Montauk Kids
Celebrating Thanksgiving
By Nancy Keeshan
Recently I was on an overseas flight and while chatting with the girl next to me, we both agreed that we had great vacations but were also really glad to be on our way home. There's something about the feeling of coming home that is hard to explain, but it’s something that most people feel, especially around the holidays.
Home is where you go to be safe, to feel comforted and be yourself.
I for one am looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner with
the turkey, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, pumpkin
pie,
and a fight over who gets the wishbone.
That being said, I wanted to find out a little bit about
Thanksgiving, which represents a combination of different
traditions of giving
thanks. Have we always celebrated Thanksgiving? How did
these traditions come about?
We all know that it started with the Pilgrims at the Plymouth
plantation. In late 1620, the pilgrims were having a
terrible time surviving the harsh winter. Planting techniques
that
were used at home in Europe were not successful for them
in the
rocky soil of New England. Finally, help came to them
by the native Indians and one in particular by the name of
Squanto. He taught the pilgrims how to grow crops such
as corn, wheat
and barley and by the next fall, they were fairing much
better and the harvest was bountiful. Governor William
Bradford
therefore,
declared a day of Thanksgiving. It was a feast that lasted
three full days. The festival both boosted the moral
of
the colonists and was a way for them to thank the American
Indians
for their help. The first national Thanksgiving did not
occur until 1777 and it was more a day to celebrate the
American
Patriot victory over the British than anything else.
Each fall, it was left up tot he individual states to recognize
a day
of Thanksgiving until 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln
officially declared the last Thursday of November a day
for all Americans
to celebrate Thanksgiving.
The centerpiece of Thanksgiving traditions is, of course,
the turkey.
Ever see a great big turkey here in Montauk right in
your yard? I do all the time and I always wondered
about them.
What kind
of turkeys are they? After a bit of research, I discovered
that they are part of an area wide restoration program.
At the time the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, wild
game was abundant.
The ocean was plentiful with fish and the forest
full of wild turkeys. However, a combination of forest clearing,
unregulated
hunting, and severe winters eliminated such wildlife
from
the area. It has not been until recent years, that
restoration efforts have been successful. Turkeys
from
other parts
of the
Northeast have been trapped and transferred here
to Long Island and other parts of New England and now
that they
are protected,
they are flourishing here. The Eastern wild turkey
is a majestic bird. The “Tom” or male bird has dark feathers
and a brightly colored head. He can weigh 18-24 lbs. or more.
The female turkey or “hen” is lighter in color
and her head is a pale blue. She can weigh as much as 10 lbs.
They forage on the ground for acorns, plants and insects and
do not migrate. They live in the woods but like to forage in
open spaces, which is why we frequently see them by the side
of the road or in our yards.
Coming home, pilgrims, and turkeys are all wonderful
Thanksgiving traditions, but at the end of the
day, we all know that
the real point of Thanksgiving is to be thankful.
It’s a
time to give thanks, not just for the obvious things, but for
a multitude of blessings, even the hidden ones. After all,
it’s the hard times that make the good times sweeter,
and that without some of life’s obstacles we might never
get out of the same old tired routines. There is a movie I
really like called “Pay it forward”. It’s
about having enough gratitude for something nice that someone
has done for you that you, in turn, pass some goodness along
to someone else who really needs a hand.
It’s a sweet story about being thankful and having gratitude.
Real gratitude truly involves “paying it forward.” It’s
not as easy as it sounds but it can make the world a better
place. Happy Thanksgiving!
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