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Today is Thanksgiving-eve.
Nov. 23rd, 2011 08:49 pmBoy, I have a lot to do! Clean the kitchen, make the cranberry sauce, pre-prep my stuffing (jerusalem artichokes can make stuffing. Who knew?), make my herb butter for under the chicken (not turkey) skin, and, y'know, cook dinner.
The nieces brought home Thanksgiving work (Evangeline) and homework (Ana). Evangeline's work said that The First Thanksgiving Was In 1621. Not technically true, but it's the same thing everybody says so it's easily fixed.
Ana's says that The First Thanksgiving in America was actually in Canada in the 1500s, by a French explorer, because in Europe they had harvest celebrations, like, all the time. It explicitly says the custom started in Europe, and then was brought here by Europeans.
While I'm sure it's true that in Europe they had harvest celebrations all the time, I'm equally sure that so did the Native Americans. In fact, although I can't back this one up, I'm pretty certain that everybody who has a growing season has some sort of thankfulness going on when they look around and realize they probably won't starve to death this winter.
I'm okay with saying "Actually, it wasn't some novel idea to the colonists", but can we not state outright that until Europeans arrived in the new world, none of the people here ever did anything of the sort, ungrateful bastards that they were?
The nieces brought home Thanksgiving work (Evangeline) and homework (Ana). Evangeline's work said that The First Thanksgiving Was In 1621. Not technically true, but it's the same thing everybody says so it's easily fixed.
Ana's says that The First Thanksgiving in America was actually in Canada in the 1500s, by a French explorer, because in Europe they had harvest celebrations, like, all the time. It explicitly says the custom started in Europe, and then was brought here by Europeans.
While I'm sure it's true that in Europe they had harvest celebrations all the time, I'm equally sure that so did the Native Americans. In fact, although I can't back this one up, I'm pretty certain that everybody who has a growing season has some sort of thankfulness going on when they look around and realize they probably won't starve to death this winter.
I'm okay with saying "Actually, it wasn't some novel idea to the colonists", but can we not state outright that until Europeans arrived in the new world, none of the people here ever did anything of the sort, ungrateful bastards that they were?
