Happi Sansgeebin!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving or as we Cubans butcher all that is American: "Happi Sansgeebin" :]

Here are some fun facts that I quite enjoyed learning about the holiday......... 

• Tryptophan levels in turkey are actually lower than in other food items like chicken breast or cheese. The most likely explanation for the post meal snooze may be more related to high consumption of carbs, alcohol and actual physical labor that goes into preparing the meal

 Cranberry:Vaccinium macrocarpon 
aka  Marshwort, Fenne Berry

• 1784 Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to his daughter in which he laughably rejects the Eagle as the national bird claiming that it was a symbol of European Monarchy and that it was "dishonest, lazy and had bad moral character". He joked that it should be changed to a Turkey, "a bird of courage";  he figured if we should have a national bird at all, it aught to be a tasty one! 

• Early American colonists noted that the flower blossom at the top of this vine resembled a Crane; the berries from these vines were then named Crane Berries, today we simply call them Cranberries. 

• Communal Rule Principles as well as Wompanoag teachings helped Puritan Pilgrims survive first year of settlement.

• Edward Winslow's letter is the only first hand account of the "First Thanksgiving" Feast following the Bountiful Harvest of 1621, a one time event forgotten about until the letter was recovered 200 years later.

Winslow's Letter

• Historically celebrated as a regional Harvest Celebration, Thanksgiving has only been recognized as a national holiday since 1941. Beginning as far back as 1836, Sarah Josefa Hale, known as the Martha Stewart of her day, labored and lobbied for 2 decades to establish a National Holiday; recognizing the polarizing tensions of an ominous Civil War, she thought establishing Thanksgiving as a national unifier.  Her inspiration may have come George Washington's 1789 Proclamation for a national day of Gratitude which was dated November 26, 1789 the last Thursday of November. 

• Abraham Lincoln finally proclaimed Thanksgiving as an Annual, National Day of Gratitude and Praise on October 3, 1863 

• In 1939 in an attempt to support merchants and boost Christmas sales during The Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving one week earlier; this was a wildly unpopular move resulting in many families celebrating on either dates or sometimes even on both days. "Franksgiving" angered enough people that in 1941 Congress made Thanksgiving Law of the Land to be celebrated every fourth Thursday of November. 

• The last fun fact just might be my favorite because it sheds new light on one of my least favorite parts of this holiday- The Macy's Thanksgiving Parade (Booooo-ring!). The parade has been a standing tradition in my father's home every year but they just don't do anything for me. I learned that the helium filled balloons used to be released into the open sky until 1932 a passing airplane had a dangerous encounter nearly causing an accident. The interesting twist is that the balloons were called to serve a "higher purpose" during World War II. On Nov 19, 1932 Jack Strauss of Macy's presented the balloons to Mayor LaGuardia to be donated to the Rubber Drive, later becoming tires and life rafts to serve the soldiers abroad. 

Wasn't that fun??? 

Here are some pics of my family and I this Thanksgiving. Hope you learned something new!!!