Take Five: birds of a feather

FIVE DATES
1621
On Sept. 6, 1620, the Pilgrims set sail for the New World on the Mayflower. The journey took 65 days and was anything but smooth sailing. Things went from bad to worse after they arrived at Provincetown, Mass. The winter was extremely harsh and fewer than 50 of the settlers survived. In March 1621, the local “Indian” tribe, the Patuxets, reached out to the Pilgrims, who by now were across the bat in Plymouth. As a result of the intervention of the natives, the harvest that year was successful. The Pilgrim governor, William Bradford, proclaimed a day of thanksgiving, during which the colonists celebrated with the Native Americans.
The following year the harvest was not as bountiful. In the third year, a long, hot spell led to crops dying in the fields. Gov. Bradford ordered the Pilgrims to spend a day fasting and praying. Soon after it rained and the governor declared another day of thanksgiving.

1676
That was pretty much that until June 1676, when the 29th was dedicated to “thanksgiving.” However it’s doubtful that the colonists celebrated with the indigenous people that year as they were celebrating their recent victory over the “heathen natives.”

1777
It wasn’t until October 1777 that all 13 colonies joined together in a Thanksgiving celebration. This time, they were united by victory over the English at Saratoga.

1863
The day that President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November a national day of thanksgiving was a happy one for Sarah Josepha Hale, who’s really the mother of the modern celebration. Hale, a magazine editor, campaigned for 40 years to have the day made into a national holiday. During those years she wrote extensively about the subject, including in editorials in the Boston Ladies Magazine and Godley’s Lady’s Book.

1941
Congress decided that Thanksgiving would now occur annually on the fourth Thursday of November. A few years earlier, FDR moved the holiday forward in order to extend the shopping period before Christmas, but had to change it back after a public outcry.

5 TURKEY FACTS
? Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey (which, incidentally, was not on the original Thanksgiving menu) instead of the bald eagle to represent the United States.
? Despite their ungainly appearance, turkeys can reach speeds of up to 20 mph.
? Turkeys are a bit nervous and prone to heart attacks.
? The male turkey is called a tom, as opposed to the female hen. Who knew?
? On average, 46 million turkeys are consumed in the United States every Thanksgiving. The average turkey weighs 15 pounds, which means that on one day alone Americans consume a whopping 690 million pounds of turkey meat. No wonder they’re so nervous.

5 MACY’S DATES
A staple of Thanksgiving in New York is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade.

1924
Immigrant workers in Macy’s Store decide to celebrate the holiday by having a parade. Workers, attired in fancy dress, marched from 145th Street to 34th Street. A number of live animals, including a camel, took part in what was then known as the Macy’s Christmas Day Parade.

1927
The first large balloons appeared and the name changed to the Thanksgiving Parade. Felix the Cat was one of the first helium-inflated characters. (Macy’s is the second largest consumer of helium in the world. The first is the U.S. government.) In the early days of the parade, the balloons were released at the end of the parade. Anyone who subsequently found a balloon and returned it to Macy’s got a prize.

1945
The parade resumed after a three-year hiatus during World War II.

1971
Severe winds lead to the balloons being cancelled.

1997
A lamppost on the parade route was knocked over by the Cat in the Hat balloon. Four people were injured by the falling lamppost, including two women taken to hospital with serious head injuries.

5 ANCIENT HARVEST FESTIVALS
English
The basis of Thanksgiving is the traditional English Harvest Festival, which is still celebrated in many parts of Britain. In the ancient world, many cultures believed that the crops contained spirits. Harvesting released the spirits, who then had to be defeated; the festivals that followed often celebrated this victory over the spirits.

Roman
The Romans celebrated a fall festival in October called Cerelia, honoring Ceres, the goddess of corn. This is where the word cereal comes from.

Greek
Ancient Greeks honored their goddess of corn (and all grains), Demeter, at the festival of Thesmosphoria, held each autumn.

Egyptian
Min, the Egyptian god of vegetation and fertility, was honored by a spring festival, as this was when the harvest came in.

Chinese
Chung Ch’ui, the ancient Chinese harvest festival, took place in mid-August on what was considered the birthday of the moon. The day was marked with special round yellow “moon cakes.” The Chinese saw a rabbit, instead of a man, on the face of the moon, and so a rabbit was stamped on each moon cake.

Hebrew
The Jewish harvest festival of Sukkoth has been celebrated for more than 3,000 years.