Don’t you just crave homemade Thanksgiving dinner? Can you imagine it now… hot perfectly cooked turkey, juicy ham with pineapple, the steaming gravy in the gravy boat and delicious stuffing? And oh, don’t forget the endless choices of desserts! But above all the most important is the many things in life to be thankful for.
“Thanksgiving is an annual national holiday in the United States and Canada celebrating the harvest and the other blessings of the past year,” according to Britannica.com
“Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for the people that you’ve lost, the people that you have in your life, the support you provide for others and reflect on really what we are grateful for. I think things are taken for granted in this society, and this is the opportunity for us to be thankful,” said Mr. David Romani.
A Thanksgiving family tradition that one of our very own Riverside Secondary students has is simply sitting down with her family and sharing the things they are thankful for and spending some quality time together, said grade 11 Jessie Schubert.
“I know a lot of families during Thanksgiving do different games and activities, but my family just likes to spend time with each other and enjoy the amazing meal my mom makes. Also, since my Nana lives on the island, it’s a time where she comes to visit and we get to see her,” said Schubert.
Another Riverside teacher who loves Thanksgiving is French Immersion Foods teacher, Mme Miriam Cyr.”Following my mother’s tradition, every year I make a turkey and all the fixings, with one my of sides being a yam marshmallow maple syrup dish, that everyone looks forward to. And for dessert I always make something with apples,” said Cyr.
Thanksgiving isn’t just any ordinary dinner with families, it is so much more; it is a holiday of history. It was the Americans who established the first Thanksgiving, (they beat the Canadians to it!!) American Thanksgiving is celebrated in November each year, and Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated in October each year.
In 1606, Canadian Martin Frobisher and his crew gave thanks and communion, either on land or on-board a ship anchored in Frobisher bay; they dined and gave thanks for their safe arrival in then Newfoundland. This now is accepted as the first “Canadian” Thanksgiving, forty-three years before the “American” Thanksgiving, according to Canadahistory.ca.
Hmmm… So, it was the Canadians who discovered thanksgiving before the Americans!
There are so many things to be thankful for, and so much excitement when it comes to Thanksgiving. Now I ask you, what are you thankful for Riverside?
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
