Thank You Mrs. Hale

Don't mess with the meal.

The ingredients to the feast are well established. Tamper with these staples and there will be mutiny.   A few years ago I suggested that I was going to make pumpkin profiteroles instead of pumpkin pie, just to break out of the sameness of the Thanksgiving dessert, and I received a hefty backlash ending in a resounding 'No!" 

The pie prevailed.

I recall Italian themed Thanksgivings of my childhood with escarole soup, antipasti, some type of pasta (ravioli perhaps?) and, oh right, turkey with all the sides. That table of bounty was a Sunday dinner on steroids - I loved it.  Clearly, I was not making the food for such a meal. I was more of a cheerleader for the event, but I have wonderful memories of the abundance and flavors. (Antipasti is still served thanks to my mom.)

I am reading an interesting book titled "Lies My Teacher Told Me" by James Loewen.  It is a kind of counter-textbook of historical facts that clarifies and debunks some of what we are taught about American history.  Thanksgiving takes quite a hit. Did you know that "although George Washington set aside days for national thanksgiving, our modern celebrations date back only to 1863?"  President Lincoln, in the darkest days of his presidency, sought to rouse patriotism in the throes of civil war.  He proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday.  No Pilgrims in starched white shirts. (The only tall black hat was the stovepipe one Lincoln was known to wear.) No Native Americans. While Eastern Indians observed autumnal harvest celebrations for centuries, many of the foods represented were not those we identify with Thanksgiving.  Seafood anyone?
 

Loewen goes on to state, "the civil ritual we practice marginalizes Native Americans." I am fresh off completing an Ethnic American Literature course, and the stories written by Native Americans and their descendants are filled with raw narratives about the decimation of their indigenous nation.  Thanksgiving is the least of their concerns, yet its invented origins have an arrogance that overlook what Native Americans truly experienced.  I don't mean to pour cold water over this holiday - I celebrate it but with more thought toward its spirit and less about the fictionalization of who did and ate what.  Native American poet Wendy Rose pinpoints the hypocrisy in, "For the White Poets Who Would Be Indian."

You think of us only

when your voice wants for roots,

when you have sat back

on your heels

and become primitive. 

You finish your poem

and go back.

A New York Times article, by James McWilliams, published a few years ago tells of the food choices surrounding Thanksgiving and looks at the myths with frankness. "There's no evidence to support the holiday's early association with food - much less foods native to North America. Thanksgiving celebrations occurred irregularly at best after 1621 (the year of the supposed first Thanksgiving) and colonists observed them as strictly religious events (conceivably by fasting). " If History could be taught with an eye for realism, even if it pushes against the often more self-serving versions of how we'd like things to be remembered or that we emotionally hold dear, its purpose would be best served- in truth.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/24/opinion/24mcwilliams.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=sarah%20hale%20thanksgiving&st=cse

So now, who is Mrs. Hale?  Well, she can be rightfully called the Mother of Thanksgiving, and yet, until this week, I had never heard of her.  Sarah Hale was the nineteenth century's Martha Stewart figure who was the first female editor of a popular magazine titled "Godey's Lady's Book." She ran the magazine for 40 years! An article in Humanities magazine, a publication of the National Endowment for the Humanities,  tells of her prolific activism. She was born in New Hampshire and lived a life of advocacy. She lobbied governors, congressmen, and presidents to have Thanksgiving declared a national holiday. http://www.neh.gov/news/humanities/2009-11/NewHampshire.html

In 1837, Hale wrote that a national day of thanksgiving, "might, without inconvenience, be observed on the same day of November, say the last Thursday in the month.... It would then have a national character, which would, eventually, induce all the states to join in the commemoration of 'Ingathering,' which it celebrates. It is a festival which will never become obsolete, for it cherishes the best affections of the heart—the social and domestic ties. It calls together the dispersed members of the family circle, and brings plenty, joy and gladness to the dwellings of the poor and lowly."

Interestingly she also founded the Seaman's Aid Society, "to assist the surviving

families of Boston sailors who died at sea." One more fine factoid - she is the author who gave the world, "Mary Had a Little Lamb." 

In my Thanksgiving Day thoughts of gratitude, I will remember to thank Sarah Hale - feminist, humanist, activist.  Other things I am grateful for include:

-a packed farmer's market the day before the feast - these are my people;

-nasturtiums that defy the odds and bloom for the feast; 

-the many expressions of kindness floating about me

-music that moves, entertains, and comforts me;

-having more books than time to read them - my anticipation abounds;

-feeling loved - feeling loss: the richness in both;

-my family, friends and acquaintances.

My friend, Stephanie, summed up her thoughts this holiday with the satisfaction a parent revels in as children come home, when she stated, "The nest is full." I hope all of your nests feel full, warm, comforting especially during this unique time of year. This holiday asks for nothing more.



Author Anne Lamott writes of the two best prayers she knows and these have become two of mine as well mostly because they are simple and direct.

Help me, help me, help me and Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thanksgiving blessings to all!