What role have children played in Thanksgiving celebrations?
MFB: On the heels of masquerading men, children dressed up in costumes and went door to door asking for treats much as children do on Halloween today. This Thanksgiving ritual did not last long, however. Early in the twentieth century, reformers and school teachers encouraged students instead to write festive poems and plays and to draw pictures of turkeys, pumpkins, and Pilgrims. These school projects that were about American history, culture, and customs provided children of immigrant families with a new role as transmitters of history and tradition. Though adults typically transmit customs—especially those who tell family stories on Thanksgivings—it has been the children of immigrants who instructed their parents in American customs. So new customs became part of the family’s life in addition to the customs of the country from which they came. While some adults have found Thanksgiving rituals alien to their own ethnic traditions, others have incorporated new customs in a process of
