Thanksgiving Field Trip

I learned many new things about Thanksgiving during the field trip to Strawbery Banke. I discovered about how the people of the 1800's prepared their food and how much effort and time it took, I found out about how richer people gave out their food items to charity, and the way the children participated in the making of the feast.

The people who lived during the 1800's prepared their food by using many old tools. To make something like a soup, they would get all of their ingredients that they need, and put them into a pot with a handle. But before putting the ingredients in the pot, they needed to start a fire. So once the items were in the cooking pot, they would use an crane and hand the pot from a swinging clock-jack which was above the fire. To cook something like a pie, the people would have to heat up an oven-like part of the fireplace. Next, they would put the pie into the oven -like area. As a result of leaving the pie in the oven, the pie would cook and be good to eat! To cook a turkey, it would need to be placed on a spit, and turned slowly over the fire. There were some ways to make a delicious Thanksgiving meal!

Most richer people, like the Governor and his wife at the time, made baskets of goods to give to the poor. They gave away some cups of their flour, corn mill, sugar, and wheat. They also gave the poor knitted items, apples, and raisins. They put the grain items into a pillow case, and tied up every different part of the pillow case where the grains were in, so they wouldn't get mixed. They put in 3-4 knitted items per basket, and 2-3 apples, and a handful of raisins. The amount of grains that were put into each basket were 2 or 3 cups each. It was very interesting to learn about how and the amount of goods that were donated to the poorer people.

We learned also about the way that the children participated in making the Thanksgiving feast, and how they celebrated. One activity that the children did was to watch and take care of the younger children. Of course, it was the older children that did this. The way that they cared for the younger children was to play a game that we still do today, Hide and Seek. Children of all ages played a game called Blind Man's Buff. Although, before the feast, the children helped out their mothers in the kitchen. They helped with cooking the turkey, making the spices, crushing the corn, and preparing the pies. I thought it was very interesting to learn about how the children of the past participated in the Thanksgiving feast.

The field trip that we took to Strawbery Banke was a great experience, and I learned a lot about why we celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving.