Thanksgiving

In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. It wasn't until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November.  Congress finally made Thanksgiving Day an official national holiday in 1941.

Today Thanksgiving is still about giving thanks, but wouldn't be Thanksgiving without family, turkey, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and football

Here are some interesting Thanksgiving facts from the History Channel -

• The American Automobile Association (AAA) estimated that 38.4 million Americans traveled 50 miles or more from home over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in 2009.
• According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Minnesota is the top turkey-producing state in America, with a planned production total of 45.5 million in 2009. Just six states—Minnesota, North Carolina, Missouri, Virginia, and California—will probably produce two-thirds of the estimated 2750 million birds that will be raised in the U.S. this year. 
• In a survey conducted by the National Turkey Federation, nearly 88 percent of Americans said they eat turkey at Thanksgiving. The average weight of turkeys purchased for Thanksgiving is 15 pounds, which means some 690 million pounds of turkey were consumed in the U.S. during Thanksgiving in 2007.
• Cranberry production in the U.S. was approximately 709 million pounds in 2009. Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington are the top cranberry growing states.
• Illinois, California, Pennsylvania and New York are the major pumpkin growing states, together they produced 1.1 billion pounds of pumpkin in 2008, with a combined value of $141 million.
• The sweet potato is most plentifully produced in North Carolina, which grew 874 million pounds of the  popular Thanksgiving side dish vegetable in 2008. Other sweet potato powerhouses included California and Mississippi which produced 437 million pounds and 335 million pounds, respectively.
• The first time the Detroit Lions played football on Thanksgiving Day was in 1934, when they hosted the Chicago Bears at the University of Detroit stadium, in front of 26,000 fans. The NBC radio network broadcast the game on 94 stations across the country--the first national Thanksgiving football broadcast. Since that time, the Lions have played a game every Thanksgiving (except between 1939 and 1944); in 1956, fans watched the game on television for the first time.

“Thanksgiving Facts.” 2010. The History Channel website. nov 22 2010, 10:08 http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving-facts.

For more info on Thanksgivign see Thanksgiving on the Net.

November 22, 1963

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth president of the United States of America, was in office only two years and ten months before he was shot to death on November 22, 1963. Every American who was alive on that November day remembers where he/she was and what they were doing when they heard the tragic news of Kennedy's assassination. He is remembered as a charismatic, optimistic leader who believed we could solve problems if we put our country's interests before our own and worked together. 

Learn more about Kennedy at the American President site.

On the 40th anniversary of his death (2003) the Dallas Morning News published a special report, saying, " The assassination of President John F. Kennedy remains a defining moment in the history of the United States. This special report is designed to put the story in its proper historical context and track current coverage of the 40th anniversary of the assassination."   You must register with your name, email address, mailing address, and year of birth. But please don't let that stop you, because the primary source material here is incredible. View original newspapers articles, listen to radio clips, and watch television news snippets, all from local Dallas media.

At the History Place you can browse through a four-part annotated photo gallery of Kennedy's life is divided into four sections: Early Years, War Hero, Politician and President. As you progress through the gallery, click on the thumbnail photos for a larger view.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

The Macy's Parade in New York City is a favorite Thanksgiving day tradition.

Originally known as Macy's Christmas Parade—to signify the launch of the Christmas shopping season—the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade took place in New York City in 1924. It was launched by Macy's employees and featured animals from the Central Park Zoo. Today, some 3 million people attend the annual parade and another 44 million watch it on television.

Tony Sarg, a children's book illustrator and puppeteer, designed the first giant hot air balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1927. He later created the elaborate mechanically animated window displays that grace the façade of the New York store from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

Snoopy has appeared as a giant balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade more times than any other character in history. As the Flying Ace, Snoopy made his sixth appearance in the 2006 parade.

“Thanksgiving Facts.” 2010. The History Channel website. nov 22 2010, 10:08 http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving-facts.

The Mayflower Compact

Written in 1620 by the Mayflower passengers (who later were called Pilgrims), the Mayflower Compact was the first document of self-government in the colonies of the New World. Signed by all the adult male passengers of the Mayflower, it was based on the Covenant they lived by in Leyden, England before setting sail. It is hailed as the first democratic government created by voluntary agreement among men of equal rights. There was, of course, room for improvement. The Compact was signed by all the men on board - including the indentured servants - promising to abide by laws that would be drawn up and agreed upon by all male members of the community. The women were not allowed to participate in the governing process. However, according to the Mayflower Compact, a self-governing body rules for the greater good; and that principle of government has had great iimpact on the North American continent to this day.

