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DEBUNKING CRANBERRIES, GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE, AND OTHER SALIENT THANKSGIVING ISSUES

11/18/2016

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This started out to be a simple little blog about being thankful on Thanksgiving. However, because I was born lacking the pithy gene, I decided to do some research on the holiday.
Big Mistake! I found a number of conflicting "historic facts" and a myriad of versions of each. What a bummer!


THE FIRST THANKSGIVING IN NORTH AMERICA
We all know the story about the Pilgrims of the Plymouth Colony celebrating their first year in the New World in the fall of 1621. Unfortunately, only half of them survived the year.

When I was in school (back in the dark ages), we were taught this was the first Thanksgiving. I didn't know that the Plymouth Colony is in competition as the first "American Thanksgiving" with two locations in Texas, two in Florida, one in Maine, two in Virginia, and five in Massachusetts.

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I'm in shock! Who knew?

I didn't realize there were so many colonies and expeditions before 1621. Also, I noticed that the article didn't list where those sites were located or who made the claims that 1621 wasn't the first Thanksgiving in North America.

Two sources indicated that the first known Thanksgiving feast in North America was celebrated in Palo Duro Canyon (Texas panhandle) in 1541 by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and the "Tejas" of the Hasinai group of Caddo-speaking Native Americans.

In 1565, another Spanish explorer, Pedro Menéndez de Avilé and his expedition hosted the local Timucua tribe at a celebration dinner in St. Augustine, Florida. The festivities included a mass to thank God for their safe arrival.


Thirty-eight British settlers proclaimed their day of arrival at Berkeley Hundred, a location on Virginia's James River, as "a day of thanksgiving" on December 4, 1619.

MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB
The history of harvest festivals goes back thousands of years. It's a natural time to celebrate, particularly when the harvest has been good, and it marks the change of seasons. The Plymouth Colony celebration in 1621 must have had its roots in the ancient harvest festivals. At that time, England and other parts of Europe already set aside days to give thanks to God.
But how did Thanksgiving become an official holiday?

And how do Mary and her lamb get into this?


George Washington, John Adams, and James Madison all called on Americans to observe various periods of thanksgiving but there was no specific date. Sometimes the celebrations weren't even in the fall. President Jefferson called a federal holiday for Thanksgiving as "the most ridiculous idea ever conceived."

Sarah Joespha Hale (1788-1879), a magazine editor and the author of poems including "Mary Had A Little Lamb", campaigned for twenty years to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. Her campaign spanned five presidents.

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Finally, in 1863, Hale convinced President Lincoln to proclaim Thanksgiving as a national holiday on a specific date. He thought it would help unite the country after the Civil War. From that day on, until it was set into US law in 1941, Thanksgiving was proclaimed annually by the current president.

By the way, Sarah Hale deserves attention she may not be getting in history lessons. She also was the first person to advocate women as teachers in public schools, the first to advocate day nurseries to assist working mothers, and the first to propose public playgrounds. She is the author of two dozen books and hundreds of poems, including "Mary Had A Little Lamb." 
I don't remember studying Sarah Hale at all.
​

WHAT'S FOR THANKSGIVING DINNER?​
When it comes to articles about our modern-day Thanksgiving, for some reason the major topic is always food. What's for dinner?  What happened to topics like freedom and valuing what you have?

Green Bean Casserole
The most "significant fact" I learned about Thanksgiving food is this. More than forty million green bean casseroles are served on Thanksgiving. Heavy! And green bean casserole is only sixty years old. It was created in 1955 by the Campbell Soup Company. 
Does that rock your boat, or what?

​         Green Bean Casseroole and Campbell's Soup                      Cranberries on the vine and on the table
Cranberry Sauce
The cranberry is a staple of the modern Thanksgiving feast. It is served at 94% of all Thanksgiving dinners. It was originally called "crane berry" because its pink blossoms and drooping head reminded the Pilgrims of a crane. No one explained why it's called a "sauce."

Most references say Native Americans didn't eat cranberries, but used them for dying fabric, decorating pottery, and treating arrow wounds. Several indicated that cranberries are one of the few fruits (one source said three) native to North America. What? Oh, come on!

