Thanksgiving: An Act of Northern Aggression感恩節(jié)：北方的文化入侵

阿里爾·克內(nèi)貝爾

In the 19th century， pumpkin pie ignited a culture war.在19世紀(jì)，南瓜派引發(fā)了一場(chǎng)文化大戰(zhàn)。

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.

在感恩節(jié)前夜，我像往年一樣彎著腰打開烤箱，輕輕地晃動(dòng)烤架，看看南瓜派的剛成形的餡料稠度是不是剛好。我的家人并沒有很喜歡南瓜派，他們更喜歡格子焦糖蘋果派或秋季芝士蛋糕。不過，每年我還是會(huì)給他們預(yù)備這款經(jīng)典的感恩節(jié)甜點(diǎn)。

每次分發(fā)南瓜派的時(shí)候，我都有機(jī)會(huì)可以跟家人分享一些鮮為人知的美國(guó)歷史。雖意在統(tǒng)一，然而對(duì)美國(guó)南方精英來說，這場(chǎng)發(fā)生在19世紀(jì)、為了將感恩節(jié)定為公立假期的運(yùn)動(dòng)實(shí)質(zhì)上是一場(chǎng)文化戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)。他們認(rèn)為這是一個(gè)北方人的節(jié)日，意在傳播新英格蘭的價(jià)值觀。南瓜派這種北方佬食物，盡管美觀可口，卻充滿了反奴隸制情緒。

關(guān)于美國(guó)感恩節(jié)的首次記載出現(xiàn)于1621年一封記錄著清教徒餐的信里。傳統(tǒng)的豐收晚餐漸漸演變成新英格蘭殖民時(shí)期清教徒對(duì)上帝獻(xiàn)上感恩的節(jié)日。18至19世紀(jì)，因?yàn)椴脱绲谋戎爻^了禱告，感恩節(jié)慶祝開始轉(zhuǎn)向世俗化。北方州長(zhǎng)們經(jīng)常在11月底或12月初宣布州范圍內(nèi)慶祝感恩節(jié)，但仍沒有定下統(tǒng)一的日期。

如果沒有北方作家薩拉·約瑟法·黑爾的努力，感恩節(jié)可能仍然是一個(gè)區(qū)域性的臨時(shí)假期，因此人們把她稱為美國(guó)感恩節(jié)的“教母”。1825年，她發(fā)起了每年給各州州長(zhǎng)寫信的活動(dòng)，要求他們集體宣布11月的最后一個(gè)星期四為感恩節(jié)。作為19世紀(jì)閱讀量最高的《戈迪淑女雜志》的主編，她用數(shù)頁(yè)版面來推動(dòng)這個(gè)全國(guó)性節(jié)日，期望它成為這個(gè)年輕而多元的國(guó)家凝聚民心的一股力量。1827年，黑爾發(fā)表了小說《諾斯伍德：新英格蘭記》，首次詳細(xì)介紹了清教徒的感恩節(jié)盛宴。她用了整整一章的篇幅記錄了這場(chǎng)宴會(huì)，并將“久負(fù)盛名的南瓜派”描述為“美好而真實(shí)的揚(yáng)基感恩節(jié)中不可或缺的一部分”。

黑爾并不是唯一一個(gè)將南瓜派與感恩節(jié)和北部傳統(tǒng)聯(lián)系在一起的人。《美國(guó)烹飪》中出現(xiàn)了兩種南瓜餅食譜，還提到了蔓越莓醬和火雞等其他感恩節(jié)熱門食品。作為第一本“美國(guó)”食譜，《美國(guó)烹飪》被稱為新英格蘭傳統(tǒng)美食的典范。此外，制作南瓜派需要來自北方的食材，如南瓜和糖蜜。隨著越來越多的州（主要是在北方）接受感恩節(jié)，南瓜派與北方傳統(tǒng)的關(guān)系密切了起來。

到了1850年代早期，黑爾的書信運(yùn)動(dòng)已持續(xù)了幾十年，令人振奮的寫信運(yùn)動(dòng)也已將感恩節(jié)的影響擴(kuò)散到了29個(gè)州。 然而同時(shí)，北方的廢奴主義情緒逐步高漲，局勢(shì)也變得緊張。很快地，黑爾燃起了把感恩節(jié)推廣到全國(guó)（甚至國(guó)外）的斗志。

