Thanksgiving Essay

Hands- On Project III
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is America's distinguished day. It is celebrated every year on the fourth Thursday in the month of November. Its origin can be traced back to the 16th century when the first Thanksgiving dinner is said to have taken place. The legendary pilgrims, crossed the Atlantic in the year 1620 on the Mayflower, and had a celebration with food with help from local Native Americans. Thanksgiving has many anthropological standings that deal with the setting, division of labor, rituals, and symbols of Thanksgiving decorations.
Because of its centrality in our lives, food becomes a perfect vehicle for ritual, which explains why Thanksgiving is associated with turkeys and pumpkin pie than anything else. A ritual
Gender is defined as the cultural and social classification of masculine and feminine (194). In most families during Thanksgiving, the women cook the meal and the men will watch whatever football game is one or help set up the table and drinks. However, in my family whether one is female or male, one helps out in every aspect. My grandfather helps out with cutting vegetables and preheating the oven while my grandmother cooks whatever is ion the stove. My father cooks a turkey outside in a boiler while my mother sets up the table and the drinks. All these roles can be interchangeable as each year a new family member is added to the mix and new roles are assigned. It does not matter if a football game is on or one thinks cooking is for the women, but that if one wants to eat, one needs to help with the dinner. Nevertheless, most of my friend’s families just have the mother/aunts/grandmothers in the kitchen while the fathers/uncles/grandfathers wait until the food is ready. I am just pleased that everyone in my family helps out equally so dinner can be put on the table
Whether it is through history or culture, this symbol has been depicted as much more than a simple but bountiful decoration at Thanksgiving time. A symbol is something that stands for something else (52). That is why my mother puts a cornucopia on the table every year during Thanksgiving as decoration but also has a reminder to be thankful for what life has given us. The cornucopia is always beautiful decorated with leaves, acorns, and a family picture in the middle that reminds the family what is important. This symbol reminds my family what Thanksgiving is really about. Also, the famous turkey is on every table of every household as a main course during the Thanksgiving celebration. It is said, that pilgrims had a feast consisting of cooked turkey after their first harvest in the year 1621, which popularly came to be known as 'First Thanksgiving Feast'. No one actually knows what the pilgrims ate for their main course of meat but turkey is assumed to be the main choice. If my family did not serve turkey for Thanksgiving, it would just feel like another family dinner and not a holiday. Turkey is the national symbol for Thanksgiving and is the poster child for every commercial and ad that sponsors Thanksgiving food or decorations. The cornucopia and turkey are two symbols that represent Thanksgiving just like stockings and Santa represent