Thanksgiving: An Act of Northern Aggression感恩节：北方的文化入侵

阿里尔·克内贝尔

In the 19th century， pumpkin pie ignited a culture war.在19世紀，南瓜派引发了一场文化大战。

The night before Thanksgiving， I routinely find myself bent over the hot oven， gently shaking the racks to check for the jiggle1 of just-set custard2 in my pumpkin pie. My family doesn’t even like pumpkin pie that much; they prefer a latticed caramel-apple pie or an autumnal cheesecake. Still， I bake the definitive Thanksgiving dessert every year.

Each time I serve pumpkin pie， I get to share a little known slice of American history. Although meant to unify people， the 19th-century campaign to make Thanksgiving a permanent holiday was seen by prominent Southerners as a culture war. They considered it a Northern holiday intended to force New England values on the rest of the country. To them， pumpkin pie， a Yankee3 food， was a deviously sweet symbol of anti-slavery sentiment.

The first account of American Thanksgiving is a letter written about the Pilgrim’s meal in 1621. The holiday evolved from a traditional harvest supper to a Puritan day of gratitude to God in colonial New England. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries， it further changed into a more secular celebration as the feasting portion overtook prayer. Northern governors often declared state-wide thanksgiving days. They were usually in late November or early December， but there was no unified national holiday.

Thanksgiving may have remained a regional， ad-hoc4 holiday if not for the efforts of Sarah Josepha Hale， a Northern writer who is often considered the “Godmother” of American Thanksgiving. In 1825， she initiated annual letter-writing campaigns to governors asking that they collectively declare the final Thursday of November a celebration of thanksgiving. As the editor of Godey’s Lady Book5， the most widely read magazine of the 19th century， she devoted pages of editorial space to pitching the national holiday as a unifying force in a young and diverse nation. Her 1827 novel， Northwood： A Tale of New England， gives the first detailed account of the Puritan Thanksgiving feast. She dedicates an entire chapter to the meal， in which she describes the “celebrated pumpkin pie” as “an indispensable part of a good and true Yankee Thanksgiving.”

Hale was not the only one to associate pumpkin pie with Thanksgiving and Northern tradition. Two pumpkin pie recipes appear in American Cookery， alongside other Thanksgiving favorites such as cranberry sauce and turkey. Considered the first “American” cookbook， American Cookery is known as an example of traditional New England fare6. Plus， pumpkin pie calls for Northern ingredients such as squash and molasses7. As more states—mainly in the North—recognized Thanksgiving， the pie became closely associated with Northern tradition.

Hale’s cheerful， relentless， and decades-long campaign spread Thanksgiving to 29 states by the early 1850s. But simultaneously， tension was growing over the strengthening abolitionist sentiment in the North. Soon enough， this ignited Hale’s goal of a nationwide （or even trans-national） Thanksgiving.

Southern leaders attacked Thanksgiving as the North’s attempt to impart Yankee values on the South. Virginians， especially， retaliated against Hale’s campaign. In 1856， the Richmond Whig published a scathing editorial on the District of Columbia’s “repugnant” declaration of thanksgiving， arguing that the holiday did nothing but rob men of a day’s wages and encourage drunkenness.

A few years later， according to historian Melanie Kirkpatrick， Governor Wise of Virginia answered letters from Hale by telling her he wanted nothing to do with “this theatrical national claptrap8 of Thanksgiving， which has aided other causes in setting thousands of pulpits9 to preaching ‘Christian politics.’” Wise’s statement directly referred to anti-slavery politics.

Despite Southern resistance， Hale and other Thanksgiving proponents continued to campaign. Eventually， in the midst of the Civil War， President Abraham Lincoln declared the first national Thanksgiving on the final Thursday in November of 1863. This was actually his second thanksgiving proclamation of that year; he also called for a thanksgiving feast after the Union10 victory at Gettysburg.

In his national Thanksgiving proclamation， however， Lincoln did not speak to the Union or the North alone. Instead， he addressed the whole of the bloodied nation. Lincoln’s proclamation specifically called out “all those who have become widows， orphans， mourners， or sufferers， in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged.” He implored “the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation.” If Lincoln intended to impose Thanksgiving’s Northern， anti-slavery connotations on the South， it did not appear in his speech， which drew on Hale’s unifying rhetoric.

Lincoln set an annual tradition of presidential Thanksgiving proclamations. But for decades， the country grappled11 over Thanksgiving as a marker of national identity. In Texas， Governor Oran Milo Roberts， a former Confederate army officer， refused to declare Thanksgiving a holiday as late as the 1880s. Some Southern governors would follow the annual presidential proclamations， but move the date of Thanksgiving to resist its message of national unity.

As politicians fought over the symbolism of the holiday， Americans made Thanksgiving celebrations their own. In 1941， Congress officially made Thanksgiving a national holiday. By this time， presidential declarations of Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November were not only commonly accepted across the country， but expected. In fact， in 1939， President Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving one week earlier to allow for more holiday shopping time， and the public turned against him.

Pumpkin pie is an iconic Thanksgiving dish， and a symbol of the struggle to define American identity through the harvest holiday. While the traditional version was once decried12 as an invasion of Northern foodways13 on American culture， Southern adaptations such as mixing in bourbon， adding pecans， or swapping out squash for sweet potato now create an opportunity for cooks and diners across America to feel both connected and culturally independent.

