Turkey, Ham, or Tofurky?

Traditional foods are a large part of Thanksgiving celebrations. Many families include the entire family in the food preparation. Traditional foods include turkey, stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes, cornbread, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce. Many people serve pie for dessert at the end of the meal.

Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a public holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. It originated as a harvest festival. The event that Americans commonly call the “First Thanksgiving” was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in October 1621. This feast lasted three days, and as accounted by attendee Edward Winslow, it was attended by 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims. The Wampanoag guests brought five deer with them, so venison was on the menu. The English brought fowl, “probably migrating waterfowl like ducks and geese, which were plentiful in autumn.  It is not specifically mentioned taking turkeys that year for the harvest celebration. Since Bradford wrote of how the colonists had hunted wild turkeys during the autumn of 1621 and since turkey is a uniquely American (and scrumptious) bird, it gained traction as the Thanksgiving meal of choice for Americans after Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863.

Thanksgiving Day is a time for many people to give thanks for what they have. What is your Thanksgiving tradition?

Whether you have turkey, ham, or tofurky….the Nationalhcs Team wishes you and your family a wonderful holiday!

 

Inspired by
National Geographic Kids
Wikipedia
www.npr.org

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