Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Wishes (22nd November 2012)
From 101lifeStyle.com

Thanksgiving Day Myths And Facts:Here are 10 popular myths and misconceptions that people have about Thanksgiving. The facts have been deduced from historical data and reveal a lot about the origin of Thanksgiving.

Myth 1:
The First Thanksgiving was held in 1621 and celebrated every year henceforth.
Fact:
That the first Thanksgiving took place in December 1621, when the Pilgrims held a three-day feast in Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts to celebrate their bountiful harvest. It was a three-day harvest festival that included drinking, gambling, athletic games, and even target shooting . It wasn't repeated every year.

Myth 2:
The Pilgrims Ate Turkey
Fact:
The Pilgrims ate deer, not turkey. They killed five deer and venison was the flashy part of their menu, as it was new to them.

Myth 3:
The settlers called themselves 'Pilgrims".
Fact:
They didn't even refer to themselves as Pilgrims - they called themselves "Saints." Early Americans applied the term "pilgrim" to all of the early colonists; it wasn't until the 20th century that it was used exclusively to describe the folks who landed on Plymouth Rock.

Myth 4:
The original Thanksgiving feast took place on the fourth Thursday of November.
Fact:
The original feast in 1621 occurred sometime between September 21 and November 11. Unlike our modern holiday, it was three days long. The event was based on English harvest festivals, which traditionally occurred around the 29th of September. President Franklin D. Roosevelt set the date for Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday of November in 1939 (approved by Congress in 1941). Abraham Lincoln had previously designated it as the last Thursday in November, which may have correlated it with the November 21, 1621, anchoring of the Mayflower at Cape Cod.

Myth 5:
Thanksgiving is a day of celebration for Native Americans
Fact:
For many Native American people, Thanksgiving is cause for mourning rather than celebration? Although the First Thanksgiving included the Pilgrims' Native American neighbors, that spirit of cooperation did not last long between the native people and the colonists. The land and lives of the native people were pillaged and destroyed countless times during the early history of the United States of America. Racism and bigotry persist until this day. As a result, Thanksgiving has taken on greater historical significance for many Native Americans, who view that First Thanksgiving as the beginning of centuries of oppression and discrimination.

Myth 6:
The first Thanksgiving was a solemn religious occasion
Fact:
It was a 3-day harvest festival that included drinking, gambling, athletic games, and even target shooting with English muskets.

Myth 7:
Thanksgiving was a family gettogether among the Pilgrims.
Fact:
For the Pilgrims, Thanksgiving was a multicultural Community event, which they celebrated along with the Native Indians.

Myth 8:
The Pilgrims wore all black and white clothings and buckled Top hats
Fact:
Historical records of Pilgrims' clothing, such as the passenger list of the Mayflower, point out that buckles were very expensive and not in fashion then. They simply wore much cheaper leather laces to hold their pants and on their shoes. They wore heavily died colored clothing on all days except on Sundays when they wore gray.

Myth 9:
The Pilgrims were the first to initiate Thanksgiving Feast in America
Fact:
In 1565, a group of Spaniards, led by Spanish Explorer Pedro Menendez de Avile, celebrated Thanksgiving in Saint Augustine, Florida and also invited the local Timucua tribe to dine with them. In 1958, another Spanish explorer Juan de Onate celebrated Thanksgiving on the banks of the Rio Grande, along with those with him, after they successfully crossed the Mexican desert.

Myth 10:
The Pilgrims and Native Americans sat together around a table for their feast.
Fact:
Historians believe that about 90 native Wampanoag people joined the 50 or so Pilgrims at Plymouth Plantation. With so many people eating, seating was limited and they didn’t even use forks.

Thanksgiving Proclamation