Unlike so many other holidays that tend to segregate us by religion or region, Thanksgiving is a non-secular holiday, embraced by most but notably not all, Americans. It is not a stretch to say that most of us think of Thanksgiving, together with its history and traditions, as central to the American story. We take its creation myth, so rooted in the European settlement of the continent, as fact and its traditions as never changing. It is a holiday that seemingly does not emphasize our differences, but rather shows off our commonalities. The distinctly American holiday demands uniformity: sharing a meal with family and friends while eating turkey, cranberry sauce, green-bean casserole, and pumpkin pie.
Yet almost none of that is actually true. Thanksgiving is based on a national myth. The Native American and Pilgrim’s first Thanksgiving narrative is more legend than fact.
Yes, the Wampanoags and English colonists likely gathered in 1621 for a harvest festival. However, they probably had venison and, rather than a novel idea, harvest festivals were and are common in many, if not most, northern cultures as a matter of practicality. When fall is in full and winter lurks, the crops are in, livestock are being slaughtered, and it is time to celebrate the harvest by having one last feast before the lean months of winter.
Harvest festivals were common throughout the colonial years and early period of the United States. They were, however, observed by different states at various times throughout the fall. All but ubiquitous in Northern states, the tradition was largely ignored in the South.
The harvest table would feature a wide variety of meats, vegetables and tree fruit that are ready to eat in the autumn. The turkey is a bird that matures in the fall. Thus, it would have made an appearance, but no more so than chicken, pork, beef and goose. Plum puddings and other semi-savory, semi-sweet foods along with pickles and preserves, would accompany the meat. Mincemeat pies were also featured as a convenient means of using lesser cuts of meat with dried fruit and spices.
There was no national Thanksgiving holiday until a 19th century writer, named Sarah Josepha Hale, crusaded to combine all the states’ harvest festivals under one national umbrella. She convinced Abraham Lincoln to join her and, in 1863, Congress established Thanksgiving as a national holiday.
Just as Thanksgiving evolved from the 17th century to the 19th century, so has it from the 19th to 21st centuries. Cornbread and yams are now as likely on the tables in the South as mashed potatoes are in the North. Cranberry sauce only became a staple when the Cape Cod Cranberry Company began selling and marketing canned cranberry sauce. Some Norwegian Americans make a potato flatbread called lefse, which they serve with meatballs. Pan dulce, arroz con leche, and flan are as likely as pecan or pumpkin pie on many Mexican American tables.
So too have the ways evolved in which Americans celebrate the holiday or, markedly, do not celebrate the holiday. Today, Thanksgiving is celebrated in many ways and Thanksgiving traditions vary from family to family and table to table.
At CHS, to kick off celebrations, Consumer and Family Sciences teacher, Carl Haberberger’s Living Skills class prepares an annual Thanksgiving meal. “To start the process, the class took a poll of which dish they preferred. [The class] then took the most popular dishes and the students got to choose which ones they wanted to make,” recounted Haberberger. After finding their specific recipe, the Living Skills class took a field trip across the street to Dan’s Food Market, at which they purchased the needed ingredients. “We spent two days mise en place, French for ‘preparing the meal.’” continued Haberberger. “And on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, we cooked it and ate it!” The Living Skills class made so much food that they “ended up feeding probably 50 people,” smiled Haberberger.
Diversity in meals and tradition is characteristic of Kodiak families. “My family is vegetarian. So, no turkey for us,” informed junior Ellie Holm. “Usually, we make corn soufflé, green beans, and squash.” “My family doesn’t have all of the usual traditions,” shrugged junior Erick Giles. “But we do usually have a big family gathering and eat pozoles, a traditional Mexican soup or stew made with hominy (dried maize kernels) and meat.” Junior Emily Sanchez remarked that her family “also [has] pozoles, as well as quesabirria (cross between tacos and quesadilla), tacos al pastor (split grill pork tacos), menudo (cow stomach soup), carnitas tacos and tamales.” Sanchez added that “after dinner, [her family] watches six movies, one picked by each person in the family. If we have time, we also play board games and whoever loses has to make desert!”
Diversity is not limited to the meal. While having Thanksgiving dinner at grandmother’s house was memorialized in the 1844 Thanksgiving poem by Lydia Marie Child, “The New-England Boy's Song about Thanksgiving Day," otherwise known as "Over the River and Through the Woods,” locations have evolved. For instance, CHS freshman Quinten Koch and his family, like so many other ski racing families, traveled to northern ski camps for the holiday. The Kochs were in Sovereign Lake, British Columbia. Quinten related that he “basically ski[s] twice a day every day for a week, get[s] unbelievably tired and sometimes sick, and eat[s] a ton of food with teammates and their families for Thanksgiving.” Senior Tonio Aurilio recalled, and reminisced, about the time his “family went up to the Oregon Coast for the long weekend to get away from it all for Thanksgiving.”
Getting away from it all is a sentiment shared by CHS Spanish teacher, Azucena Ledezma who is part Indigenous American. Thanksgiving is not a holiday that Ledezma celebrates: “I think it’s a really nice idea, you know, to be thankful, but we aren’t always honest about the way we teach or talk about Thanksgiving, especially at schools. We aren’t always right about the history of it. Starting in preschool, kindergarten or first grade, children have been taught how Native Americans helped the white settlers grow and harvest food and how Thanksgiving is a celebration and a gathering to thank the indigenous peoples. But what really happened after that wasn’t pretty. They were moved to different parts of the land that weren’t very nice and, in many cases, very harsh for them to survive in.” Ledezma went on to recount how “even in Washington State, voices of Native peoples aren’t included, and that genocide and killings of innocent indigenous women is still prevalent today. Not all voices are included in the story of Thanksgiving. I think we can all be more honest.”
This Thanksgiving has come and gone. But when planning for next year’s edition of the holiday, considering the various perspectives on its historical place in our culture and meaning to our collective society is important. From expanding options for the fare to expanding your mind by learning the real history of Thanksgiving and its aftermath, we can all gain. A thanksgiving holiday is important to a culture, but so is inclusion and fair treatment of all our peoples.
A belated happy and thoughtful Thanksgiving to all of our readers.
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