Talking Turkey

Hello. My name is Courtney Austrian and I am the Cultural Affairs Attache at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. Today I am going to be talking about the American holiday Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving dates back to the earliest days of the American colonies. The first mention of it comes from Virginia, where on December 4, 1619 a group of English settlers arrived at a place called Berkely Hundred. The charter for this group required that the day of arrival be observed yearly as a "day of thanksgiving." The more traditional Thanksgiving date, however, comes from 1621 and the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts.

The early settlers of Plymouth Colony, also known as the Pilgrims, had a very hard time upon their arrival on the Mayflower in 1620. In fact, nearly half of the 102 passengers died over the first winter. Without the assistance of the Wampanoag tribe, and in particular Squanto, a Native American and former British slave who taught them how to catch eel, grow corn, and served as their interpreter, the settlers might not have survived in the New World. After their first harvest in 1621, the Pilgrims established a holiday to give thanks. They held an autumn celebration of food, feasting, and praising God. The Governor of Plymouth invited the Wampanoag people to join them in the feast, and the settlers fed and entertained the Native Americans for three days, while the Wampanoag, in their turn, provided five deer for the feast.

When the United States gained its independence, the tradition of Thanksgiving continued, with the first official American Thanksgiving Proclamation issued by the Continental Congress in 1777. However, it wasn't until the time of President Lincoln that Thanksgiving became an official Federal holiday, and it wasn't until 1941 that the U.S. Congress approved the fourth Thursday in November as the official date for this celebration.

Today Thanksgiving has become a major holiday in the United States. Traditionally it is a time for families and friends to gather, enjoy a meal together, and give thanks for all of the good things that have taken place over the past year. The Thanksgiving period is one of the heaviest travel times in the United States, with people flying, taking the train, and driving long distances in order to join their families for this holiday.

Here in Ukraine, I will be celebrating Thanksgiving with my family and friends. We have a very traditional meal planned, which will include turkey, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potato souffle, green beans, corn pudding, rolls, and - of course - pumpkin pie. Unfortunately we won't be able to indulge in two of the other great Thanksgiving pastimes, watching American football and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City on television, but I imagine we'll find other things to do. I do know that we will take a minute to reflect on all of the good things that have come our way over the past year, and we will remember and raise a toast to our families in the United States, and to our new families and friends in Ukraine.

This is probably my very favorite holiday and I would like to take this occasion to wish you a very happy Thanksgiving. I hope the next year will be a good one for all of us.