Happy Thanksgiving!!
I woke up that cold November morning in 2006, made a few additions to my luggage and started my journey to the Grey hound bus station – I was going to celebrate my first Thanksgiving with some friends in Washington DC. In the Thanksgiving tradition, families gather at a parent or older relative’s home to share in a sumptuous meal. The bus station was crammed and busier than an ant colony. Ticket queues were so long and the lines leading up to the gates where crisscrossed, it was hard to tell them apart. The Philadelphia highways were clogged for miles, somewhat like Kampala on a rainy afternoon only on a much larger scale and more organized. The journey I had planned for 10am eventually started at 1pm. Everybody was making their best effort to get home in time for the holiday. I saw a mother with several kids all under the age of seven and on their best behavior. In case anyone got wiggly, she gave them a look that made whatever was bothering them magically disappear.
The Thanksgiving holiday in America is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November - a tradition that started centuries ago. Pilgrims fleeing religious persecution, left England in search of a “New World” one where they would be free to worship God as they saw fit. They arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621 but because of a harsh winter that year, they suffered and many died of disease and starvation. The Native Americans welcomed them, taught them how to farm and the next year they had a bountiful harvest. To show their appreciation, the pilgrims cooked lots of food and invited their Native American friends to join in the celebration – to thank God for bountiful blessings. In 1789 George Washington made the first Presidential proclamation declaring Thanksgiving a national event. Then in 1863 President Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday of November a national day of Thanksgiving.
It’s not Thanksgiving without a turkey, so while chicken die like a problem on Christmas and Easter in Uganda - turkeys suffer the same fate over Thanksgiving. They stand a better chance in America because every year some turkeys are pardoned and left to die of old age. The turkey is traditionally served with cranberry sauce which is the one thing I didn’t quite appreciate on the Thanksgiving menu. Cranberry sauce tastes like sour jam, so eating it with turkey took getting used to.
When I was told we were having pumpkin pie for dessert my insides cringed, I never imagined pumpkin as a desert but I was pleasantly surprised. It’s really tasty and nothing like the pumpkin I was thinking about. So, baked turkey with stuffing, a little cranberry sauce on the side, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, corn (maize), pecans, and marsh mellows and it’s a Thanksgiving feast for sure.
On the morning of Thanksgiving, parades march in procession on the city streets. The most famous being New York City’s Thanksgiving Day parade presented by Macy’s department store. It attracts some 2 to 3 million spectators along its 2.5-mile route and draws an enormous television audience. It typically features marching bands, performers, elaborate floats conveying various celebrities and giant balloons shaped like cartoon characters.
After Thanksgiving there is an eager buzz about Black Friday. Judging from its name I thought something terrible was going to happen - apparently not. Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping days in America. It’s considered the unofficial start to Christmas holiday shopping and department stores slice their prices. From about 4am, parking lots are filled and endless queues of people brave chilly temperatures outside the stores of their preference. When the doors are opened there is a mad dash for items - customers literally shop till they drop. So, Friday is only black for the police because they have to deal the large crowds of traffic moving in and out of shopping malls and department stores.
Even though the events surrounding Thanksgiving are commercialized and the reason for the season is lost in the feasting, it is good to have an attitude of gratitude.
Happy Thanksgiving!
The Thanksgiving holiday in America is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November - a tradition that started centuries ago. Pilgrims fleeing religious persecution, left England in search of a “New World” one where they would be free to worship God as they saw fit. They arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621 but because of a harsh winter that year, they suffered and many died of disease and starvation. The Native Americans welcomed them, taught them how to farm and the next year they had a bountiful harvest. To show their appreciation, the pilgrims cooked lots of food and invited their Native American friends to join in the celebration – to thank God for bountiful blessings. In 1789 George Washington made the first Presidential proclamation declaring Thanksgiving a national event. Then in 1863 President Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday of November a national day of Thanksgiving.
It’s not Thanksgiving without a turkey, so while chicken die like a problem on Christmas and Easter in Uganda - turkeys suffer the same fate over Thanksgiving. They stand a better chance in America because every year some turkeys are pardoned and left to die of old age. The turkey is traditionally served with cranberry sauce which is the one thing I didn’t quite appreciate on the Thanksgiving menu. Cranberry sauce tastes like sour jam, so eating it with turkey took getting used to.
When I was told we were having pumpkin pie for dessert my insides cringed, I never imagined pumpkin as a desert but I was pleasantly surprised. It’s really tasty and nothing like the pumpkin I was thinking about. So, baked turkey with stuffing, a little cranberry sauce on the side, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, corn (maize), pecans, and marsh mellows and it’s a Thanksgiving feast for sure.
On the morning of Thanksgiving, parades march in procession on the city streets. The most famous being New York City’s Thanksgiving Day parade presented by Macy’s department store. It attracts some 2 to 3 million spectators along its 2.5-mile route and draws an enormous television audience. It typically features marching bands, performers, elaborate floats conveying various celebrities and giant balloons shaped like cartoon characters.
After Thanksgiving there is an eager buzz about Black Friday. Judging from its name I thought something terrible was going to happen - apparently not. Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping days in America. It’s considered the unofficial start to Christmas holiday shopping and department stores slice their prices. From about 4am, parking lots are filled and endless queues of people brave chilly temperatures outside the stores of their preference. When the doors are opened there is a mad dash for items - customers literally shop till they drop. So, Friday is only black for the police because they have to deal the large crowds of traffic moving in and out of shopping malls and department stores.
Even though the events surrounding Thanksgiving are commercialized and the reason for the season is lost in the feasting, it is good to have an attitude of gratitude.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks Mjay and hope u had a nice one.
ReplyDeleteWas invited for dinner by a lovely nice lady friend of mine. I had such a feast that i even forgot my sweater at hers. Imagine untill this morning(saturday) i'd never noticed it's missing.
I also like the way Ugandans are catching up on western days of celebrations. Soon we shall be celebrating 4th of July in Uganda, haha.
Bless.
Happy thanks giving!
ReplyDeleteAm coming in this late..too bad over the last hour i was asking ma self what ive been missing then i found it was the latest abt my man! So i trust U had a fabulous one! Congs for P2 btw...!