locals who helped them plant and harvest the crops, a young nation thankful to be free of tyranny and a nation licking it's collective wounds after a brutal civil war, but in the end it's about food and family and a four-day weekend. In the end, we're simple people with simple habits and traditions. Now I need to go reserve my place in line at Best Buy, they're opening at 5pm on Thanksgiving Day and I desperately need that 75 inch Samsung TV. Yeah, Black Friday wasn't early enough for us, we'll be shopping on Thanksgiving Day. After all, that's what makes us Americans.