Three things to do this Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a harvest festival. The earliest recorded religious Thanksgiving Day in Plymouth is from 1623. When the rains came after a two month drought, the colonists gave thanks. Initially it was celebrated along with the Native Americans. The celebration included merry making, drinking and included local produce of deer, corn, roasted meat and shellfish. Yes, nothing to do with turkey and pudding, which is standard fair nowadays. In fact most of our celebratory food was not even available in the 1600s!

Happy Thanksgiving by liz west

Over time, in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln declared two national Thanksgivings. Yes two. One was in August to remember the battle of Gettysburg and the second was in November to give thanks for 'general blessings'.

Today it is a weekend over which families gather, eat, celebrate and bond. Here are three things for families to do together this year:

1. Feast
Yes, a great time to gather and feast together. Seasonal produce like squash and sweet potato are a must. Vegetarian get a tofu turkey, while others get a turkey and use their own recipes to cook it or it could be a store prepared one. Everyone pitches in to cook a part of the meal.

2. Play
Yes, families can gather and play games - board games, outdoorsy games or perhaps some scavenger games, to make it big, noisy and fun. Nothing can be better than playing together for families to come together.

3. Explore
This is a great time to explore your city. Walk, drive or take the bus. Make it multi-generational. Get the older members to show you places you did not know about. Great way to bond with grandparents. Explore parks. Make sure you bundle up. The good time must not lead to unwell times.

Food is essential to human survival. Even after all these years, it feels perfectly natural to give thanks to the bounty that nature gifts us. Tell us how you plan to celebrate this Thanksgiving.

In the Halloween Spirit

Halloween has gone by, but the kids are still having some Halloween Fun. There's candy to eat, images to see and apps to play on. All these years, Halloween meant trick or treating, dressing up and scaring people. Now with the onset of online games, Halloween has it's own set of apps!

Who dressed YOU? by Juhan Sonin

Traditional Fun

Interestingly much of the traditional fun revolved around agriculture, primarily because that was the predominant occupation. Young people pulled out cabbage from the field believing that the shape and taste of the stalk would give a clue about what and how their loved one would be!

Many looked into mirrors and asked the devil to show them the face of their future spouse. Trick or treating was called 'souling'. Kids went from home to home saying prayers for the souls of dead people. In return they got a soul cake, which brought them good luck and the soul, freedom from hell. 

Modern Day Fun

We always find this a good time of the year to brush up on our Halloween facts, play a few games and enjoy colorful Halloween food. Kids (and some adults too) dress up in their gory best to go trick or treating. Older family members pull out old photo albums to see old images of their kids in costumes. Some get into the decorate mode, and we end up with spider webs and skeletons floating around the house. Discussions of the costumes they had stitched or borrowed for their young are aired. It's a time when family gathers, eats and makes merry. Children hoard and hide their candy. Some make deals to exchange their surplus too!

Halloween Apps

As most festivals go, Halloween too has changed over the decades. From a strong Christian festival, it morphed into one where religion took a back seat. Today the morph continues. Kids and adults enjoy Halloween apps and digital games!

Some of the interesting Halloween apps include:

Wonster Words - This helps younger children learn their spelling in a fun way.

Ghost Lens(this one's real fun) - Add ghosts to your images and edit videos to make them look eerie.

Five Nights at Freddy's - Protect yourself through the night with just a flashlight. 

Skullduggery - This one is for those who like skulls and the afterlife. 

Weather it's an app, candy or seriously finding answers about one's beloved, Halloween is all about having fun with family and friends. Tell us how your Halloween was.