How to celebrate Thanksgiving

[Charles Kaiser]

Hallo Kameraden,
how did the people celebrate Thanksgiving in Civil war Times at home ?

My Interest are only for the celebrations of the rural population, not of the urban population
Which food ?
Decorations, maybe Patriotic ?

[Hank Trent]

Re: How to celebrate Thanksgiving

There will be a distinct regional difference, so it's hard to sum up all Civil War people. Are you interested in a particular region?

In the New England area, it was surprisingly like modern Thanksgiving, except for the fact there was a church service. Not really a lot of decorations, but a big meal with turkey as traditional, talk about the pilgrims, family coming in from all around, etc., and it had been that way for decades. Here's a period story about "Thanksgiving on the Farm," where you can see the details in and around the fictional elements: http://books.google.com/books?id=jsMZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA145
Here's another article, (right hand column), about Thanksgiving, connecting it to the pilgrims: http://books.google.com/books?id=3n8CAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA124

In the rural south, I don't think there was much notice taken in the decades before the war, and it was considered a Yankee custom, except that it sticks in my mind that there was a traditional Thanksgiving celebration in the Louisiana area. But in other areas of the south, it was a newer, slowly spreading thing, and may even have lost some ground during the war, due to its Yankee connotations. For example this little notice in an 1844 paper says a governor's proclamation for a Thanksgiving day in September was "the first time that this ancient festival has been celebrated in Kentucky.":

http://books.google.com/books?id=2A8oAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA107&dq=thanksgiving+kentucky

So it really helps to narrow it down by the region of the country.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Charles Kaiser]

Re: How to celebrate Thanksgiving

Hallo Henk,
you are right, I forgot, that Traditions are some times very local...
So lets make it more special, my favourite interest region is Michigan, and the states around like Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois.

And I found this, in my favourite book of periodical recipes:

http://books.google.de/books?id=jfopAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=new+england&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=1840&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=1845&as_brr=0&cd=15#v=onepage&q&f=false