Wikipedia lists a large number of fruits native to North America but says, "However, only three are commercially grown/known on a global scale (grapes, cranberries, and blueberries.)"


Regardless, it's doubtful cranberries were on the Thanksgiving menu in 1621.

Another earthshaking fact: You can tell if a cranberry is ripe by throwing it at the ground and measuring how high it bounces. And even more incredible, the source claims, "As long as it bounces higher than four inches, it is ready to be picked." 
The operative words: Ready to be picked.

Okay, help me out here. How the heck do you throw the cranberry to the ground and bounce it, if it hasn't been picked yet? I guess the first one, ripe or not, is considered collateral damage.


Turkeys
Some say yes, some say no. Others say yes, but a totally different type of turkey. Most sources claim the main foods were probably venison and sea foods. Is that sacrilege, or what! ​
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​                ​ 1621 Turkey                                           2016 Turkey                               2016 Turkey on the table

THE SALIENT THANKSGIVING ISSUE
First, it seemed as though most of the articles I found were out to debunk as many Thanksgiving traditions as possible. Sure, the holiday has evolved. The menu has evolved. What difference does it make?

The purpose of the holiday, and what Americans are supposed to commemorate, was established when it was made a federal holiday. What we eat doesn't matter. Forgetting to be thankful and count our blessings does matter.

Second, if the information about other "first thanksgivings" is available, why isn't it taught in school? Why don't they teach about Sarah Hale? [My grandkids ranging from 26 to 3 have never heard of her.]  Why do they tell kids the pilgrims ate cranberries if they didn't?


Third, why all this emphasis on food? Aren't we already a nation of overweight people?
 
WHAT I WANTED TO SAY IN THE FIRST PLACE
One of my friends received a bracelet with three large beads as a gift. The instructions are to wear the bracelet all the time. Every morning when you put it on, say aloud three things you are thankful for ... one for each bead. When you look at it during the day, say three other things you are thankful for.

​
Whether you use two beads or more, it doesn't take long to discover that we each have more in our lives to be grateful for than we thought [which may or may not include cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, fat domesticated turkeys, pumpkin pie, and football].
​

THANKSGIVING SHOULDN'T BE THE ONLY DAY EACH YEAR WE COUNT OUR BLESSINGS!

Originally published on RB4U Blog, November 10, 2013  

Resources
http://facts.randomhistory.com/thanksgiving-facts.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/21/thanksgiving-trivia-facts_n_1106005.html
http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving-facts
http://www.theholidayspot.com/thanksgiving/trivia.htm
http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving-facts
http://www.newsplex.com/seasonal/misc/33852054.html
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/11/10-interesting-thanksgiving-facts/
http://www.life123.com/holidays/thanksgiving/kids-thanksgiving/interesting-thanksgiving-facts.shtml
http://www.weirdworm.com/weird-thanksgiving-day-facts/
http://www.coolest-holiday-parties.com/thanksgiving-facts.html
http://www.11points.com/Misc/11_Interesting_Facts_About_Popular_Thanksgiving_Traditions
http://wildturkeyzone.com/articles/thanksgivinghistory.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Josepha_Hale


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VETERANS DAY - A Time for Reflection

11/10/2016

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Yay! Tomorrow is November 11, Veterans Day. A day off! No Mail! We get to wear red poppies, wave flags, and go to a parade!

Many American tend to think of Veterans Day as just another day off. Or, if you don't have a holiday, it may be just another day when the mail isn't delivered.

​That's too bad, because it should be a day of reflection and thanks to the multitude of armed services veterans, and their families, who have kept our country "the land of the free, and the home of the brave."


Don't confuse it with Memorial Day, which honors those service men and women who have died in the service of their country. This day honors everyone who has served.

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HISTORY
Nothing is easy when it involves the federal government.


US President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed Armistice Day for November 11, 1919, one year after the armistice between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month and brought to a halt the actual fighting in WW I. The Treaty of Versailles was signed seven months later, June 28, 1919.

