By Madison Butkus
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Just in time for Thanksgiving, the Dover Town Library (DTL) hosted Historian Anthony Sammarco to talk about Thanksgiving traditions throughout the earliest years in Boston on Monday, November 20. This event was sponsored by the Dover Council on Aging (COA) and many of the attendees knew of Sammarco as family!
The Community Room was packed with COA members eager to hear all about the longest lasting traditions that have happened here in Boston. Starting from the first Thanksgiving, dating back to 1789, there have been an abundance of ongoing and changing traditions that many of us still celebrate with today.
Before getting into these said traditions, Sammarco first had to discuss how Thanksgiving became an official holiday. He stated, “Thanksgiving has been celebrated nationally on and off since 1789, with a proclamation by George Washington after a request by Congress. In the 19th century, there were really only two national holidays: Washington’s Birthday and Independence Day. It seemed that only New Englanders celebrated Thanksgiving, and each of the 6 states scheduled its own date to celebrate from October through January. Over the years, various governors of Massachusetts would proclaim a holiday of Thanksgiving, but it was under the presidency of Abraham Lincoln that Thanksgiving became a federal holiday in 1863, during the American Civil War.”
Along with Lincoln, Sarah Josepha Hale was also a star contributor in getting Thanksgiving proclaimed as a national holiday. To many, she is known for her contribution towards this, as well as the author of the extremely popular nursery rhyme “Mary Had A Little Lamb.”
Once this background had been established, it was time to start discussing the array of traditions that have been created over the years. For example, ironically enough, turkey was not even present for many years within a typical Thanksgiving dinner. It may have been briefly included from time to time, but it was never the star dish of the overall meal. This was seen when Sammarco talked about the Pilgrims and how they came to shape this holiday as well.
Interestingly enough, Sammarco mentioned a couple of traditions that many COA members were not fully aware of. For instance, over the years there have been an abundance of different paintings made depicting Thanksgiving, each with their own unique flare. As time went on, Thanksgiving cards started to gain popularity, just as Christmas cards are now. Sammarco explained that Louis Prang is considered to be the Father of the Christmas card, but also created very interesting Thanksgiving cards. While many would tend to believe that these Thanksgiving cards are a thing of the past, Sammarco said that this year, he started to receive so many of them compared to previous years.
This type of event was the perfect way to kick off the Thanksgiving holiday week. All in attendance thoroughly enjoyed the presentation and learning about how even the earliest traditions still continue on today. On behalf of Hometown Weekly Newspaper, we hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
