Most Americans only know of Thanksgiving through the lens of pilgrims and harvest feasts, but my personal favorite holiday was largely sculpted and popularized by of American men and women of letters. From Sarah Josepha Hale’s tireless campaigning to the cynical wit of Mark Twain. Below are 10 surprising stories behind our most iconic national traditions.
1. Sarah Josepha Hale is the person most responsible for making Thanksgiving a national holiday. Ms. Hale was a very prominent editor and author best known for writing the nursery rhyme Mary Had a Little Lamb. Not a woman who gives up easily, she campaigned for 17 years, writing editorials and letters to five different presidents, until Abraham Lincoln finally agreed in 1863.
Not surprisingly, the first novel featuring Thanksgiving, Northwood: A Tale of New England, was written by her.
Books by, or about, Sarah Josepha Hale*
2. Most people associate the poem Over the River and through the Woods with Christmas, but it’s actually about Thanksgiving. Lydia Maria Child published the poem in 1884 as The New England Boy’s Song about Thanksgiving Day and explicitly reference “Grandfather’s house” for Thanksgiving.
Books by, or about Lydia Maria Child*
Books by, or about Lydia Maria Child*
3. John Greenleaf Whittier, an abolitionist poet, 1884 poem The Pumpkin romanticized the gourd as the soul of Thanksgiving. He wrote “What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie?” which played a huge rule to make the dessert a mandatory Thanksgiving staple.
Books by, or about John Greenleaf Whittier*
4. Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen, a holiday story by O. Henry tells of a poor man who stuffs himself at a charity meal, only to forcefully stuff himself again at a rich man’s house. The rich man, however, didn’t eat for three days to supply the feast.
5. The author of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, wrote a short story called Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving, about children who were left alone on Thanksgiving and cook for themselves. The story captures 19th-century recipes and the fun children had.
Books by, or about Louisa May Alcott*
6. America’s favorite cynic, Mark Twain, wrote in his biography that Thanksgiving was a function where people thanked God they had “succeeded in exterminating their neighbors, the Indians, during the previous twelve months instead of getting exterminated by their neighbors.”
Books by, or about Mark Twain*
7. We only know about Thanksgiving because colonist Edward Winslow wrote a letter in December 1621. He briefly mentions a harvest celebration with the Wampanoag that involved “fowl” and “deer,” this was because deer in England was mainly for royalty. Turkey was only mentioned as an afterthought.
This was the only letter we know of that’s a primary source about the hoiday.
8. In 1939 President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving up a week to extend the shopping season. As you can imagine, “Franksgiving” was not met with approval as the general public, and the literary world, revolted. The poems and editorials from 1939–1941 were, frankly (pun intended) confusing since they referenced two different Thanksgiving dates depending on which state you lived in.
9. Native American author Sherman Alexie touches on the complexity of the holiday for Indigenous people in his essay The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me. Mr. Alexie’s work is not just about Thanksgiving, but it tries to change the narrative from myths written by or about the Pilgrims by America’s literary giants to the one of Native Americans.
10. Satirist Ambrose Bierce defined “Turkey” not as a bird, but as: “A large bird whose flesh when eaten on certain religious anniversaries has the peculiar property of attesting piety and gratitude.“
Zohar – Man of la Book
*Amazon links point to an affiliate account, the money is usually spent on books
