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| | Throughout history, most cultures around the globe have celebrated harvest time. However, Thanksgiving really is a primarily American celebration. Unlike most holiday celebratory meals, there is not much give in the Thanksgiving menu. We all pretty much eat turkey and dressing or stuffing, candied yams and the like. Most meals are topped off with pumpkin pie. If you stray to far from the menu, you might end up with frustrated dinner guests. There can be quite a lot of variety when it comes to wines served at Thanksgiving however. Wines can range from white to rose to red. The wines can be dry or sweet, sparkling or still. In so many ways, the selection is endless when it comes to picking a suitable wine for Thanksgiving. There are also many different prices associated with wines that you can select for Thanksgiving ... from cheaper vintages to some very expensive wines. Generally speaking, at a traditional Thanksgiving meal, one half bottle of wine can serve four people.
There is no more important American holiday than Thanksgiving Day. Less politicized holiday than Thanksgiving Day does not exist. The idea of autumn celebration and end of harvest goes back to ancient times but for Americans these days are connected directly with the history of familiarizing to new lands.
On December 26, 1620, ship Mayflower was anchored at Cape Cod bay after two-month sailing to coasts of Massachusetts. Majority of passengers belonged to sect of puritans, pursued in England. New pilgrims started dangerous travel in the hope of forming a new colony in New World, where they can have the longed-for freedom.
At the end of sailing, before putting foot on unknown ground, passengers of the ship - new settlers signed a document known as “Mayflower Compact” to which the American historiography gives crucial significance as the beginning of constitutional self-government, fundamentals of American life and manifestation of internal freedom, which was brought by the religious dissidents, oppositionists, who ran away from medieval fanatic persecution in Europe.
Pilgrims expected incredible difficulties. New settlers had to cope with first winter on New Land, which turned out to be very severe and bitter and consequently, only 56 out of 102 pilgrims survived.
Governor of pilgrims William Bradford suggested celebrating the Thanksgiving Day for all the colonists and their kind good neighbors - Indians. Apart from Samoset and Squanto, more than 90 relatives of the tribal leader attended the celebration. For three days, the drums rattled and salute from rifles was made. But, that day did not become prototype of modern holiday.
In new place, the second summer was not so favorable and the third was a complete rainless. Then, Bradford decided to observe a day for fasting and prayers. Soon after, rain came down pouring! To celebrate this miraculous event, a Thanksgiving Day was fixed.
For a long time, the holiday was unofficial in New England. Only in 1777, Continental congress declared official national celebration of Thanksgiving Day in December. In 1789, George Washington proclaimed this holiday a national event and by recommendations of Congress, he assigned Thursday the 26th of November to be celebrated as “Thanksgiving Day”. In his interpretation, George Washington designated a national thanksgiving holiday for the constitution. |
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