I was surprised to read that Congress didn't officially recognize the end of WW I until June 4, 1926. It's hard for me to envision signing the treaty without acknowledging the end of the war. However, in the same resolution, Congress requested President Coolidge to proclaim November 11 as a national holiday. This is the same day celebrated in other parts of the world as Remembrance Day, Armistice Day, Victory in Europe Day, and other names.


An act approved in May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November a legal federal holiday, known as "Armistice Day", dedicated to the veterans of WW I and the cause of world peace.

Something as non-partisan/non-controversial as this took almost ten years. No wonder we're in trouble.

Then, on June 1, 1954, Congress approved legislation changing the name from Armistice Day to Veterans Day, a holiday which honors of the veterans of all wars, not just WW I, and celebrated on October 25. The first Veterans Day was celebrated on October 25, 1971. Confusion ensued.

No one was happy.

On September 20, 1975, President Gerald Ford signed a law which returned Veterans Day to the original date of November 11, beginning in 1978.

Sigh of relief. This pleased just about everyone, although I used to wonder why my employer gave us a union-negotiated holiday on October 25, when the official holiday was November 11. Now I understand.

Hopefully, everything is settled for a while. And it pleases me that Veterans Day hasn't been moved from the specific date. That's not an accident. The proponents wanted to preserve the significance of November 11 and to focus attention on the purpose of Veterans Day.


A TIME FOR REFLECTION AND THANKS

As Senator Mike Johanns said,
"Nothing we can do in Congress will ever fully return the favor of those who have given so much for America.  But we must do all we can to honor them.  All Americans share in the responsibility of caring for our veterans who have defended our freedom.


Fewer causes are so imperative or so noble.  This Veterans Day, we remember the service to our brave men and women in uniform.  We thank them for their sacrifice and for their service."

THANK YOU TO THOSE MEN AND WOMEN, AND THEIR FAMILIES, WHO HAVE SERVED IN THE PAST AND TO THOSE WHO CONTINUE TO SERVE AND PROTECT OUR FREEDOM!

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AND FDR SAID, "LET THERE BE LIGHT … ONE HOUR EARLIER!"

11/4/2016

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This is the weekend! The one everyone has been waiting for with bated breath. Yes, this Saturday night (or Sunday morning) we will set our clocks back one hour. Are you ready for  Clock Confusion Time again?

Does anyone else struggle with this phenomenon? I believe if it weren't for the jingle we all learn about springing forward and falling back, we'd be even more befuddled than we are.
 

SHARE YOUR ANECDOTES
If you have a story (real, written, or read) about Daylight Saving Time, make a comment and share with the rest of us. 

My bedside clock doesn't get it. I purchased it when the time change was still the last weekend in October. It was programmed to automatically change the time in the fall and spring. It still does that, but now a week earlier than the official date. But it makes a good excuse for being late … or is that just in the spring? 

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DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME 
Note that the correct term is "Saving Time" not "Savings Time", abbreviated DST. The period runs from 2 a.m. on the second Sunday in March to 2 a.m. to the first Sunday of November.
 

I'm always taken off guard when the time comes around to change the clock. What are your thoughts on Daylight Saving Time? Do you like it or dislike it? Find it hard to adjust? Do you know the purpose and history of Daylight Saving time?
 
WHERE DID THIS COCKAMAMIE IDEA COME FROM?
Most of the stories (myths, legends) one hears are either incorrect or only part of the history, and the idea actually goes way back.

● The general idea of daylight saving was first suggested (indirectly) by Benjamin Franklin in 1784, while US ambassador to France, for the purpose of saving resources. While Ben often gets the credit, he really didn't propose anything about setting the clock differently. He only suggested rising at dawn would get more out of the sunlight hours...essentially, a change in sleep schedule.

           Benjamin Franklin           George Vernon Hudson            William Willett 
● Modern daylight saving was first proposed in 1895 by George Vernon Hudson, a New Zealand entomologist. His shift-work job gave him leisure time to collect insects, and he valued after-hours daylight. He presented a paper to the Wellington Philosophical Society which generated considerable interest, but never went anywhere. 

