The Twin City star. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1910-19??, 1916-11-18
Thanksgiving In
Eye Olde
Colonial Dayes"
1STORY tells us that in the ear.
~ly days in some Of the colonies
there was a puritanical hatred

AS1Oh1 CeLS US CudC In the ear
~ly days In some Of the colonies
there was puritanical hatred
OF Christmas, and when a day
OF thanks was set apart such super
stitious meats" as baron Of beef, boar's
head, plum pudding and mince pie, all
redolent of memories of the ancient
feast, were eschewed in favor Of tur.
key and pumpkin pie. The colonists
were so pleased to celebrate Thanks
giving In this fashion of feasting, es-
pecially after they were compelled to
listen to long sermon, that they be-
gan to appoint frequent Thanksgiving
days-sometimes for reason Of victory
over the Indians, then for the arrival
OF supply ship or bountiful har-
vest, says the Washington Star.
Usually the day set occurred in Au-
gust, especially If it was in thanks for
the harvest Finally, in 1854, Massa-
chusetts declared it to be an annual
and legal holiday, and all the New
England colonies followed her exam
pie. In those days Thanksgiving in
its religious character was rather curl
Gus. On one side was the minister
whose duty seemed to be to predict the
most direful things, and his sermons
consisted Of warning to the people of
the awful things to come, while, on
the other hand, the people were told
to rejoice and give thanks on that
day, even though the pit yawned on
the day before and the day to come.
The whole thing was a paradox, for
the wives were compelled to stay home
and prepare the dinner, yet they were
soundly berated by the ministers for
being absent.
Many. Of the sermons aimed at the
preference for the flesh pots over spir-
itual things, but after the discourse
the preacher frequently went to dine
with one Of his parishioners and en-
joyed the dinner prepared by the mis-
tress of the house, whose absence he
had commented on in the pulpit an
hour before. The sermons seldom
touched on fasting, but they included
the political topics Of the day, wheth
er local, state or national. On one oc
casion at a Thanksgiving service
Federalist pastor in Connecticut pray.
ed, "And, o Lord, endow President
Jefferson with a goodly portion Of thy
grace, for thou, o Lord, knowest that
he needs itr'
The festal trait Of the day at that
time seems to have been entirely in
the hands Of the women of the fam
fly, who for days before worked quiet
ly to prepare a feast, and the deep re-
ngious gloom which pervaded the
household during those years was in
measure nghtened by the sunlight of
the well cooked Thanksgiving dinner.
A well fattened turkey at one end Of
the table and chicken pie at the other
were the principal articles on the menu
of the well to do mans Thanksgiving
feast. The middle class had the chick
en- pie and small turkey, while the
poor Toasted on the pie alone. But
every table, rich or poor. had fowl
Of some kind and usually pitcher of
cider to wash 1t down. A pie made Of
pigeons, too, was favorite Thanks
giving dish. Strangers were made wei
come, and not even tramp was turn
ed away. Unfortunately, this hospi
tally seems to have been based on a
superstitious fear of bad luck rather
than q genuine case Of charity.