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 Holabird AdvocateProviding all the news we see fit to print since 2002!Wednesday, November 22, 2006 VOL. V Issue 11O The Truth About Thanksgiving There has been a lot of folklore about the first Thanksgiving after all this time. Our Friends at Snopes have put together as many facts about the event as possible. Here they are: Thanksgiving did not originate with the Pilgrims; it was an ancient historical custom they would have been familiar with from England. What the Pilgrims were celebrating was really not a "thanksgiving," which to them was an occasion for religious piety and solemnity, but rather a harvest festival, full of (secular) revelry such as feasting, drinking, dancing, singing, sports, and games which the Pilgrims would have considered completely inappropriate activities for a religious observance. Although contemporary accounts of the first Thanksgiving mention "wild turkeys," the Pilgrims and Wampanoag likely feasted on a variety of other fowl, such as geese, ducks, and partridges, and even birds we no longer commonly consider as food, such as cranes, swans, and eagles. Corn on the cob was unlikely to have been on the menu, since Indian corn was primarily kept dried by that time of year and used for grinding up into meal. The pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce we're familiar with were absent from the table as well, since the colonists had no supply of sugar, and wheat flour may have been scarce. (The celebrants might have made something like a pudding from boiled pumpkin sweetened with honey or syrup, however.) Potatoes (mashed or otherwise) were probably also absent, as they were not common in that area at the time. Although we don't traditionally associate seafood with Thanksgiving, the colonists may have included cod, eel, clams, lobster, and even seal in their feast. The Pilgrims didn't dress in black-and-white clothing with large buckles on their hats and shoes for Thanksgiving, as they are now commonly depicted. Pilgrims garbed themselves in such black and white clothing only on Sunday and other formal or solemn occasions, and large ornamental buckles didn't come into fashion until much later in the 1600s (and were likely to have been eschewed by the Pilgrims as a frivolity in any case). Due to a poor harvest the next year (and an influx of settlers in subsequent years), the pilgrims never celebrated another Thanksgiving, and it remained an irregularly-observed holiday in America for more than two centuries. The first time all the states in the U.S. celebrated Thanksgiving together was in 1777, but that was a one-time only affair prompted by the Revolutionary War. Abraham Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a national holiday celebrated on the last Thursday in November in 1863, and Franklin Roosevelt moved it to the fourth Thursday in November in 1939. Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth by Edward Winslow Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, among other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed upon our governor, and upon the captain, and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty. Ilah Hansen to Spend Thanksgiving at Home It has been reported that Ilah Hansen has left this world for her Heavenly home sometime this afternoon. This is an event that can be looked upon with both sadness and gladness. Her family and friends will miss her, and yet they will be glad that she is free from sickness and pain. We need not shed a tear for her. Heaven would be a great place to spend Thanksgiving. Perhaps we'll join her someday. Paris Hilton Throws Up It appears that Paris Hilton's singing makes her nausea as well. The famous-for-no-reason star was recently caught vomiting onstage during a performance in Las Vegas. Paris Hilton showed the crowd over the weekend that she just can't keep her act together - not even on stage. Paris Hilton got up on stage to sing some of her "songs". Instead she leaned over and threw up all over the Vegas stage! North of 40:Bank on it by Red Green You can learn a lot about relationships by looking at your bank statement. Whenever you do something thoughtful or sensitive, that's a credit. When you do something boneheaded, that's a debit. When it gets to the point where your debits are greater than your credits, you now have a debt. This debt will draw a great deal of interest -- especially from your wife. If you apologize sincerely at the time of the debit, the amount can be forgiven. If you don't apologize or don't apologize properly, the interest will compound until such time as the account goes dormant, and then it will eventually be closed. So, I suggest you get your accounts in order long before it gets that far. Try to do it during banking hours. Expecting to get an appointment with the credit manager after bedtime is asking for foreclosure. What Time Is It? by Jerry Hinkle Holabird Advocate Publisher Last Sunday, my nephew, Justin, was wearing a paper watch that he made in Sunday School. His teacher had written on the watch "Time to give thanks". Indeed it is that time once again. All of us had so many blessings this year. We need to take that time. Some may wonder if they have anything to be thankful for. I can give each and every one of you a list of 3 things for which you can give thanks. First, be thankful you're in America. We have our problems to be sure, but I don't hear Iraqis complaining about too many people trying to enter that country illegally. Second, be glad you're not Paris Hilton. The living proof that money can't buy happiness, or class. Last of all, be glad you will be able to eat too much tomorrow. Back in the 30s, my grandparents had to get by on barley soup sometimes. Hard to overeat on a diet of that stuff. Nothing to be thankful for? Check your watch! Then tell me what time it is.
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What am I thankful for? Do ya got a few hundred pages?
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I'm thankful that Hunter is in remission and he will be able to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner and supper this year. Last year on this day the 2 of us spend the holiday in the hospital while he recovered from his second chemotherapy treatment that had made him violently ill. He was so mad he too sick to eat turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy. We'll be filling up his plate this year! I'm thankful for my family. All four of my children and my husband are a miracle. I'm thankful for a lot of things. # posted by
 : 11:23 PM
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