PATRICE'S PERSPECTIVE
By Patrice Bumstead
General Manager of McKenzie County Media LLC
Farmer Editor
Many people today celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends. Enjoying a feast that either makes you want to take a good nap or resolve to never eat turkey again. At least that is my traditional response to all of the delicious things our family whips up.
I have noticed in recent years, that people have started announcing one thing in their life that they are grateful for every day in the month of November, a tradition I find rather delightful. It is nice to see that people can still see the world around them in a positive light in spite of controversy.
But what exactly is Thanksgiving? How did this holiday come about? How has it morphed into what we know it as today?
Some of those answers I was able to find on the U.S. History website and thought I would share them with our readers.
Thanksgiving is modeled on a 1621 harvest feast shared by the English colonists (Pilgrims) of Plymouth and the Wampanoag people.
In 1789, President George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation, asking American citizens to express their gratitude for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution and the end of the country’s war on independence.
In 1817, New York became the first of several states to officially adopt an annual Thanksgiving holiday.