Features

Give Thanks to Giving

Thanksgiving, is a time of being thankful, grateful, and generous, whether it’s with the food or with love.

Molly Spence, Assistant Editor

November 22, 2023

Thanksgiving, is a time of being thankful, grateful, and generous, whether it’s with the food or with love. With that holiday tradition starting in November of 1621, the tradition of Thanksgiving has lasted 402 years. Many spend the day with their families, many watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, whatever you do, be thankful, that’s the point of the holiday.

The first Thanksgiving was in 1621, with the Pilgrims, who celebrated the holiday after their first harvest. The First Thanksgiving lasted three days and consisted of 90 Native American Wompanag peoples and 53 survivors of the Mayflower. Although it is not proven, it is believed that those who participated in the first Thanksgiving, ate turkey, venison, seafood, and their harvested vegetables. Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday on October 3, 1863.

According to Serious Eats, some dishes that are commonly found on the Thanksgiving table are turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and many others.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade tradition started in 1924, this is the 97th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. During the first parade, many dressed as cowboys, clowns knights, and sheikhs (an Arab leader), there were floats, professional bands, and 25 live animals from the Central Park Zoo. This year, you can expect floats, Broadway show snip-bits, current famous music artists, the Rockettes and so much more! This year, according to Women’s Wear Daily, there is a total of 8,000 volunteers, there will be 16 character balloons (7 new characters), 33 heritage and novelty balloons, 26 floats, 5,000 costumes, 2,000 gallons of paint, 300 pounds of glitter, and, 200 pounds of confetti. The parade will start at 8:30 which is half an hour earlier than usual, you can watch the parade on NBC New York, local channels, and YouTube, or you could go see it in person.

So this Thanksgiving season, spend time with your family, friends, and everyone else. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving from The Stinger Newspaper Staff!

Watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/live/F5CFktG4qcw?si=mRSgPcbbBtnmNtYB

Sources:

WorldStrides.com

FamilySearch.org

Baruch College

Forbes.com

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About the Contributor

Molly Spence, Co-Editor-In-Chief

"Remember there is good in this world, and bad, and ugly." -Unknown Hello, welcome to The Stinger! My name is Molly Spence, I am a class of 2026 Junior and the Co-Editor-In-Chief for The Stinger Newspaper. I am involved in the Newspaper, Marion Center Mean Green Marching Machine as one of the Section Leaders for the Color Guard, a representative of Marion Center High School for both United Way and SULT (Students United Leadership Team), Athena Club as the head of public relations, Art Club, Mock Trial, Freaky Friday The Musical cast, and library assistant. This is my third year in Newspaper. I've been assistant editor for two years, and this is my first year as Co-Editor-In-Chief. My future goals include attending Lycoming College to major in Psychology to accomplish my career goal of being a clinical psychologist and continuing my education (master’s and doctoral degrees) at another college. Apart from my aspiring career and education dreams, something people may not know about me is I twirl batons (1, 2, and 3 batons). I was a competitive twirler, as for right now I'm doing my own training, improving my skills, and learning new tricks. I also love ducks. I have two ducks who hate my batons when I’m twirling but love to go up to them and peck them when I’m not twirling. I don’t allow them anywhere near the fire batons, of course. My ducks and twirling are giant parts of my life, as well as psychology class here in the high school and my own research and education. By being a part of The Stinger, I want to make everyone's voice heard and leave no one behind, because after all, we, Marion Center High School students, are all in this together.