Give Thanks and Get Outdoors
“This is a day for thanks.
A day in which we see or hear or feel
the wonders of the other moments of the year.
This is a day for time.
A day in which we think of pasts that make our present rich
and future bountiful.
This is a day for joy.
A day in which we share a gift of laugher
warm and gentle as a smile.
Above all, this is a day for peace…”
--Daniel Roselle
historian, author, educator
Thanksgiving is upon us. November brings shorter days and a new found chill permeates our mornings. Autumn is slipping away as the leaves have found their way to the ground and as we begin to plan our Thanksgiving holiday, and invite our friends and family to join the celebration. Kitchens reflect the aromas of traditional family recipes, and the bounty of fall harvests from our local farms take center stage. And the excitement of gathering loved ones begins.
We all have an image of Thanksgiving. Be it Norman Rockwell’s famous painting, the gathering of the pilgrims at Plymouth, the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys hosted games, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, or the national turkey pardoning (sent to live out the rest of its life at our own Morven park). But when and where did all of these traditions begin?
Some say Virginia claims the birthright of the celebration when in 1619, 38 English settlers arrived at Berkeley plantation on the James River. The group’s charter required “that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantation in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.”
However, we commonly trace the beginning of this tradition to 1621, when a celebration occurred at Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts with 50 pilgrims and 90 Native Americans. Lest we forget, survival of these early settlers depended on the aid of the Native Americans who taught the pilgrims how to grow corn and catch eel and to survive in the land they now called home.
Fast forward to 1777, when our Continental Congress called for a day of Thanksgiving in December. Over the next years, proclamations of days of national prayers and thanksgiving were common. Individual colonies celebrated days of thanksgiving at different times of the year—often after a harvest or a military victory.
In 1789, President George Washington proclaimed the first official Thanksgiving Day with these words: “…to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially be affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.” The date was set for Thursday the 26th day of November.
Other presidents offered similar proclamations, but not always for November celebrations. During the Civil War in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a day of national Thanksgiving for the final Thursday of November.
Traditions of celebration varied across the states included Thanksgiving eve raffles, shooting matches, church services, parades, and feasts of turkey and pumpkin and even pigeon pie. During the late 19th century, school rivals began to play annual football games on this day.
In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed the fourth rather than the final Thursday as the day of Thanksgiving. Why? Because that year November had five Thursdays on the calendar, and Roosevelt, leading our nation through the Great Depression, and encouraged by Fred Lazarus, Jr. (founder of what would later be called Macy’s) thought the earlier date would give more time for merchants to sell goods for Christmas. In those days, imagine this… marketing and advertising goods for Christmas prior to Thanksgiving was considered rude and inappropriate. How times have changed!
But this date change, codified by Congress two years later, did not occur without challenge and consternation. Republicans at the time thought that it was an affront to the memory of Lincoln. Politicians even went so far as to say that the fourth Thursday was the Democratic Thanksgiving and the last Thursday was the Republican Thanksgiving. Oh my!! And we think our House is divided now! In 1941, both Houses of Congress passed a joint resolution stating the last Thursday as the traditional day, but a Senate amendment split the difference by requiring that the celebration be observed on the fourth Thursday of November, which was sometimes the last Thursday and sometimes, though less frequently, the next to the last. And so my dear friends and readers—that is how Thanksgiving lands on the fourth Thursday of November, by federal law of the land. Phewwww.
What started off as a day of thanksgiving and family and friends gathering, has evolved into a kick off of frenetic holiday shopping with Black Friday, Shop Local, Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday. It is refreshing to see that we have come full circle as some stores are refusing to open up on Thanksgiving Day. The outdoor gear store REI has led the way and marked a welcome change. Not only are they closing their doors on Thanksgiving but they will not be open on Black Friday either (though their workers will be paid). An email sent out to their employees stated “instead of reporting to work, we’re paying our employees to do what we love most—be outside.”
So while celebrating this Thanksgiving, please give thanks and get outdoors, enjoy the beauty of Western Loudoun. Trails and parks abound. Let’s add that to our celebrations and traditions…and then with gratitude and thanks let’s shop locally, eat locally and support our local businesses and nonprofits…all the time giving gratitude to be alive in a free, beautiful and bountiful country.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
“Thanksgiving Day comes, by statue, once a year; to the honest men it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow.”
—Edward Sandford Martin (1856-1939), American writer