If the Irish had created Thanksgiving it would have been called Giving Out Day. We’re much better at complaining than giving thanks usually, but if there’s one thing we know how to do well it’s cook for a cold climate. Thanksgiving isn’t an Irish holiday.
When you first arrive here as a wide-eyed immigrant you quickly come to see it as the most Yankee event on the calendar, even more so than Memorial Day or the fireworks and flag-waving of the Fourth of July. That’s because Thanksgiving is a secular holiday that’s open to every citizen regardless of their background or religion (or lack thereof), and unlike Christmas, no one is fretting over what gifts to give or what they’ll cost. The point of Thanksgiving is just to count all the things you’re grateful for – like your family, your health, and that you've survived another year going by.
Clearly, that’s not Irish at all. If the Irish had created the holiday it would more likely have been called Giving Out Day. Ours would have been an annual opportunity to list all of the things that have gotten on our nerves over the course of the year, a thing we can do with an eloquence unmatched in the western world.
Of course, another real point of Thanksgiving is to cook an epic meal that will guard against the winter blues. That’s why the Irish just get the concept of Thanksgiving right away. Our northerly outcrop of a nation has taught us how to stave off winter with hearty dishes to delight your senses.
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