 ...do

by this presence solemnly & mutually in the presence of God, and 

one of another, covenant, & combine our selves together into a 

civil body politick; for our better ordering, & preservation & 

furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof, to enact, 

constitute, and frame such just & equal laws, ordinances, 

Acts, constitutions, & offices, from time to time, as shall be thought 

most meet & convenient for the general good of the colony:  unto 

which we promise all due submission and obedience. 

If you look at a transcription of the Mayflower Compact, without changes to spelling or punctuation, you can appreciate how much English has changed since 1620. In general, the MayflowerHistory site is an excellent place to learn more about the Mayflower settlers, their first Thanksgiving and what they found when they arrived in the New World.

Veterans' Day

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, was declared between the Allied nations and Germany in the First World War, then known as "the Great War." Commemorated as Armistice Day beginning the following year, November 11th became a legal federal holiday in the United States in 1938. In the aftermath of World War II and the Korean War, Armistice Day became Veterans Day, a holiday dedicated to American veterans of all wars.
Bagpipes, parades, American flags and marching veterans are all part of Veterans' Day celebrations in big cities and small towns across the country. It would be hard to find a family, much less a community, without a veteran to remember and honor. 
The United States of America will never forget that Freedom is not free.

The History Channel has several Veterans' Day videos available, including the  History of Veterans' Day.

Native American Heritage Month

November is Native American Heritage Month. What started at the turn of the century as an effort to gain a day of recognition for the significant contributions the first Americans made to the establishment and growth of the U.S., has resulted in a whole month being designated for that purpose. In 1990 President George H. W. Bush approved a joint resolution designating November 1990 "National American Indian Heritage Month." Similar proclamations, under variants on the name (including "Native American Heritage Month" and "National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month") have been issued each year since 1994. 
Check out the information on the official Native American Heritage month site as well as at the  Smithsonian.


This Smithsonian video gives a glimpse of Family Day Celebration 2009 and a thoughtful explaination of the role of tradition and traditional arts.

Daylight Saving Time

Most of the United States begins Daylight Saving Time at 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday in March and reverts to standard time on the first Sunday in November. In the U.S., each time zone switches at a different time.
Children (and many adults) use the memory aid "Spring ahead, Fall back" to help remember the direction of the clock changes. During DST, clocks are turned forward an hour in the spring, effectively moving an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening.

The official spelling is Daylight Saving Time, not Daylight SavingS Time.

Saving is used here as a verbal adjective (a participle). It modifies time and tells us more about its nature; namely, that it is characterized by the activity of saving daylight. It is a saving daylight kind of time. Because of this, it would be more accurate to refer to DST as daylight-saving time. Similar examples would be a mind-expanding book or a man-eating tiger. Saving is used in the same way as saving a ball game, rather than as a savings account.

Nevertheless, many people feel the word savings (with an 's') flows more mellifluously off the tongue. Daylight Savings Time is also in common usage, and can be found in dictionaries.

Adding to the confusion is that the phrase Daylight Saving Time is inaccurate, since no daylight is actually saved. Daylight Shifting Time would be better, and Daylight Time Shifting more accurate, but neither is politically desirable.

Learn much more about Daylight Saving Time in this 8-page presentation. On page 3 you will find out how DST helped avoid a terrorist attack, why there are sometimes riots when the clock changes, and how birth order in twins can be changed by DST time shifts. On page 8 you can see that Venezuela is one of the countries that has never implemented DST.

A Fun Fact: In the U.S., Arizona doesn’t observe Daylight Saving Time, but the Navajo Nation (parts of which are in three states) does. However, the Hopi Reservation, which is entirely surrounded by the Navajo Nation, doesn’t observe DST. In effect, there is a donut-shaped area of Arizona that does observe DST, but the “hole” in the center does not.

I Have a Dream

Excerpts from one of the most famous American speeches. Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream Speech, given in Washington D.C. on August 28th, 1963. Hardly any U.S. citizen can hear the words "I have a dream." and not think of this speech. It has become part of the national culture.

Find more videos like this on EFL CLASSROOM 2.0