Thanksgiving

What traditional foods will you feature on your Thanksgiving table? And how traditional are they, really? 

• I found this quote from the 1867 Virginia City Montana Post about Thanksgiving foods for comparison: "To-day the gallinacious fowls, and cranberry sauce; pone, pumpkin pie and dough-nuts, fruits, nuts, and cider will be eaten."--The Montana post. [volume], November 30, 1867
• An ad in the 1880 Fort Benton River Press promises that "'The Eataphone' will help us out on Thanksgiving day with oysters in every style." (Bonus points for anyone who can tell me what an Eataphone is!)

One of my favorite guiding questions is "What's changed and what's remained the same?"

How does your celebration compare to the Thanksgivings described in these two Thanksgiving poems published in 1880 in the Fort Benton River Press?

In Town and Out

To-morrow, all over this glorious nation

The old and the young, and of every station

Vide the President's proclamation

Will hold their Thanksgiving celebration.

The church bells will ring on the clear, cold air,

And call on God's people to meet Him there; 

In country and city, in hamlet and town; 

From highland and lowland, from mountains and down; 

With thankful hearts, in praise and prayer, 

For his protection and thoughtful care.

And the gay bells will jingle,

The sleighs glide along,

And the young voices mingle

In jest and in song; 

As over the pure and the glistening snow,

Light-hearted and gay, in their cutters they go--

But the printer will miss it all.

 

Cold!

Oh, no.

Guess not.

Sleigh rides.

Thanksgiving.

Roast turkeys.

Tom and Jerry.

Peach and honey.

The light fantastic.

Some of it in ours.

--Fort Benton River Press, November 24, 1880

This Thanksgiving week, I also want to draw your attention to this 2019 guest post from Indian Education Specialist Mike Jetty, which shares both his perspective on the holiday and many useful links. It's still relevant, and (even more surprising) all the links still work! 

I also want to point teachers to Story Corps' Great Thanksgiving Listen, which "encourages young people—and people of all ages—to create an oral history of our times by recording an interview with an elder, mentor, friend, or someone they admire."

Whether you celebrate, commemorate, or mourn; eat oyster stew, turducken, or tofurkey; take time off or--like our Fort Benton printer--work the holiday, I wish all the best for you and yours, this week and every day.