Its Sunday Thanks Giving Weekend is there any events going on?

[ShelbyWylde]

Hey, Happy Thanks giving to all you Canadian members. Just wondering, with tomorrow being a holiday is there any events happening in Toronto tonight? I feel like dancing !   

Shelby

[Modulus]

Re: Its Sunday Thanks Giving Weekend is there any events going on?

Happy Thanksgiving to you too.

Don't forget to donate to the redcross and your local food bank

Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. It is a legal holiday in all states, the District of Columbia, the Canal Zone, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

History of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving, with its roast turkey, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pies is a distinctively American holiday. The legacy of the Pilgrims is cherished by all Americans as a time for giving thanks for the harvests and for other blessings the year has brought. The idea of such a day was not new with the Pilgrims. It is claimed that the Chinese observed such rites thousands of years ago. Thanksgiving can also be traced back to the ancient Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, which lasted eight days, also to a nine-day celebration, the Greek feast of Demeter, goddess of agriculture; and the Roman Cerealia, honoring Ceres. Both the Greek and Roman festivals featured sacrifices to the deities; and these ceremonies were combined with music and feasting.

The Anglo-Saxons held their "harvest home" celebration, following a traditional autumn feast of the Druids. This was the high point of the year in rural districts. After the last cartload of grain was being brought in from the fields, reapers and other workers followed the wagon singing. After the ingathering, there was a hearty supper for all farm workers. There were viands, an abundance of ale and toasts to the master and mistress. Scotland, England, Russia, Norway, Poland and Lithuania all had thanksgiving celebrations in the fall.

The Pilgrims, who celebrated the first thanksgiving in America, were fleeing religious prosecution in their native England. In 1609 a group of pilgrims left England for the religious freedom in Holland where they lived and prospered. After a few years their children spoke Dutch and they had become attached to the Dutch way of life. But the Pilgrims considered the Dutch frivolous and considered their ideas a threat to their children's education and morality. They decided to leave Holland and travel to the New World. Their trip was financed by a group of English investors, the Merchant Adventurers. It was agreed that the Pilgrims would be given passage and supplies in exchange for their working for their backers for 7 years.

On September 6, 1620, the Pilgrims set sail for the New World. They sailed from Plymouth, England and aboard were 44 Pilgrims, who called themselves the "Saints", and 66 others, whom the Pilgrims called the "Strangers". The long trip was cold and damp and took 65 days. There was the danger of fire on the wooden ship, so food had to be eaten cold. Many passengers became sick and one person died by the time land was sighted on November 10th. The long trip led to many disagreements between the "Saints" and the "Strangers". After land was sighted a meeting was held and an agreement was worked out. This document was called the Mayflower Compact. It guaranteed equality and unified the two groups. They joined together and called themselves the "Pilgrims" Although they had first sighted land off Cape Cod, they did not settle until they arrived at Plymouth, which had been named by Captain John Smith in 1614. It offered an excellent harbor. A large brook offered a source for fish. Their biggest concern was attack by the local Native Americans. Fortunately, the Patuxets were a peaceful group.

The small band of Pilgrims, who landed at the bleak shore of Plymouth on December 11, 1620, passed a winter filled with sickness and hardships. Forty-seven of the 103 Mayflower passengers died. However, with the spring came new hope. Each family had a home; and a friendly Indian, Squanto (who had been taken to England, where he learned English) brought the Pilgrims some corn. He taught them how to cultivate it, also how to net fish. Squanto also taught the Pilgrims how to tap the maple trees for sap, which plants were poisonous and which had medicinal powers. So that spring the settlers planted twenty acres of corn, six of barley, and some peas. The corn and barley did well, the peas were parched by the hot sun.