南方領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人攻擊感恩節(jié)是北方人要把新英格蘭的價(jià)值觀灌輸給南方人的一次嘗試。特別是弗吉尼亞人，狠狠地報(bào)復(fù)了黑爾的運(yùn)動(dòng)。1856年《里士滿輝格黨人報(bào)》的一篇社論嚴(yán)厲批評(píng)了哥倫比亞特區(qū)“令人反感”的感恩節(jié)宣言，認(rèn)為這個(gè)節(jié)日除了剝奪了男人一天的工資和鼓勵(lì)他們酗酒之外別無作用。

幾年后，根據(jù)歷史學(xué)家梅蘭妮·柯克帕特里克的說法，弗吉尼亞州州長(zhǎng)懷斯在給黑爾的回信里提到，他不想與“這種在全國(guó)嘩眾取寵的感恩節(jié)噱頭”扯上關(guān)系，因?yàn)椤斑@個(gè)節(jié)日已經(jīng)將千萬講道壇設(shè)置成鼓吹‘基督教政治’的場(chǎng)所”。懷斯的這番陳述直指反奴政治。

盡管有來自南方的抵抗，黑爾和支持者仍繼續(xù)著他們的感恩節(jié)運(yùn)動(dòng)。最終，在美國(guó)內(nèi)戰(zhàn)期間，亞伯拉罕·林肯總統(tǒng)于1863年11月的最后一個(gè)星期四首次宣布全國(guó)范圍內(nèi)慶祝感恩節(jié)。這實(shí)際上是他當(dāng)年的第二次感恩節(jié)宣言;聯(lián)邦軍在葛底斯堡獲勝后，他也呼吁過舉辦感恩節(jié)盛宴。

然而，在他的全國(guó)感恩節(jié)宣言中，林肯并沒有單獨(dú)向聯(lián)邦軍或北方喊話。相反，他是在對(duì)整個(gè)已充滿血腥的國(guó)家發(fā)布宣言。林肯的宣言特別面向“所有在這場(chǎng)無法避免的悲慘內(nèi)戰(zhàn)中成為寡婦、孤兒、送葬者或受難者的人”。他懇求“全能的上帝伸出手來治愈國(guó)家的創(chuàng)傷”。如果林肯的意圖是將感恩節(jié)所蘊(yùn)含著的北方反奴制情緒強(qiáng)加給南部， 他并沒有在演講中表現(xiàn)出來，而演講內(nèi)容借鑒了黑爾的統(tǒng)一言論。

林肯開啟了總統(tǒng)的年度感恩節(jié)宣言傳統(tǒng)。但對(duì)于是否應(yīng)該將感恩節(jié)當(dāng)成民族身份的標(biāo)志，全國(guó)幾十年中一直無法統(tǒng)一。前邦聯(lián)軍官、德州州長(zhǎng)奧蘭·米洛·羅伯茨直到1880年代仍拒絕宣布感恩節(jié)是公眾假期。一些南方州長(zhǎng)會(huì)遵循年度總統(tǒng)宣言，但會(huì)以改動(dòng)感恩節(jié)日期的方式來抗拒民族統(tǒng)一。

當(dāng)政客們?yōu)榱思倨诘南笳髦髁x而大動(dòng)干戈時(shí)，美國(guó)民眾過起了自己的感恩節(jié)。1941年，國(guó)會(huì)正式將感恩節(jié)定為國(guó)定假日。這時(shí)，全國(guó)民眾已經(jīng)普遍接受了11月最后一個(gè)星期四的感恩節(jié)總統(tǒng)致辭，并將其視作理所當(dāng)然。事實(shí)上，在1939年，羅斯?？偨y(tǒng)將感恩節(jié)慶祝提前了一周，以便能有更多的假日購(gòu)物時(shí)間，卻遭到了公眾的反對(duì)。

南瓜派是一種標(biāo)志性的感恩節(jié)菜肴，記錄了通過這個(gè)收獲的節(jié)日對(duì)美國(guó)身份進(jìn)行定義所經(jīng)歷的斗爭(zhēng)。雖然這一傳統(tǒng)感恩節(jié)食品曾被譴責(zé)為北方飲食對(duì)美國(guó)文化的入侵，但南方做了些許調(diào)整，例如混合波旁威士忌、加入山核桃，或者將南瓜改成紅薯等。如今，南方南瓜派為美國(guó)各地的廚師和食客提供了一個(gè)機(jī)會(huì)，既能感受到南北文化的相通之處，也能體味到各自獨(dú)立的文化特色。