Who invented Thanksgiving?

Was it the Pilgrims, those few dozen astonishing people who fought hardship and disease—who survived fear and loneliness—to plant the seeds of America? Their "first Thanksgiving" (for which the Indians supplied the deer meat) is certainly the most famous in history.

But Thanksgiving is far older than that. In England, where the Pilgrims came from, English farmers had been celebrating Harvest Home for many hundreds of years. Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Greeks and Romans, and by the ancient Hebrews. In China, Thanksgiving was celebrated as the birthday of the moon.

The Thanksgiving Book tells the story of these and other unusual Thanksgiving celebrations spanning the centuries and circling the globe. It tells about the delicious foods of the holiday, their interesting origins, and how to cook them. Recipes range from traditional favorites to unusual, easy-to-make dishes like Popcorn Cake Mennonite, West African Yam Soup, Cranberry Ice Cream, and Molasses Pie Neversink.

Brimming with beautiful prints and woodcuts, this is another exhaustively researched, delightfully written collection of history, facts, and folklore by the author of The Colonial Cookbook and The Honey Book. From Hawaii to India, from Ghana to Poland and Japan, The Thanksgiving Book evokes not only fascinating superstitions and rituals; the fun, games, and feasting; but also the joyous and reverent spirit of Thanksgivings everywhere. Most of all, it shows how—in many of the things we do, as in many of the foods we eat—our Thanksgiving celebration joins us with all of humanity who came before us, who planted and harvested, who made merry in their time.

From the dust jacket