[Rant-Essay] Symbol of Thanksgiving
[This rant-essay was originally intended for http://www.livejournal.com/users/scn07/10810.html?view=1850 , but I decided to make it its own post.]
Why is the turkey the symbol of Thanksgiving? It's not like turkeys were either giving thanks (to those who consumed them?) or people who ate turkey were giving thanks to them (which kinda should happen since they serve as a food source). What about the Pilgrims and the Native Americans, the other traditional foods (although I strongly doubt that the cranberry sauce back then had can-lines on the gel), and the spirit of giving thanks?
I of course remember our local Catholic Church father speaking about how the Thanksgiving time period was about giving thanks. Quite a lot of people who write or speak commentary about Thanksgiving say that same thing, so yeah, it's kinda cliche. But still, though, why isn't giving thanks, the namesake of the holiday itself, the symbol?
One possibility: marketing. It's a lot easier to draw a picture of a turkey or a Pilgrim hat (which is the second-most-used Thanksgiving icon, from my experience) than it is to "picture" the display of appreciation. Try to think about how you would draw a picture of the latter? Is there something necessarily common to processes of giving thanks that can become iconic of Thanksgiving? Well, we could simply use the "original" visualization of a Pilgrim and a Native American shaking hands and smiling at each other. But then again, it's more complex than just a Pilgrim hat, and therefore more cost- and time-consuming to produce. So it gets scratched. Whatever.
But since giving thanks is the spirit of Thanksgiving, why don't I do it now: Thanks to our school for giving us this nice huge (in comparison to none) break. (Of course then, thanks also for all those professors who decided to assign a bunch of tests and work due before it, but whatever, that's already over with.)
Why is the turkey the symbol of Thanksgiving? It's not like turkeys were either giving thanks (to those who consumed them?) or people who ate turkey were giving thanks to them (which kinda should happen since they serve as a food source). What about the Pilgrims and the Native Americans, the other traditional foods (although I strongly doubt that the cranberry sauce back then had can-lines on the gel), and the spirit of giving thanks?
I of course remember our local Catholic Church father speaking about how the Thanksgiving time period was about giving thanks. Quite a lot of people who write or speak commentary about Thanksgiving say that same thing, so yeah, it's kinda cliche. But still, though, why isn't giving thanks, the namesake of the holiday itself, the symbol?
One possibility: marketing. It's a lot easier to draw a picture of a turkey or a Pilgrim hat (which is the second-most-used Thanksgiving icon, from my experience) than it is to "picture" the display of appreciation. Try to think about how you would draw a picture of the latter? Is there something necessarily common to processes of giving thanks that can become iconic of Thanksgiving? Well, we could simply use the "original" visualization of a Pilgrim and a Native American shaking hands and smiling at each other. But then again, it's more complex than just a Pilgrim hat, and therefore more cost- and time-consuming to produce. So it gets scratched. Whatever.
But since giving thanks is the spirit of Thanksgiving, why don't I do it now: Thanks to our school for giving us this nice huge (in comparison to none) break. (Of course then, thanks also for all those professors who decided to assign a bunch of tests and work due before it, but whatever, that's already over with.)