Thanksgiving arguably is our greatest American holiday. We get to focus on family, food, and sloth without any of the pressures of gift exchange, religious observance, launching explosives, romantic pursuit, elaborate costumes, or watery green beer.
Just gorge on tryptophan and starch and take a nap. What’s not to love?
Oh, you say you fear that partisan politics this year may lead to a family food fight with fistfuls of stuffing?
In the wake of the presidential election I realize many are obsessed with the state of our union that, depending on your view, either was saved from socialism or is slipping into fascism.
Far be it from me to stop Americans from constant panic while sharing each and every thought on social media—especially now that we can segment ourselves all the more between conservative X and progressive Bluesky.
To be clear, I don’t want to minimize the tumult of a globally bad election year for incumbent heads of state, the potential consequences of our own election outcome, or the grim ongoing churn of warfare on multiple fronts.
I just like to remind myself that we as Americans remain lucky to get together for a holiday such as Thanksgiving—even if the history of this national ritual itself reminds us that a restless dynamic tension is integral to what defines our (somewhat haggard) democracy.
My thoughts coalesced after I had the pleasure of watching a friend of mine, Leo Landis, state curator of the State Historical Society of Iowa, present a program on the history of Thanksgiving. He lectured in the basement of the American Legion Memorial Building in Atlantic. I sat next to my parents, who live in the southwest Iowa county-seat town of 6,781.
First, if you ever have a chance to hear Leo speak, do so. He’s great with a crowd and enlivens history as well or better than Neil deGrasse Tyson electrifies astrophysics.
Second, don’t blame Leo for any of my musings here. He merely provided a thorough hour of original historical research, stretching back to the holiday’s complicated origins in 1621, a three-day feast shared by the Wampanoag tribe and the Pilgrims. He touched on a wide variety of topics—including the evolving Thanksgiving menu—that I don’t have space for here.
The first presidential Thanksgiving proclamation in 1789 was issued by George Washington. President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, in the midst of our Civil War “of unequaled magnitude and severity,” proclaimed a Thanksgiving feast as a “needful diversion” for a weary nation.
Thanksgiving observance in the last century continued to fluctuate and stirred plenty of disagreement.
Somehow, this reassures me. We can turn to Thanksgiving not as some magical fleeting oasis of civility and calm around the dinner table. It’s yet another example of how we as Americans find ways to come to terms with each other’s failings and gradually improve our society—even if our improvement can be painstakingly, maddeningly gradual.
It took Americans a while to agree on when to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving may feel like one of the last consensus days on the calendar when the entire nation shares a similar experience, but we haven’t always celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November.
The date for Thanksgiving wavered throughout most of its history—landing in November or December depending on gubernatorial proclamations.
In 1844 in the Iowa Territory it fell on Dec. 14.
In the early 20th century, Midwesterners took umbrage at coastal elites who wanted to move up Thanksgiving to extend the holiday shopping season. A Des Moines Register article printed in October 1916 opened with the sentence, “Iowa state officials do not look with favor on the project launched by Los Angeles business interests to have Thanksgiving Day come a week earlier than the date established by long usage.”
Another Register article from Nov. 26, 1939: “Some employees in the state will receive their second holiday in two weeks because banks, courts, and state liquor stores decided to close both Thanksgiving days to avoid legal complications.”
The U.S. House finally intervened in October 1941 with a joint resolution designating the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving. The Senate in its wisdom edited the draft language to specify the fourth Thursday, and President Franklin Roosevelt signed the resolution into law.
To my surprise, ‘Turkey Day’ is longstanding holiday slang.
Landis showcased 19th century newspaper clippings referring to Thanksgiving as “Turkey Day.”
A November 1867 article from the Davenport Democrat noted that, despite the holiday’s nickname, some residents preferred to dine on chicken—all too often, chickens stolen from neighbors’ coops.
“The only way to break them of (the habit),” the story wryly observed of these local thieves, “is to nab them while in the act of paying hen roosts their nocturnal visits, and administering to them a good deal of lead and powder.”
I guess we shouldn’t complain too loudly about the incivility of modern social media when legacy news in the 19th century recommended settling minor property disputes with gunfire.
American love for Thanksgiving football runs deeper than I realized.
Early 20th century Thanksgivings in Iowa featured plenty of football—high school games held on the evening of the holiday throughout local communities.
Atlantic High School in 1911 played Omaha School for the Deaf. Cover charge for the game was 25 cents. Atlantic apparently fielded a great team that year, preventing most of their opponents from scoring a single touchdown while running up the score as high as 72.
Live high school athletics on the holiday sounds infinitely better than, say, being forced to watch the notoriously bad lip sync performances of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV. (This has been my personal Turkey Day gripe for years.)