During their stay in Holland, the Pilgrims had seen the Dutch celebrate a day of thanksgiving for their victory over the Spanish in October 1575. It seemed appropriate to have a day for feasting and celebration. Governor William Bradford chose a date late in 1621. One settler reported: Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent 4 men fowling so that we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. The hunters returned with many wild turkeys, wood pigeons, partridges, geese, and ducks. Others brought in clams, eels, and various kinds of fish. The women were busy preparing the foods, making Indian pudding, hoecake, and so forth. It is said that Priscilla Mullins (who married John Alden) was one of the best cooks; and that she worked in the largest kitchen and produced some special dishes. It is unlikely that the first feast table included pumpkin pie. The supply of flour had long been diminished, so there was no bread or pastries of any kind. However, they did eat boiled pumpkin, and they produced a type of fried bread from their corn crop. There was also no milk, cider, potatoes, or butter. There were no domestic cattle for dairy products, and the newly discovered potato was still considered by many Europeans to be poisonous. The feast did include fish, berries, watercress, lobster, dried fruit, clams, venison, and plums.

The Pilgrims had made a treaty of peace with the Indians and their chief, Massasoit, they decided to invite them. What a surprise when ninety natives accepted the invitation. The Indians killed five deer for the feast and are said to have introduced the settlers to eating oysters.At the three-day get-together, the women served the men at long tables. At that time two people usually ate from one trencher, a wooden plate with a hollowed-out center, about twelve inches square. After dinner, the Pilgrims and their guests engaged in races and other athletic contests. The Natives demonstrated their skills with the bow and arrow and the Pilgrims demonstrated their musket skills. Historians state that official records of the time contain no reference to any type of religious service.

The following year the Pilgrims' harvest was not as bountiful. During the year they had also shared their stored food with newcomers and the Pilgrims ran short of food. The third year brought a spring and summer that was hot and dry; and the crops were dying in the fields. Governor Bradford ordered a day of fasting and prayer. For nine hours the praying continued. The rain came and saved the crops. To celebrate, November 29, 1623 was proclaimed a day of thanksgiving. This date is believed to be the real true beginning of the present day Thanksgiving Day for it was religious as well as social.

There is no evidence that such a day was regularly observed after this. When settlers of other faiths reached New England, it was decided to let the governors set the dates. The Dutch people of New Amsterdam-later New York-began to observe "Thank Days" in 1644, and continued them after coming under British rule. The custom of combining the religious elements at these thanksgiving Days gradually spread from New England to other settlements.

During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress set several Thanksgiving Days for the people to rejoice in their homes and churches for victories won. In 1778, George Washington proclaimed a day on which to give thanks for the treaties just concluded with France. Three years after the War of 1812, President Madison proclaimed a special thanksgiving for peace. Later, there were scattered observances at varying dates in some states, mostly in the North. In 1817, New York State had adopted thanksgiving Day as an annual custom.

By the middle of the 19th century many other states also celebrated a Thanksgiving Day. Gradually, the feeling grew all over the land that we should have a uniform national Thanksgiving Day. Sarah Josepha Hale, the editor of the popular magazine, Godey's Lady's Book, was the chief sponsor of this idea for forty years. After the victory at Gettysburg, there was great rejoicing in the North. President Lincoln issued a proclamation and named the last Thursday in November as the date.







Thanksgiving Proclamation
November 29, 1623




TO ALL YE PILGRIMS

Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as He has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience; now, I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday, November ye 29th of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three, and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor, and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings.

William Bradford
Ye Governor of ye Colony

[ram101]

Re: Its Sunday Thanks Giving Weekend is there any events going on?

was some great weather today but getting chilly for the evening, was hoping to go clubbing downtown toronto but might end up passing for drinks and a movie with some friends at the pad.

happy thanksgiving to everyone on the board!

dont 4get2 give!

[ShelbyWylde]

Re: Its Sunday Thanks Giving Weekend is there any events going on?

Oh this is pretty sad, theyre must be something going on somewhere !
Cold, I dont care bout no stinking cold !  lmao
Doctor, I'll check for a pulse. Thats ok nurse Shelby, its just a case of too much turkey and not enough gerital.
Come on peeps, whats up ! Lets heat it up. Its the long weekend.

Shelby