Thanksgiving Oracles
and other weird holiday fun
Gah! It’s mid-November. Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I would like to do something different this year. I haven’t figured out what yet, but in my looking around the net, I found some great trivia you can use at your Thanksgiving feast or during cocktail hour if you’re outside the U.S. 😉
But first I will confess a Thanksgiving tradition I don’t like.
It’s going around the dinner table and saying something we are thankful for. I find this to be personal. I don’t want to share it with all the relatives and the people they brought. Sure, I can say, I’m thankful for this food. That was usually my go to, but then people came back with, “Can’t do that, it’s too easy” or “Someone else already said that.” Who makes up these rules? Now, I raise an eyebrow and give a firm , “Skip,” which seems to broker no comment. 😈
Anyway…
Did you know November’s moon is called the Beaver Moon? 🦫🌑According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, this was because both the colonists and the Algonquin tribes set beaver traps during this time, so they’d have furs to keep warm over winter. By the way, the full moon arrives tomorrow (November 15th) at 4:28 p.m. ET, and it’s also a supermoon.
Psst: November’s moon has also been referred to as the Digging Moon, Deer Rutting Moon, and the Frost Moon.
Ancient Etruscans (900 BCE-27 CE) believed chickens could foresee the future. The priesthood used hens to predict the future. The art of chicken forecasting is simple: draw a circle in the dirt, divide it into 20 segments, inscribe each with a letter of the Etruscan alphabet, and then sprinkled with some grain. Ask a question. Set a hungry chicken down in the center of the circle and let it peck out the answer.
After divining the future, the priests sacrificed the chicken and removed its wishbone. These were symbols of good fortune, and Etruscans stoked them for good luck and to have their wishes come true.
Then the Romans came in and took over. These sacred bones were now in short supply, and brawls ensued. Wishbones were broken. The holder of the longer piece was the victor—and their wishes would come true.
This is where the phrase “lucky break” comes from.
Of course, the chicken becomes a turkey for Thanksgiving. I wonder if the bigger bones make for better luck.
And…
In the early 1900s, children dressed in rags and wore masks on Thanksgiving, going door to door, asking, “Anything for Thanksgiving?” They’d receive a piece of candy, a penny, or an apple.
Frozen turkey bowling.
Turkey calling competitions.
The Turducken (chicken inside a duck inside a turkey). I still can’t wrap my head around this one.
My Thanksgivings have always been pretty vanilla, especially after reading some of those unusual customs you wrote about.