Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Mellotronists

 Actaully yes you're right, - it wasn't the October date nor the last November Thursday but rather the second last Thursday. in November.

 

From Wikipedia:

 

 

Ever since 1863, Thanksgiving has been observed annually in the United States.

In 1939, President Roosevelt declared that Thanksgiving would be the penultimate (second to last) Thursday of November rather than the last. With the country still in the midst of The Great Depression, Roosevelt thought this would give merchants a longer period to sell goods before Christmas. Increasing profits and spending during this period, Roosevelt hoped, would aid bringing the country out of the Depression. At the time, it was considered inappropriate to advertise goods for Christmas until after Thanksgiving. However, Roosevelt's declaration was not mandatory; 23 states went along with this recommendation, and 22 did not. Other states, like Texas, could not decide and took both weeks as government holidays. Roosevelt persisted in 1940 to celebrate his "Franksgiving," as it was termed. The United States Congress in 1941 split the difference and established that the Thanksgiving would occur annually on the fourth Thursday of November, which was sometimes the last Thursday and sometimes the next to last. On November 26 that year President Roosevelt signed this bill into US law.

Beginning in 1947, the National Turkey Federation has presented the President of the United States with one live turkey and two dressed turkeys. The live turkey is pardoned and lives out the rest of its days on a peaceful farm.

Since 1970 a group of Native Americans and others have held a National Day of Mourning protest on Thanksgiving at Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

 see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving for more info if interested.

 

 

Chris

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Bob Snyder

Cc: Mellotronists

Sent: Thursday, November 25, 2004 7:22 PM

Subject: Re: [Mellotronists] female prog

From a speech given by Abraham Lincoln October 3, 1863:

"....I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens."

Bob S. (Not much of a historian)



Chris Dale wrote:

The Thanksgiving holiday was supposed to be celebrated originally in October (as Canadians do). During the Great Depression it was decided that it should be celebrated in November to get people to spend money to stimulate the economy between Halloween and Christmas.

 

Happy Thanksgiving 

 

Perhaps a few lucky individuals can make a tron out of their mashed potatoes! Shades of Close Encounters of the Third Kind :)

 

 

Chris  

 

The trouble with Thanksgiving is that it leaves those of us on the other side of the water utterly bemused. Or maybe it's just me. I'm now trying to think of something we celebrate that does the same in reverse. Various bank holidays whose origins are lost in the mists of time? Hogmanay (north of the border)? Mystifies us southerners, so God knows what Americans make of it.  :-)

 

Andy T.