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Thanksgiving Time Determined By Humble SquashLong before the Pilgrims celebrated Thangsgiving, the American Indians gathered in village ceremonial to solemnize the harvest of corn, beans, and the ripened squashes.It was the squash that set thetime for the all important dance and feast of the autumnal Thanksgiving, says Dr. Erl Bates, advisor on Indian extension, Cornell University. Each village had its medicine man who with God-given wisdom watched the white stripe widen on the side of the dark green squashes.When this stripe measured one-half the width of the second joint of the index finger, the Indians knew that the squash could beREFRIGERATORS - WASHERS Ranges - Var jums - Radios Bought-Sold-Rented-RepairedELECTRIC SERVANT CO.73 So. Broadway, Yonkers, N. Y. Yonkers 3-7146 Bronxville 2-0082 Est 1922lvsafely placed in pits in the groundfor use in the long wintry moons.Thus now for nearly 4000 years,the ripened squash has stirredthe hearts of grateful white as well as red Americans to family council, feast, and prayers of Thanksgiving.Pumpkin growing was not widespread among the Indians, DeSoto found them eating pumpkins in Florida in 1542, and early explorers among the Omaha write of the Indians drying strips of pumpkin. Among Indians of the Canadian Rockies, dried pumpkin is still used in bear traps. However, it would appear that pumpkin pie is a creation of the Yankee and Hoosier housewife. One of the inducements to join thresher crews in early Tennessee was a whole pumpkin pie for each thresherman.Whether the Indian brought the squash seed from his ancestral home in Northern India is doubtful, but it is doubtless true that pumpkins and at least two types of squashes are natives of the New World. It is likely that as the ice sheet crept northward, the red man followed with his corn, beans, and squashes. As the season lengthened enough to allow for the maturity of these food staples, he ceased to be no-•vmad and established permanentvillages. This theory of the determination of man’s advent in this continent is being developed by Dr. Bates and his associates at Ithaca and Geneva, working on ancient Indian types of agricultural products.Roast turkey, mashed potatoes, baked squash, and pumpkin pie were named by a Farmers Almanac of 1806 as the essentials of the Thanksgiving feast. As Dr. Bates recently said, “all these are Indian gifts. Add the red man’s deep sense of gratitude to the Giver of all gifts, and we all become better Americans.'’AID PAWLING VICTORYAlexander Ada Jr. and Evan Andersen, both of Bronxville, were two of the defensive stalwarts in Trinity-Pawling school’s 4-1 soccer victory over the Dar-row School of New Lebanon, N. Y. on Saturday. Ada has been varsity goalie for the past two seasons while Andersen, a first year man, has developed into a hard-kicking fullback.FONTAINE RE-ELECTEDR. Carlton Fontaine, Bronxville, was re-elected Commodore of the Huguenot Yacht Club at the annual meeting of the club last week at the clubhouse on Harbor Lane, New Rochelle.71
Newspaper Details
Bronxville Reporter
Bronxville, New York, US
Thu, Nov 24, 1949
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Marlene L.
USA 27 Jan 2025
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