● In 1908, Englishman William Willett wrote a pamphlet called “The Waste of Daylight.” His proposal was considered by the British Parliament, but the bill didn't pass. Willett died in 1915, on standard time, without success.
 

● In April, 1916 Austria and Germany adopted Daylight Saving Time as a wartime measure to conserve electricity. Other countries in Europe followed suit, including Britain. The US accepted the idea in March 1918, as a wartime measure, not for the benefit of farmers, as some people believe.
 
● After WWI ended, Woodrow Wilson ceded to popular demand and repealed Daylight Saving in the U.S.
 
● WWII brought Daylight Saving back to the fore in 1942, when FDR mandated the measure, known as "War Time", throughout the United States. This time, it stuck for most of the country.
 
● For years, different cities and states in the U.S. started and ended their daylight saving time on different dates, creating chaos throughout the country. Congress passed a law in 1966 which set a standard for Daylight Saving Time with the period beginning on the last Sunday in April and ending on the last Sunday in October. The law gave the states the option of remaining on standard time year round.
 
Arizona—with the exception of the state's Navajo Nation—and Hawaii did not wish to participate. The overseas territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, and the US Virgin Islands didn't participate. However, some local variations persisted.
 
● In 2005, President Bush signed a law moving the Daylight Earning Time back to the first weekend of November, a measure designed to help cut down on the number of children injured or killed in automobile accidents while trick-or-treating after dark on Halloween.
 
One source claims that one of the reasons for extending into November was to encourage voter participation. The rationale was that more voters would go to the polls if it were still light when they returned from work.  I hadn't heard this one before.
 
SO, ARE WE HAPPY?
Not everyone supports Daylight Saving Time—I don't think the term "Daylight Earning Time" ever kicked in. The states of Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming are reported to be looking into opting out of DST. In 2014, a bill was introduced in Kentucky to go to DST year round.

The biggest supporters of DST are always the commercial and retail interests, and there is no substantial body of evidence that the practice saves energy. Some suggest that more gasoline is used during this period. Since the time period coincides to a large extent with school summer vacations, it would be hard to find that conclusive.

DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME ANECDOTS
The anecdotal material on the results of daylight saving time is abundant. If you have one, make a comment and share it.  Here are a few.

 
● A man, born in Delaware just after midnight DST, managed to get out of being drafted into the Viet Nam war by arguing that standard time, not DST, was the official time for his state of Delaware for recording births. Under standard time, he was born the prior day and that day had a much high draft lottery number. He wasn't drafted.
 
● To maintain their published schedule, Amtrak does not allow trains to leave a station before the scheduled time. When the clocks are set back by one hour, Amtrak trains that are running on time have to stop and wait one hour. In the spring, the trains lose an hour and have to make up the lost time and arrive at the station on schedule.
 
● On the day when DST springs forward an hour, patrons of pubs become disgruntled about losing an hour of drinking time. There are been riots in bars when they have to shut down early, particularly in Athens, Ohio, home of Ohio University.
 
● In September 1999, with the West Bank on Daylight Saving Time while Israel has just switched back to standard time, a terrorist bomb attack was thwarted by the terrorists' lack of understanding of DST. The timing on the bombs, set to go off to kill two busloads of civilians, was misinterpreted by the terrorists planting the bombs in Israel. They went off an hour earlier than expected, killing three terrorists instead of the intended victims.
 
Don't miss my latest murder mystery entitled "THE LAST WEEKEND IN OCTOBER"
Would you believe it involves Daylight Saving Time?

 

Originally Posted on RB4U March, 2015
 
Resources
http://www.webpronews.com/daylight-saving-time-an-interesting-history-2014-10
http://highlandstoday.com/hi/local-news/daylight-saving-or-standard-time-20140928/
http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/
http://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-daylight-saving-time|
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time_in_the_United_States

 
 
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    Author R. Ann Siracusa

    Novelist, retired architect and urban planner, world traveler, quilter, owl collector, devoted wife-mother-grandmother, great-grandmother, and, according to some, wild-assed liberal.

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