First of all, my apologies to my blog followers for a long delay on my posts. I appreciate some of you asking me for updated posts, this will always keep me on my toes. It has been a busy/rough couple of weeks for those of you who know and for others I'll just blame it on the Flu & Viral season.
Anyway, as we approach one of America's most important holiday - "Thanksgiving", I wanted to share my thoughts on this "well known" festival. I have asked a lot of people this week to find out the real significance of the holiday and to my surprise more than 80% of them were unable to answer most of my questions related to this holiday. What really is 'Thanksgiving'? What is the significance behind a 'Turkey dinner'? Why is it celebrated on the last Thursday of November?
Please understand that my intention is not to point out my finding but only to make us all realize that we do a lot of things not really understanding the real significance. This is typical of any culture, region or religion. I would say 'Ignorance' & 'Forgetfulness' are true human traits. We either don't know why we perform certain rituals or we quickly forget why. We just tend to perform it just for the sake of performing. This is especially true for Halloween, I have done a similar exercise with Halloween and more than 95% of the people I talked to didn't know. Most of the answers revolved around scary costumes but very few could explain the question 'why'? I found out that Halloween is a $4 billion dollar industry.
What is Thanksgiving anyway? - It is considered a harvest festival. It's time to give thanks to the harvest and express gratitude in general. The annual tradition in the US started in 1863. There are some arguments that that the actual tradition started when the Spanish settlers landed at St. Augustine in 1565.
Modern day Thanksgiving - Held in 1621 at Plymouth Plantation when settlers held a harvest feast after a successful growth season. This was an iconic-event and generally referred to as 'First Thanksgiving'. It was celebrated to give thanks to God for helping the pilgrims survive the brutal winter. Without going into too much detail, here is some useful information.
Where is this Celebrated - Primarily in United States and Canada
It's origin - Religious by origin but eventually became a secular festival
Annual celebration - In 1789, George Washington made a proclamation and created the first Thanksgiving Day designated by the national government of the United States of America
National Holiday - In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln, proclaimed a National Thanksgiving Day. Ever since, Thanksgiving has been observed as an annual holiday in the United States.
Why Turkey - Though there is no real evidence that turkey was served at the Pilgrim's first thanksgiving, but through ages it became an indispensable part of the Thanksgiving tradition. The tradition of turkey is rooted in the 'History Of Plymouth Plantation', written by William Bradford some 22 years after the actual celebration.
Why Pumpkin Pie - I couldn't get much information on this but I'm definitely interested in knowing more. I see why Pumpkin was chosen as the main ingredient but not sure why a Pie was chosen as the dessert.
Gathering this information from various sources like Wikipedia and intriguing conversations with a lot of people was a very interesting experience and I would like to share what I’m thankful for:
What am I thankful for - I'm thankful for a lot of things and here are some of the most important ones - Great family, Friends, Health, Job and Gurudev.
Please take a moment to share any additional information on Thanks giving (or) thoughts on what you are Thankful for.
Anyway, as we approach one of America's most important holiday - "Thanksgiving", I wanted to share my thoughts on this "well known" festival. I have asked a lot of people this week to find out the real significance of the holiday and to my surprise more than 80% of them were unable to answer most of my questions related to this holiday. What really is 'Thanksgiving'? What is the significance behind a 'Turkey dinner'? Why is it celebrated on the last Thursday of November?
Please understand that my intention is not to point out my finding but only to make us all realize that we do a lot of things not really understanding the real significance. This is typical of any culture, region or religion. I would say 'Ignorance' & 'Forgetfulness' are true human traits. We either don't know why we perform certain rituals or we quickly forget why. We just tend to perform it just for the sake of performing. This is especially true for Halloween, I have done a similar exercise with Halloween and more than 95% of the people I talked to didn't know. Most of the answers revolved around scary costumes but very few could explain the question 'why'? I found out that Halloween is a $4 billion dollar industry.
What is Thanksgiving anyway? - It is considered a harvest festival. It's time to give thanks to the harvest and express gratitude in general. The annual tradition in the US started in 1863. There are some arguments that that the actual tradition started when the Spanish settlers landed at St. Augustine in 1565.
Modern day Thanksgiving - Held in 1621 at Plymouth Plantation when settlers held a harvest feast after a successful growth season. This was an iconic-event and generally referred to as 'First Thanksgiving'. It was celebrated to give thanks to God for helping the pilgrims survive the brutal winter. Without going into too much detail, here is some useful information.
Where is this Celebrated - Primarily in United States and Canada
It's origin - Religious by origin but eventually became a secular festival
Annual celebration - In 1789, George Washington made a proclamation and created the first Thanksgiving Day designated by the national government of the United States of America
National Holiday - In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln, proclaimed a National Thanksgiving Day. Ever since, Thanksgiving has been observed as an annual holiday in the United States.
Why Turkey - Though there is no real evidence that turkey was served at the Pilgrim's first thanksgiving, but through ages it became an indispensable part of the Thanksgiving tradition. The tradition of turkey is rooted in the 'History Of Plymouth Plantation', written by William Bradford some 22 years after the actual celebration.
Why Pumpkin Pie - I couldn't get much information on this but I'm definitely interested in knowing more. I see why Pumpkin was chosen as the main ingredient but not sure why a Pie was chosen as the dessert.
Gathering this information from various sources like Wikipedia and intriguing conversations with a lot of people was a very interesting experience and I would like to share what I’m thankful for:
What am I thankful for - I'm thankful for a lot of things and here are some of the most important ones - Great family, Friends, Health, Job and Gurudev.
Please take a moment to share any additional information on Thanks giving (or) thoughts on what you are Thankful for.
Comments
Looking forward to get many more such.
Sivaprasad Tllapragada
-Tukaram Omble...the ASI who caught a terrorist alive with his bare hands!
-Hemant Karkare...chief of anti terror squad
-Ashok Kamte...Assistant Commissioner of Police,Mumbai
-Vijay Salaskar...Encounter specialist,Mumbai police
-Sashank Shinde...Senior Inspector,Mumbai Police
-Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan and Havildar Gajendra Singh of the National Security Guard
Thank you heroes! Our homage to all!
This is awesome work.I just looked into your blogs and was blown away by the effort and time spent on it.It is superb. Any way I am thankful for Life itself and the gods grace and love towards me. I have been blessed with everything best life has to offer..... happy and content family,and supportive and encouraging friends. what else should I ask for
RoopKamal