Happy Thanksgiving!

The first Thanksgiving was held in the fall of 1621, sometime between September 21 and November 11, and it was a feast held over three days. The Pilgrims were joined by about 90 members of the local Wampanoag tribe including their Chief Massasoit, to celebrate a successful harvest season, something that was a matter of life or death to them.

While most of us ply the aisles of a grocery store with a shopping cart to collect the makings for our feast these days, the idea of taking time to sit down with family and friends to share our joy has stuck with us through the centuries. Mostly.

There were gaps in the celebration of Thanksgiving, even though George Washington declared it a national holiday in 1789. The woman who wrote the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb" spent four decades of her life trying to get Thanksgiving to become an annual national celebration. Her name was Sarah Josepha Hale. She and Abraham Lincoln connected on the idea of bringing the nation together for healing during the Civil War. In 1863, Lincoln proclaimed that the last Thursday in November was to be a day of "thanksgiving and praise."

While you have feasting on your mind, you might want to think about those who are hungry this and every day, and do something about it. 

When you go around the table saying what you're thankful for, you might want to add Abraham Lincoln and Sara Josepha Hale. It wouldn't hurt to lift up your voices and sing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" too. Make the feasting and the giving thanks last three days, as in 1621.

My Thanksgiving Wishes to you!
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It would be wonderful if you'd share a high point from this Thanksgiving or one in your memory with me and other readers of Supernatural Underground.