Playing Tripoli, making cranberry sauce, and creating splendid table centerpieces — these are popular Thanksgiving rituals in the Schutte home. But even just one house over, Thanksgiving Day might involve an entirely different set of rituals, all equally cherished and enjoyed each November. These differences and the core idea behind them are the topic of Melanie Kirkpatrick’s 2016 book, Thanksgiving: The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience, now republished as a paperback in time for the holiday’s 400th anniversary.
Kirkpatrick sets the stage by focusing first on modern immigrants’ views of Thanksgiving, then brings readers back to that very first Thanksgiving in 1621 to put some flesh on the story. Filled with well-chosen quotations, her retelling helps us to see the members of that Plymouth colony not as vague characters in an old story but as human beings full of faith and perseverance. Her focus on these Thanksgiving roots illuminates where we may misunderstand the original tale, but she doesn’t ever chide us. Rather, she invites us to see the true ideals at the heart of that day: the gratitude felt by the Pilgrims to God for His abundant blessings of food and the friendship of the Native Americans when it was sorely needed.
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