Childhood celebrations of Thanksgivings past
live on in the words and drawings of 19th century authors and artists. They recall the
week-long preparations for the festive dinner, the anxiety of the school play, the high
spirits of large family gatherings, the after-dinner romps, frolics, candy-pulls and
dances.
The meaning of "family" had changed
during the 19th century, evolving from a large extended clan including distant relatives
and household help to the small nuclear family we recognize today. Domestic holidays
helped define this new family.
By the beginning of the 20th century,
childhood itself had become the object of nostalgia. The autobiographical writings of
authors such as Charles Dudley Warner and Edward Everett Hale celebrated their own
childhood, in recalling their youthful Thanksgivings. Writers of fiction, such as Harriet
Beecher Stowe and Louisa May Alcott, created "old-fashioned" Thanksgivings
centered around children and set in a rosy-colored past.
In actuality, New England childhood was diverse.
Celebration of holidays depended on social status, economic means, and family dynamics.
And the New England childhood was not confined to the states of the Northeast.
As settlers moved west, the rituals of New England moved west as well. But whether lavish
or meager, whether celebrated in Massachusetts or elsewhere, Thanksgiving in its 3 facets -
learning, feasting, and playing - was an integral part of the lives of New England
children.
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