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Celebrating Thanksgiving Traditions By Justin Curran
As Thanksgiving rapidly approaches, people will be getting excitedly ready for that special day. They'll wake up to start cooking with their family and to prepare for the special festivities of the day. Thanksgiving only comes once a year, fulfilling these traditions definitely strengthen your bonds with your family and will greatly improve your mood. So, go watch the Patriots game, go watch the parade, the dog show, and anything you want. Think about the history of Thanksgiving, but never forget to give thanks to your family, to your friends, and to everything special in life.
Thanksgiving is placed at a very awkward time of year. Being at the end of November, it is stuck between the festivities of “Spooky Season” in October, and “Winter Wonderland” in December. It is often taken for granted at times and is often not as loved as Halloween or Christmas, but Thanksgiving’s history and festivities are of great importance and can be very helpful for your mental health.
In elementary school, you probably remember learning about the Pilgrims and the Mayflower in 1621, and how they came to Plymouth and had the first Thanksgiving. While yes, most of these statements are true, the Pilgrims weren’t the only ones credited with the first Thanksgiving. The British colony of Jamestown, Virginia, had been given credit after they had what was supposedly the first Thanksgiving in 1610 not long after becoming the first permanent British colony in the US.
Jamestown wasn’t even the earliest known colony to celebrate it, either. In 1564, some French Protestants in present-day Jacksonville were also credited with the first Thanksgiving, and even in 1541, about 80 years before the Pilgrims’ Thanksgiving, the Spanish were given credit, when explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and 1.500 of his men entered present-day Texas Panhandle, where they held a festival known as “The Daughters of American Colonists” and later known as the First Thanksgiving.
Despite all of that history, Thanksgiving didn’t become a national holiday until around 1863, when Abraham Lincoln declared it a national holiday of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.” George Washington attempted to make it a national holiday back around 1789, but it never stuck around as a tradition and was never thought of like a national holiday until Lincoln.
Now, thanks to all that rich history, Thanksgiving is an ever-so-popular holiday that more than 200 million people in America celebrate. You probably celebrate it, and your friends most likely do, too!
Thanksgiving is an amazing holiday here at CHS because not only does CHS have Thanksgiving Day out of school, they have Black Friday out as well. Factor the weekend as well, and that gives you a 3 day school week and a four day weekend! This certainly gives teens a well-needed and well-deserved break from all the work, and a time to relax, as well as bond with their families because even though school may be great, you do need a break from time-to-time, and with no vacation from the start of school to Christmas break, having a four day weekend could be helpful for many.
On November 10th, many people, most of them attending CHS, were asked via social media what they do/eat on Thanksgiving, and what their favorite thing to do/eat was.
The classic turkey was one of the most popular dishes, with mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce as other popular dishes among CHS students. Other foods, such as sweet potatoes, corn, peas and carrots, brussels sprouts, and squash were other side dishes that were represented. One freshman, Jacob Hawksley, makes spicy stuffing tamales.
Popular dessert dishes included pumpkin pie, cookies, ice cream, cheesecake, pecan pie, monkey bread, brownies, and Lucy Colby (freshman) enjoys homemade Rice Crispy Treats.
Popular traditions all seemed to be surrounded by family. Many people like to spend time at their grandparents’ house, their own house, aunts’ or uncles’ house, and any family houses you could think of. Michaela Annicelli and Lucy Colby (freshmen) enjoy watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Dog Show with their families. “Also, after dinner, my family always plays board games, and they always end in “You cheated!”
More social media polls went out on November 16th to collect even more interesting information after more questions arose, and this time, it was a “This or That” poll, with two similar dishes, either in food group or popularity, put against each other, and a poll of about 30 people came together and voted on each poll, and another poll was sent out just asking for your favorite food.
The first poll, were the two most popular main courses, turkey or ham, in which turkey was the winner 20-16 with people such as Tiara Rochon (sophomore), Abbie Thibodeau (sophomore), and Maya Kaplun (freshman) preferring turkey over ham.
This is probably quite surprising to all of the stuffing-lovers out there, but mashed potatoes were the more preferred food, with 25 votes to the 16 for stuffing. Mashed potatoes, or to be more specific, garlic mashed potatoes, are the favorite dish of Rachel DeCosta, and stuffing is Lucy Colby’s favorite Thanksgiving dish.
It was also important for the forgotten sweet side dishes to be represented, so the next poll was cranberry sauce or sweet potatoes, in which cranberry sauce was chosen by 22 people with 14 people voting for sweet potatoes. People such as Isabella Pizzo (junior) and Abbie voted for cranberry sauce.
To end the pumpkin vs pecan pie dispute, a poll for that went up as well, with an overwhelming 30 people choosing pumpkin pie, and only 5 people voting for pecan pie, Lucy Colby among one of them. It seems pecan pie isn’t nearly as well-liked as pumpkin pie, as this was the closest to unanimous a poll got.
As Thanksgiving rapidly approaches, people will be getting excitedly ready for that special day. They’ll wake up to start cooking with their family and to prepare for the special festivities of the day. Thanksgiving only comes once a year, fulfilling these traditions definitely strengthen your bonds with your family and will greatly improve your mood. So, go watch the Patriots game, go watch the parade, the dog show, and anything you want. Think about the history of Thanksgiving, but never forget to give thanks to your family, to your friends, and to everything special in life.