Thanksgiving Day: What a Change from 1621 to the Present!

Three hundred ninety years have passed since the Pilgrims gave thanks for their harvest at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621. There are records from that first gathering of thanksgiving from which we can learn about the foods that were eaten and of the numbers of people fed.

According to Wikimedia.com, the first Thanksgiving feast lasted three days and provided enough food for 13 Pilgrims and 90 Native Americans. The feast consisted of fish and shellfish; wild fowl; venison; berries and fruit; vegetables such as peas, pumpkin, beetroot and possibly wild or cultivated onion; barley and wheat; and beans, dried Indian maize or corn, and squash.

This must have been a pretty labor-intensive meal considering there were 103 people involved, and some of those in attendance were no doubt children too young to participate in the harvest or with the food preparation effort.

This thanksgiving feast was held after the first harvest. Would the weather have been very cold and did it stay reasonably pleasant over the whole three days? How did they preserve the harvested foods and the fish, fowl and venison or were they out foraging for the food just before and even during the three-day feast? Did they prepare foods and eat in one central location, or did they use numerous cooking and serving sites? For food preparation and heat, much firewood must have been required over the course of the event.

Anyone who has prepared and served a sit-down meal of any size knows that it is a challenge to get all of the courses ready to serve at the same time and to have the meal on the table while everything is hot and at its best. Were the foods at the 1621 thanksgiving feast served simultaneously, or might the people have "grazed" throughout the three-day event as various foods were prepared and made ready to eat?

Records are skimpy leaving many unanswered questions, but the fact remains that much work went into fishing, trapping, shooting, picking, and digging prior to and probably throughout the harvest feast. Couple those tasks with the basic need for hauling water, gathering firewood and keeping the fires stoked and burning, and preparing the food and serving it to all in attendance, and it becomes clear that the very early harvest feasts were indeed celebratory events with great meaning for the early settlers in America.

Thanksgiving Day of the present

The harvest feast of 1621 was the Thanksgiving Day of then - things are very different in the present as Americans approach our upcoming celebratory get-togethers on November 24, 2011.

Of course situations vary greatly across such a broad nation as America, but as I prepare for Thanksgiving Day 2011 here at my home in Minnesota, about the only similarity I have with the Plymouth, Massachusetts thanksgiving event in 1621 is that I will cook food, and serve it.

The only foraging for food that I will do is in the aisles of modern supermarkets. No running down and shooting a wild turkey for me - will I choose a fresh bird or frozen, and might I want to choose one that is organic or has been brined? Bags of potatoes, a multitude of root vegetables, fresh eggs, packaged grains, canned pumpkin, evaporated milk, all manner of convenience foods, a variety of apples, bags of all kinds of nuts, etc. - all these ingredients and many more are readily available whenever I need to purchase them.

I have such modern appliances as a freezer, refrigerator, electric range, electric mixer, microwave, toaster oven, plus many others - all there for my needs at every step of the food preparation process. I can put extra leaves in my dining table and set out place settings and decorations to make the holiday more festive. A guest delayed? I'll learn about it by phone and adjust timing accordingly. Otherwise, my guests will just pile in their vehicles and make the trek to my home via our modern highway system.

Hot and cold running water, a tub or shower, indoor bathrooms with modern plumbing, electricity and natural gas, a gas fireplace, both electric and gas furnaces with programmable thermostats - the list can go on and on of the various conveniences that I have available in the present.

With so many changes having taken place in just under 400 years, one wonders what Thanksgiving Day in America will be like in the year 2400. And given the uncertainties surrounding us in 2011, is it a sure thing that a day set aside for giving thanks will still be desired or even allowed?

On November 24, 2011, my family will be together in a spirit of thanksgiving for our many blessings. From my home to you and yours, Happy Thanksgiving Day, 2011!

Related articles by R.C.:

• A Thanksgiving Day I Will Always Remember
  
• Thanksgiving Day: Remain Flexible; Plans Often Change
  
• My Thanksgiving Pie: Peeling Apples, Along with Layers of Memories
  
• Giving Thanks that Thanksgiving Day is a National Holiday
• A Reflection: When pie making changed for me
  

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_(United_States)