Another reason people like it is because it gives you no choice whatsoever. You have to eat certain things: turkey, potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry something, pumpkin pie.... This is very restful for a culture of choice. I once cooked duck for Tanksgiving and my kids were almost too shocked to be upset. But then they were very upset and did not cease to mention it for years afterward.
Finally, it's a pot-luck, communal, family, soap-opera kind of day where skeletons are brought out of the closet, given a gentle shake, and put back in until next year. There's even a good movie about an Ur-TG with Holly Hunter, Robert Downey Jr, Geraldine Chaplin, and Anne Bancroft called "Home for the Holidays." Check it out!
Joanna
P.S. Brining the turkey is a good idea, but if you add sherry, don't cook it as long cause the sherry partly "cooks" it.
Doug Henwood wrote:
> Chris Doss wrote:
>
>> Ditto. Thanksgiving is the best US holiday.
>
>
> WBAI did 8 hours of anti-Thanksgiving programming yesterday. We
> listened to some of it, featuring Jim Craven. They're absolutely right
> on the historical point - the holiday's relation to genocide, and the
> foundational crimes of the USA. But I really doubt you're going to win
> any friends this way. People like Thanksgiving, and it seems to me a
> real uphill climb to persuade the masses to the contrary. Craven even
> implied that a lot of Indians celebrate the holiday.
>
> Doug
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>