Our family developed our own unique holiday sport: pumpkin baseball. As part of extended celebrations (a combined Thanksgiving and Christmas we call “Thanksmas”), our Black Friday afternoon entertainment often includes taking swings at the leftover, rotting pumpkins from Halloween. Here’s a glimpse of the spray of gourd guts from two years ago:
If politics has you stressed, might I recommend a round of pumpkin baseball? You and your relatives can make a pact: No matter how much we inadvertently anger each other over dinner, we’ll bite our tongues and save all the aggression for pummeling pumpkins.
Give thanks for the caretakers of our history.
Speaking of giving thanks, as we approach #GivingTuesday and holiday gifting, consider a donation to the Iowa Historical Foundation “to support the State Historical Society of Iowa for projects, programs and needs beyond what the Iowa Legislature and earned income is able to provide.” Landis and his colleagues are faithful stewards of a rigorous, accurate historical record that helps us maintain a more informed sense of self as Iowans.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.
Whether you dine on turkey, chicken (I hope not stolen), or tofurkey, I wish nothing but peace and happiness for you and your family.
Iowa Writers Collaborative Holiday Party
This group of storytellers and journalists has its own celebration for the holiday season.
The Iowa Writers Collaborative will host a party at the Harkin Institute on the Drake University campus in Des Moines. The event will include appetizers and a short program. It’s a great opportunity to meet some of your favorite writers and visit the state-of-the-art home of the Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement.
As long as you’re a paid subscriber to at least one of the columnists in our group, you can RSVP here. A donation will be accepted at the door for spouses or guests. If you’re traveling, see hotel information on the RSVP form.
Details
When: 5-8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13.
Where: Harkin Institute, 2800 University Ave., Des Moines.
What: Appetizers, a short program, great conversation.
The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative roster
The Iowa Writers Collaborative has grown to include more than 50 members and a Letters From Iowans column. Each member is an independent columnist who shares two things in common: They have made a living as writers and are interested in the state of Iowa. Subscribe to the main account for a convenient way to be notified each Sunday about most posts by most members. You can support individual members according to your unique interests by becoming a paid subscriber to any newsletter. We are also proud to be affiliated with Iowa Capital Dispatch, where some of our content is regularly republished.
Nicole Baart: This Stays Here, Sioux Center
Rekha Basu: Shouts and whispers, Des Moines
Ray Young Bear: From Red Earth Drive, Meskwaki Settlement
Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights
Tory Brecht: Brecht’s Beat, Quad Cities
Dartanyan L. Brown: My Integrated Live, Des Moines
Douglas Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll
Jane Burns: The Crossover, Des Moines
Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines
Rachelle Chase : Reading with Rachelle, Ottumwa
Steph C: It Was Never a Dress, Johnston
Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake
Suzanna de Baca: Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley
Taylor Deckert: Taylor’s Millennial Mindset, Sioux City
Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County
Randy Evans: Stray Thoughts, Des Moines via Bloomfield
Daniel P. Finney: Paragraph Stacker, Des Moines
Marianne Fons: Reporting From Quiltropolis, Winterset
Arnold Garson: Second Thoughts, Okoboji and Sioux Falls
Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji
Chris Gloninger: Weathering Climate Change
Dennis Goldford, “Let’s Talk Politics,” Des Moines
Avery Gregurich: The Five and Dime, Marengo
Fern Kupfer and Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames
Rob Gray's Area: Rob Gray’s Area, Ankeny
Nik Heftman: The Seven Times, Iowa
Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla
Phoebe Wall Howard: Shifting Gears, Detroit
Iowa Podcasters' Collaborative
Black Iowa News: Dana James, Iowa
Chris Jones: Chris’s Substack, Iowa City
Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo
Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey
Darcy Maulsby: Keepin’ It Rural, Calhoun County
Hola Iowa: Iowa
Kurtis Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar
Vicki Minor: Relatively Minor, Winterset
Wini Moranville: Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines
Jeff Morrison: Between Two Rivers, Cedar Rapids
Kyle Munson: Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines
Jane Nguyen: The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines
John Naughton: My Life in Color, Des Moines
Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines
Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.
Dave Price: Dave Price’s Perspective, Des Moines
Ty Rushing: Ty’s Take, Iowa City
Steve Semken: Ice Cube Press, LLC, North Liberty
Sarah Scull: The Piecemaker, Creston
Macey Shofroth: The Midwest Creative, Norwalk
Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona
Mary Swander's Emerging Voices: Emerging Voices, Kalona
Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County
Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport
Jason Walsmith: The Racontourist, Earlham
Kali White VanBaale: 988: Mental Healthcare in Iowa, Bondurant
Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines
Happy Thanksgiving, Kyle!