If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 583

 

 

 

 

 

Originally a children's magazine cover, illustration by Fernande Cowles, ca 1920s

Happy Thanksgiving!  The two cards shared this week are vintage reproductions printed by the local small print shop, Laughing Elephant.  The illustration on the card above is signed Fernande Cowles.  It was originally a cover from a 1920s children’s magazine.  The second card, shown below, was a postcard issued most likely in the 1930s.  The Illustrator did not sign the card.  Note the button-up leggings, warm clothing and the morning glory border.

 

 

 

Originally a holiday themed postcard, ca 1930s

 

Although not all held on the same date, today Thanksgiving is a holiday that is celebrated in some form in several countries including the United States and Canada.  It can be a cultural, secular or even a religious holiday depending on where it is celebrated.  In the United States Thanksgiving is held on the fourth Thursday of November and in Canada it is held on the second Monday.  In North America it began as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest.  The English Puritans carried a tradition of thanksgiving with them that had started during the time of Henry VIII, nearly 100 years earlier, when multiple religious holidays were condensed into special days called Days of Fasting and Days of Thanksgiving.

 

Families sometimes add meaning to this holiday by starting traditions of their own.  For example, my son Q and his family started Pie Week several years ago.  Each day during the week of Thanksgiving a variety of pies are baked and eaten.  It is an extended family event with many hands baking and enjoying the results.  In addition to the expected pumpkin, pecan, mincemeat, apple or other sweet pies there might also be savory pies such as chicken pot pies or perhaps a quiche.  Along with pie week they also suggested that each person express a gratitude before devouring the yummy pies. Since this tradition was started when all 8 cousins were very young, this may have kept some small hands out of the pies before it was time for everyone to enjoy them. 

 

The most familiar first Thanksgiving story has a feast held in 1621 by the Pilgrims after the first successful corn harvest, in the village named Plymouth, Massachusetts, by the surviving colonists who had arrived on the Mayflower.  A lesser known, earlier, Thanksgiving was held in 4 December 1619 in Virginia by 38 English settlers who arrived on the ship Margaret by way of the James River.  That landing was celebrated by a religious celebration of thanksgiving with the charter of Virginia stating “that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantation shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving…”  The annual commemoration has been held at the present-day Berkeley Plantation since the mid 20^th century. 

 

Thanksgiving has not been celebrated continuously since the 1600s in the United States, nor has it always been on the same day.  In 1789 President George Washington proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving but it was celebrated intermittently.  President Thomas Jefferson chose not to observe Thanksgiving.  During the Civil War, in 1863  President Abraham Lincoln declared a national day of thanksgiving and asked for prayers to heal the wounds of the nation.  In 1870 President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law the Holidays Act making Thanksgiving a federal holiday in Washington D.C. for federal workers.  Congress made Thanksgiving and other federal holidays paid holidays for all federal workers in 1885.  It was under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration, and amid controversy the date was moved one week earlier during the years 1939 to 1941.  In 1942 an act of Congress changed the date and since then Thanksgiving has been held on the 4th Thursday of November.   

 

Although the Pilgrims of 1621 may have had turkey and venison, together with crops that they had grown, and food shared by their indigenous neighbors, the meal would have been much simpler than the Thanksgiving meals we have today.  They did not have sugar but may have used honey as sweetener.  No fancy pies though. 

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving

https://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_(United_States)