Today is the day! ELC Boston is hosting the most delicious Thanksgiving Feast this side of the Mississippi! Each year, before thanksgiving break, ELC serves up a full turkey lunch with all the fixings! Not only do we share a delicious meal, but also it’s a great way to kick off a food-and-shopping-filled four-day weekend! (ELC Los Angeles and ELC Santa Barbara will have Thanksgiving celebrations too!)
The event that some Americans commonly call the “First Thanksgiving” was celebrated by the Pilgrims to give thanks to God for guiding them safely to the New World. The New England Colonists were accustomed to regularly celebrating “thanksgivings” – days of prayer thanking God for blessings such as military victory or the end of a drought.
The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three days, providing enough food for 53 Pilgrims and 90 Native Americans. The feast consisted of fish and shellfish, wild fowl (turkey!), venison, berries and fruit, vegetables, harvest grains, and “the Three Sisters”: beans, dried maize or corn, and squash. Today, American’s use the holiday to spend time with family, watch football, and give thanks for all of the blessings and good fortune in their lives. Also, we eat lots of turkey.
Today’s traditional feast includes oven roasted turkey (this is why Thanksgiving is also referred to as “Turkey Day”), stuffing (Stuffing is made from bread, onion, celery, salt, pepper and other spices and herbs. It is typically cooked inside the turkey.), mashed potatoes with lots of gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, corn and various fall vegetables such as brussel sprouts or asparagus. Dessert is a meal in itself and consists of pies, cheesecake, pumpkin cakes, puddings and fruitcakes.
Are you hungry yet? Excellent.
~ Cara, the Student Services Coordinator at ELC Boston
