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Archiver > QUEBEC-RESEARCH > 2004-11 > 1100383676
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Subject: Excerpt Of History
Date: Sat, 13 Nov 2004 17:07:56 EST
" Before Christmas became a legal holiday, some people celebrated
Thanksgiving from Thurs. to Sun. Many traveled long distances to be with their
families, and it was not unusual for as many as twenty adults to sit down together at
each meal during the holiday. Most people attended church services in the
morning, then went home to consume the large amount of food that had been
prepared. The menu invariably included chicken pies, boiled turkey, roast duck,
roast goose, roast partridge (of which wont be sitting in a pear tree), roast
venison, roast beef, baked ham, and plum pudding, each course being washed down
with huge draughts of wine, ale, rum or hard cider.( :( no eggnog) For
desert, there was a large assortment of pies, fruit and nuts. (can I borrow
someone's time machine, please....?).
Some historians believe that Thanksgiving became such an important holiday
in New England because the Puritans and the Pilgrims wanted a festival to
replace Christmas that they refused to recognize or observe. Although this might
have been the case in the early years, both holidays became important to all
New Englanders after Christmas became a legal holiday in the 19th century."
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