Again Thanksgiving Day is upon us, and a celebration of home and hearth and friends and bounty. A very sentimental holiday, we think of big family dinners at our grandparents, reunited with family we seldom see, and sometime reminded of why we seldom see them. "Over the river and through the woods" to a simpler time may-be. A time when it was a very good idea to gain a few pounds to ensure that one stayed healthy through the winter.
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Thanksgiving , when the farmers table groaned under the bounty of his and his family hard work, when everyone came home before the winter made the roads impassable, when the cooks in each family showed off their skills preparing dishes that were only prepared for Thanksgiving Day, and everyone anticipated the feast as much as the being together again. Sharing food, stories, and remembering the details of Thanksgivings gone by.
The turkey, the centerpiece of the feast was reserved for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Ben Franklin proposed the wily turkey as the symbol of our country, but the eagle won out. The subtle Patriotic themes have faded over time, and probably it had less to do with with the Pilgrims and Indians than it did with the aftermath of the the Civil War, the time when Thanksgiving became an official holiday. A warm welcome, food and conviviality, the common ground was healing to the soul, no matter what time of year it is.
"Hope you will eat a big piece of turkey." said May Dean.
A voice in the wind. echos that.
