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Thanksgiving (Tyrnican: Erntedankfest) is a Surrowese holiday that takes place on the second Monday of October. Celebrated as an official holiday since the late nineteenth century, Thanksgiving celebrates the bounty of the sea and the end of the fishing season for the year
History
Thanksgiving on Surrow is believed to have primarily evolved from harvest festivals that occur in the autumn in Rythene and Tyrnica, with historian Harvey Riberg writing in 1974 that "most of the customs associated Thanksgiving on Surrow can ultimately be traced to the Rythenean harvest supper," with Riberg noting records of fishermen as early as 1501 having a feast at the end of the fishing season before returning to Auressia with their catch "akin to that of a harvest supper."
Many historians, such as Dennis Brestrich and Chris Hasard, say that the first recorded Thanksgiving was when Avery Holcot landed on Holcot Inlet in 1486 and thanked God for "protecting their fleet in such wild territory." However, as it took place sometime between June 24th and June 28th, and as it was primarily a religious ceremony where all men in Hoclot's fleet applied clay to their chins to symbolise their strength and overcoming difficulties during their voyage, with no feast being held on that day, other historians such as Donald Molson and Harvey Riberg have argued that it had "no connection or very little connection" to the modern-day Thanksgiving that is celebrated in Surrow.
The first official day of Thanksgiving was in 1759 when Governor Josiah Matthews declared a day of thanksgiving to be held on "the fourteenth day of October" to celebrate the end of the Eleven Years War between Rythene and Tyrnica. While religious ceremonies were performed on that day, as the day fell on or near the traditional feast at the end of the fishing season, it is believed by most historians, like Dennis Brestrich, Donald Molson, and Harvey Riberg that this "day of thanksgiving" was the first "true Thanksgiving" on Surrow, as it incorporated many of the traditions that are associated with contemporary Surrowese Thanksgiving.
Although successive governors would not declare a day of thanksgiving on that date for over fifty years, records from the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century would consistently refer to the day when the feast occurred in early-to-mid October as Thanksgiving, with Thanksgiving involving entire villages gathering at the local temple to mourn those who were lost at sea before having a feast inside the temple to celebrate the "bounty of the sea."
In 1825, Governor Abner Stedman proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving on the "second Monday of October" to celebrate the success of the Second Rythenean Revolution and to celebrate the "bounty of the sea without which no man may survive," and declared that Thanksgiving "shall forever fall on the specified day." Stedman's proclamation permanently tied the feast to celebrate the end of the fishing season with Thanksgiving, with the only times Thanksgiving was not proclaimed to fall on the second Monday of October being in 1914 and again in 1943 to give thanks for the ending of the First Great War and the Second Great War, with the dates being TBD and October 28th respectively.
In 1950, following Surrow's formal independence from Rythene, Thanksgiving was officially codified as a public holiday falling on the second Monday of October, with the holiday staying on that date ever since. Since the 1950s, as Surrow has urbanised, Thanksgiving customs changed, with dinners in Holcot Inlet decreasing as people began returning to their hometowns to attend their Thanksgiving dinners.
Customs
In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, Surrowese usually travel back to their home communities, which in the context of Thanksgiving means the place where their ancestors had most recently lived before moving to either Holcot Inlet, Tulaktarvik, or Gateway. This has made the Thanksgiving weekend the busiest travel day of the year in Surrow, leading to a custom where entire families travel by chartered bus towards their home communities in order to avoid dealing with traffic congestion and spending too much on gas as gas prices usually spike during the Thanksgiving weekend.
Upon their arrival in their home community, the Thanksgiving meal traditionally takes place at a local temple or at the local community centre, with preparations being made for at least two weeks prior to Thanksgiving. Traditionally, the Thanksgiving meal takes place in the early evening, but since the early 1990s, there has been a trend to have multiple sittings spanning from lunch to supper to ensure that everyone who arrives in their home community can attend the Thanksgiving celebrations. Some historians, such as Molson, have argued that it may have been an outgrowth of having two separate meals in Tern Harbour for the town's Rythenean and Tyrnican communities, but others, such as Hasard have said that it is due to community centres or temples being "unable to accommodate over one-to-two hundred people at once."
The meal itself involves a traditional dance performance by a local group, usually either a country dance or a Tyrnican country dance, followed by a priest or the mayor reading the names of those who were lost at sea in the past year before performing a toast to all who have lost their lives at sea. This is then followed by saying grace before eating the meal, and then at the end of the meal, another traditional dance performance is performed.
After the meal, families usually spend time in their home community, either at a relative's house, or in an outdoor environment before returning home later in the day or the following morning.
Cuisine
Due to Thanksgiving falling at the end of the fishing season, most of the dishes consumed at Thanksgiving are fish-based.
The three most prominent dishes associated with Thanksgiving are flipper pie, made from cured and salted seal flippers and vegetables and covered with pastry akin to a traditional meat pie; home dinner, comprised of salt beef boiled with potatoes, carrots, cabbages, turnips, and greens, and alongside raisin pudding, stuffing, and pease pudding, and fish and brewis, comprised of fish and hardtack and typically served alongside with scrunchions, or fried pork rinds. It is customary to serve fish and brewis and either flipper pie, home dinner, or both dishes at Thanksgiving.
Other foods commonly consumed during Thanksgiving include fishcake with summer savoury; fish hash; fish soup, usually made with cod and berries; rolled fish, made with pickled cod rolled up in a cylindrical shape around an onion and salt filling; fish fingers, usually made with cod; cod or haddock casserole, made with pasta and either cod or haddock, and topped with hardtack; cod chowder, made with cod, sea lettuce and corn, hardtack, and milk; scrod, made from filleting a small cod or haddock and then baking it, and prawn soup, made with shrimp. Common sides at Thanksgiving include mashed potatoes, potato salad, cod or haddock salad, shrimp, and sea lettuce.
Traditionally, whiskey is consumed at the Thanksgiving dinner, with a shot of whiskey traditionally consumed "at once" after the toast to those lost at sea to "honor their memories," with subsequent drinks are expected to be nursed throughout the night in order to "preserve the supply of whiskey." For those who are either too young to consume whiskey, usually under the age of 13, or who choose not to drink alcohol, apple cider is an acceptable alternative to whiskey. However, whiskey's popularity has been in decline since the 1990s, with some community centres banning the consumption of whiskey and other alcoholic beverages at Thanksgiving dinners due to liability concerns, and in recent years, other beverages, such as soft drinks, beer, or water, have become more acceptable.
The traditional desserts consumed on Thanksgiving are blueberry pie, which is traditionally made from the last wild blueberries harvested in the season, and bakeapple pie, which is made from the last cloudberries harvested in the season, although in recent years, most of the berries are imported from other countries such as Albrennia. However, in recent years, pumpkin pie and apple pie, primarily imported from Albrennia has become popular as an alternative Thanksgiving dessert to blueberry pie.