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Behind The Curtain On T-Day

Posted by Zonk on from the stuffed-with-stuffing-and-other-stuff dept.

Ant writes "MSN Encarta has Columnist Martha Brockenbrough's article on the myths of this American holiday. From the article: 'A lot of what we know to be true about Thanksgiving really isn't. Determining exactly what did happen is difficult. For starters, we don't even know for certain if the Pilgrims served turkey, although it's a strong possibility.'" Additionally, maotx writes "Contrary to popular belief, turkey does not make you sleepy. While purified tryptophan is a mild sleep-inducing agent, there is not enough in turkey to have a sedative affect. And on top of that, turkey isn't even unusually high in tryptophan compared to other foods, such as beef or soybeans. So for those of us enjoying turkey today, bring on the turkey and have a Happy Thanksgiving!"

1 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What the hell IS thanksgiving? by Hosiah · · Score: 0, Troll
    For those of you outside the USA, Thanksgiving is just a feast day. Nothing more, nothing less. Our family celebrates it in a pagan sense (last big feast before winter sets in), but the propaganda is that the first settlers of the US were so grateful for finding the new world and the indians were grateful because they weren't getting killed by the invading white man yet, yada yada.

    Pay no attention to the propaganda - or do what my family, social circle, and I did the first Thanksgiving after the beginning of the Iraq war: have a Ghandi Thanksgiving, in protest of the United States' global conquest. "Feast" on Ghandi's diet of rice, vegetables, goat's milk, and fruit. Spend the day in meditation and in remembrance of all the victims of the United States, be they the virtually genocided original American natives, the enslaved peoples imported to work and build the wealth the US currently wields as it's basis of power, or the various nations of the middle East currently being pirated under false pretenses.

    And this post is dedicated to all the /.ers who will be flaming it and modding it down, though this will not diminish it's truth. I've given them something to hate to be grateful for, hate being the most patriotic American emotion.