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mr_dja
And Koen: regarding blessings, tumbled's definition and examples were pretty spot on. Especially the "etc." Life is good in so many ways when allowed to be viewed as so.

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mr_dja
At first I was going to reply to gaslightstreet's reply to my post. After reading so many great posts since then, I don't think I'm going to bother more than just a few statements on the supposed facts on the origins of Thanksgiving holidays:

1. See Koen's post: "It's a harvest fest, almost every culture has one" and has had them for thousands of years.

2. Tumbled was right in stating that Jamestown was first as far as European-American celebrations on the North American continent go.

3. The horrific events of 1637 that gsl chooses to focus on, established an almost militaristic day of Thanksgiving (which I would say is more similar to something like our modern "D-Day", "V-E", "V-J" and "Armistice Day" celebrations, for example) were almost a generation AFTER the colonists at Plymouth celebrated a fall festival after their first successful harvest in 1621. In my opinion, it's kind of a shame that the term "Thanksgiving Day" seems to have been first used in 1637 as opposed to 1621 possibly due to the fact that in 1621 it was actually a multiple day festival.

4. Although the name of the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday is the same as a non-related Massachusetts Bay Colony holiday, I'm pretty sure that when Abraham Lincoln established the current holiday, he was focusing far more on the intent of the 1621 festival than the 1637 day. Why? Because I read the Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln, October 3, 1863 and came to that conclusion.


Y'all can choose to focus on whatever you'd like tomorrow. Love/Hate, Dark/Light, Good/Evil, whatever. As I said in my original post, I'm choosing to focus on being thankful for the blessings I've received, the blessings I will receive, and the opportunities that present themselves to me to extend those blessings to others.

And Koen: regarding blessings, tumbled's definition and examples were pretty spot on. Especially the "etc." Life is good in so many ways when allowed to be viewed as so. To you I say tomorrow: "Happy Thursday!" Know that somewhere on my long list of things that I will be giving thanks for, are people like yourself who post here at IORR!

Peace,
Mr. DJA

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tumbled
I will not eat any animals for thanksgiving. ...

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nightskyman

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2000man

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nightskyman
Not sure if Thanksgiving is celebrated anywhere else but America (and I know many IORR members are in places not America)...thus perhaps a little more disclaimer needed in initial thread. Also, since America is a place of many immigrants, cultures, etc...not everyone here in America celebrates the holiday (Jews, for example, do not do so).

All my Jewish friends celebrate Thanksgiving

I stand corrected...see my ignorance on display here.

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MisterDDDD
Extremely thankful that the band that my brother introduced me to in 1964 (at five!) is still playing and touring and...

How lucky are we to still be enjoying The Greatest Rock n Roll Band of all time?? Extremely.

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bv
As I am Norwegian, I know nothing about this tradition, but I know it is about a great long meal and family. It was the late fall 2006, and I was on tour with The Rolling Stones as often. Current stop Los Angeles Wed. Nov 22. 2006. I knew it was Thanksgiving Thursday Nov 23, so on my way to the last show in Vancouver I did a stopover in San Francisco. My favorite US city. I took an early flight out of LAX at 7am, arrived into SFO at 8am, and checked into the Palace Hotel SF at 8:30am. If you haven't been at the Palace SF, then go there. It is paradise.

I spent the day in SF, Palace hotel and the city. The Palace hotel had a special Thanksgiving meal. It was sold out long time ago, but as I was a guest of the hotel, I was in. I spent all day planning for, semi-starving, semi-eating, preparing for my meal of the year, if not for ages. Eating slowly. Very slowly. Lots of families around me. I am alone but I feel like a part of the big party. A separate ballroom filled with Thanksgiving food, and one ballroom for us seated. The kids eat fast while the older enjoy the meal for hours. Everybody is dressed up like we dress up for our Christmas Eve meal. My Thanksgiving meal at the SF Palace lasted for more than two hours. It was one of my greatest meals ever. Next morning I flew off to see Keith saying thank you to his "headman", and to see one of my best touring friends getting married. Keith gave me his pick after doing IORR. What more could I expect from that week-end?

Happy Thanksgiving!

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whitem8
Turkey has just been rubbed with butter, stuffed with dressing and slipped into the oven. Pumpkin pie done, now working on a wild berry pie. Butter softening for the mashed potatoes. Will take four sticks of butter, a container of sour cream and mash those taters! Home made cranberry sauces, with fresh cranberries, and raspberries, sautéed in butter and maple syrup, with some orange zest. Final touch will be roasted veggies (parsnips, onions, and sweet peppers) and a balsamic reduction. Oh, and homemade gravy!