GoT Writings

Week 1, Day 5: Folklore genre, Story

1863 - The Year Tradition Died.
It was Martha Montgomery’s turn for the preparation of the feast. Thanksgiving demanded rabbit or squirrel, cranberries, corn, and pumpkin pie. These were traditions passed down from generation to generation. It was anticipated, it was expected, and this year it would be the year it would not be.
What should she do? No one had anything to spare. No one had anything. The only thing in abundance in this time of scarcity was children. Children were the inspiration for Martha to come up with an alternative.
Martha learned to hunt and fish as a young girl. She honed her skills over time. As did all her neighbors. The first years, the small game was plentiful and everyone had more than enough on their Thanksgiving table. Thankfully, at least to Martha, over the years the population dwindled. Martha vowed that she would not allow rabbit or squirrel on her holiday table. This would be the first year of rabbit or squirrel could not adorn the Thanksgiving table.
As she pondered her dilemma, Martha hunted up a few eggs from her old chickens. The new chicks were still too young to produce. She had to ask the older hens to work harder for just a bit longer. Taking the scrawny eggs to the mercantile, Martha was able to trade for flour, sugar and salt. Thank goodness the garden produced enough vegetables to put up stores to last through a winter. The only traditional thing this year would be a pumpkin pie.
When the family came together with their contributions in hand, Martha gathered the children together to tell them a story.
They were expecting the story of the First Thanksgiving, but this was the year where traditions died. Martha told the story of the First Montgomerys. The children sat enthralled and enraptured as Martha spun the tale of how their ancestors came to this country on the great boats, how they managed to survive in this strange land with all its hardships and foreignness. Yet the ancestors thrived and multiplied. At the anniversary of their first step onto this land, they ate a fine feast of turkey, cranberries, corn bread, and pumpkin pie. It was not a grand feast, but the Montgomerys were thankful for the promise of great bounty that would soon be coming and for the food that they had before them.
Thus, with the promise of great bounty was delivered to the willing ears of the Montgomery children, the tradition of turkey at Thanksgiving was born. There would always be hope for better days and days of plenty to look forward to.

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