在感恩节前夜，我像往年一样弯着腰打开烤箱，轻轻地晃动烤架，看看南瓜派的刚成形的馅料稠度是不是刚好。我的家人并没有很喜欢南瓜派，他们更喜欢格子焦糖苹果派或秋季芝士蛋糕。不过，每年我还是会给他们预备这款经典的感恩节甜点。

每次分发南瓜派的时候，我都有机会可以跟家人分享一些鲜为人知的美国历史。虽意在统一，然而对美国南方精英来说，这场发生在19世纪、为了将感恩节定为公立假期的运动实质上是一场文化战争。他们认为这是一个北方人的节日，意在传播新英格兰的价值观。南瓜派这种北方佬食物，尽管美观可口，却充满了反奴隶制情绪。

关于美国感恩节的首次记载出现于1621年一封记录着清教徒餐的信里。传统的丰收晚餐渐渐演变成新英格兰殖民时期清教徒对上帝献上感恩的节日。18至19世纪，因为餐宴的比重超过了祷告，感恩节庆祝开始转向世俗化。北方州长们经常在11月底或12月初宣布州范围内庆祝感恩节，但仍没有定下统一的日期。

如果没有北方作家萨拉·约瑟法·黑尔的努力，感恩节可能仍然是一个区域性的临时假期，因此人们把她称为美国感恩节的“教母”。1825年，她发起了每年给各州州长写信的活动，要求他们集体宣布11月的最后一个星期四为感恩节。作为19世纪阅读量最高的《戈迪淑女杂志》的主编，她用数页版面来推动这个全国性节日，期望它成为这个年轻而多元的国家凝聚民心的一股力量。1827年，黑尔发表了小说《诺斯伍德：新英格兰记》，首次详细介绍了清教徒的感恩节盛宴。她用了整整一章的篇幅记录了这场宴会，并将“久负盛名的南瓜派”描述为“美好而真实的扬基感恩节中不可或缺的一部分”。

黑尔并不是唯一一个将南瓜派与感恩节和北部传统联系在一起的人。《美国烹饪》中出现了两种南瓜饼食谱，还提到了蔓越莓酱和火鸡等其他感恩节热门食品。作为第一本“美国”食谱，《美国烹饪》被称为新英格兰传统美食的典范。此外，制作南瓜派需要来自北方的食材，如南瓜和糖蜜。随着越来越多的州（主要是在北方）接受感恩节，南瓜派与北方传统的关系密切了起来。

到了1850年代早期，黑尔的书信运动已持续了几十年，令人振奋的写信运动也已将感恩节的影响扩散到了29个州。 然而同时，北方的废奴主义情绪逐步高涨，局势也变得紧张。很快地，黑尔燃起了把感恩节推广到全国（甚至国外）的斗志。

南方领导人攻击感恩节是北方人要把新英格兰的价值观灌输给南方人的一次尝试。特别是弗吉尼亚人，狠狠地报复了黑尔的运动。1856年《里士满辉格党人报》的一篇社论严厉批评了哥伦比亚特区“令人反感”的感恩节宣言，认为这个节日除了剥夺了男人一天的工资和鼓励他们酗酒之外别无作用。

几年后，根据历史学家梅兰妮·柯克帕特里克的说法，弗吉尼亚州州长怀斯在给黑尔的回信里提到，他不想与“这种在全国哗众取宠的感恩节噱头”扯上关系，因为“这个节日已经将千万讲道坛设置成鼓吹‘基督教政治’的场所”。怀斯的这番陈述直指反奴政治。

尽管有来自南方的抵抗，黑尔和支持者仍继续着他们的感恩节运动。最终，在美国内战期间，亚伯拉罕·林肯总统于1863年11月的最后一个星期四首次宣布全国范围内庆祝感恩节。这实际上是他当年的第二次感恩节宣言;联邦军在葛底斯堡获胜后，他也呼吁过举办感恩节盛宴。

然而，在他的全国感恩节宣言中，林肯并没有单独向联邦军或北方喊话。相反，他是在对整個已充满血腥的国家发布宣言。林肯的宣言特别面向“所有在这场无法避免的悲惨内战中成为寡妇、孤儿、送葬者或受难者的人”。他恳求“全能的上帝伸出手来治愈国家的创伤”。如果林肯的意图是将感恩节所蕴含着的北方反奴制情绪强加给南部， 他并没有在演讲中表现出来，而演讲内容借鉴了黑尔的统一言论。

林肯开启了总统的年度感恩节宣言传统。但对于是否应该将感恩节当成民族身份的标志，全国几十年中一直无法统一。前邦联军官、德州州长奥兰·米洛·罗伯茨直到1880年代仍拒绝宣布感恩节是公众假期。一些南方州长会遵循年度总统宣言，但会以改动感恩节日期的方式来抗拒民族统一。

当政客们为了假期的象征主义而大动干戈时，美国民众过起了自己的感恩节。1941年，国会正式将感恩节定为国定假日。这时，全国民众已经普遍接受了11月最后一个星期四的感恩节总统致辞，并将其视作理所当然。事实上，在1939年，罗斯福总统将感恩节庆祝提前了一周，以便能有更多的假日购物时间，却遭到了公众的反对。

南瓜派是一种标志性的感恩节菜肴，记录了通过这个收获的节日对美国身份进行定义所经历的斗争。虽然这一传统感恩节食品曾被谴责为北方饮食对美国文化的入侵，但南方做了些许调整，例如混合波旁威士忌、加入山核桃，或者将南瓜改成红薯等。如今，南方南瓜派为美国各地的厨师和食客提供了一个机会，既能感受到南北文化的相通之处，也能体味到各自独立的文化特色。