Le Jour de Merci Donnant

Growing up in France, reading the International Herald Tribune, Thanksgiving was a foreign concept for many that needed a little explanation. Fortunately we had Art Buchwald to turn to for an explanation in terms that could be more easily understood.

The American community abroad always enjoyed sharing this article with their French counterparts.

Buchwald's classic 1953 column still runs in the Washington Post and International Herald Tribune, and helps explain le Jour de Merci Donnant.

Here it is in full:

One of our most important holidays is Thanksgiving Day, known in France as le Jour de Merci Donnant.

Le Jour de Merci Donnant was first started by a group of Pilgrims (Pèlerins) who fled from l'Angleterre before the McCarran Act to found a colony in the New World (le Nouveau Monde) where they could shoot Indians (les Peaux-Rouges) and eat turkey (dinde) to their heart's content.

They landed at a place called Plymouth (now a famous voiture Américaine) in a wooden sailing ship called the Mayflower (or Fleur de Mai) in 1620. But while the Pèlerins were killing the dindes, the Peaux-Rouges were killing the Pèlerins, and there were several hard winters ahead for both of them. The only way the Peaux- Rouges helped the Pèlerins was when they taught them to grow corn (maïs). The reason they did this was because they liked corn with their Pèlerins.

In 1623, after another harsh year, the Pèlerins' crops were so good that they decided to have a celebration and give thanks because more maïs was raised by the Pèlerins than Pèlerins were killed by Peaux-Rouges.

Every year on the Jour de Merci Donnant, parents tell their children an amusing story about the first celebration.

It concerns a brave capitaine named Miles Standish (known in France as Kilomètres Deboutish) and a young, shy lieutenant named Jean Alden. Both of them were in love with a flower of Plymouth called Priscilla Mullens (no translation). The vieux capitaine said to the jeune lieutenant:

"Go to the damsel Priscilla (allez très vite chez Priscilla), the loveliest maiden of Plymouth (la plus jolie demoiselle de Plymouth). Say that a blunt old captain, a man not of words but of action (un vieux Fanfan la Tulipe), offers his hand and his heart, the hand and heart of a soldier. Not in these words, you know, but this, in short, is my meaning.

"I am a maker of war (je suis un fabricant de la guerre) and not a maker of phrases. You, bred as a scholar (vous, qui êtes pain comme un étudiant), can say it in elegant language, such as you read in your books of the pleadings and wooings of lovers, such as you think best adapted to win the heart of the maiden."

Although Jean was fit to be tied (convenable à être emballé), friendship prevailed over love and he went to his duty. But instead of using elegant language, he blurted out his mission. Priscilla was muted with amazement and sorrow (rendue muette par l'étonnement et la tristesse).

At length she exclaimed, interrupting the ominous silence: "If the great captain of Plymouth is so very eager to wed me, why does he not come himself and take the trouble to woo me?" (Où est-il, le vieux Kilomètres? Pourquoi ne vient-il pas auprès de moi pour tenter sa chance?)

Jean said that Kilomètres Deboutish was very busy and didn't have time for those things. He staggered on, telling what a wonderful husband Kilomètres would make. Finally Priscilla arched her eyebrows and said in a tremulous voice, "Why don't you speak for yourself, Jean?" (Chacun à son goût.)

And so, on the fourth Thursday in November, American families sit down at a large table brimming with tasty dishes, and for the only time during the year eat better than the French do.

No one can deny that le Jour de Merci Donnant is a grande fête and no matter how well fed American families are, they never forget to give thanks to Kilomètres Deboutish, who made this great day possible.

Art Buchwald

Quote

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H. L. Mencken (1880-1956), American Satirist

New developments in fashion laws

Apparently the Dutch Government is banning Burkhas henceforth. I suppose that what will come of this measure is that certain contrary-minded Dutch girls will make it their mission to wear the things where they otherwise might wear see-through haltertops and studded leather collars. In a similar vein, I would like to suggest that the US Government ban women from wearing turtlenecks and sweaters featuring whimsical artists' renditions of prancing reindeer.......those things are demeaning both to the wearer and to the dignity of all women in this society.

1980 Redux?

Isn't it strange to see that the same week that the Democrats take back the Congress, a guy by the name of Daniel Ortega wins an election in Nicaragua? It's as if the Reagan Revolution and its aftermath are being unravelled right now. What's next? A new Soviet Union?

Now Let The Counting Commence

It has been a long day already.

The night has just begun.

I got up bright and early today and headed to the Darcy Burner campaign to help canvass, as did hundreds of other supporters. Our task: further help get out the vote.

By lunchtime I'd complete my first two precincts in Bellevue and returned back to our base for more.

Be careful what you ask for, they say. Indeed, paired up with another volunteer, Austin, we were provided with three more precincts.

Turns out these were in a the same area I canvassed on Sunday. We were checking back in with voters that still may not have voted. Since I was familiar with the streets and the voters, having talked to many of them, we were able to make quick work of the first precinct. After a stop to top off the oil levels in my car (a lot of idling can eat up an engine's oil fast), we attacked the second precinct. However, by that time it was becoming clear we wouldn't have time to complete a third precinct, so we called back to base to let them know so someone else could be assigned the area. While I did the driving, Austin jumped out at each stop to make contact with the voters. He did a great job for his first time out.

Oh, and it was raining - of course!

After eight hours of canvassing, we headed back to base and reported in.

But it isn't over yet! Volunteers continue to come in to help with last minute canvassing as people get home from work, encouraging them to head to their polling place, or to take their absentee ballots to a polling place if they haven't yet mailed it.

So now I'm watching returns come in from other races nationwide, and so far we're seeing some very promising results. Sherrod Brown winning in Ohio, Santorum losing in Pennsylvania, Webb neck and neck in Virginia, Cardin just now being projected a winner in Maryland.

Pretty soon people will be heading to the various campaign party locations, or Drinking Liberally. It is hard to say how the national scene is reflected locally, but everyone will be watching results all night, as the 8th congressional race, and many other races are expected to be very close.

Hope to see you there!

Living in Fear of Losing the Expensive Knick-Knacks

As I sit and listen to several motorized leaf-blowers going at the same time in the yards around my house, and I watch the nice new foreign sedans gliding up and down my comfortable upper middle class neighborhood, I begin to truly understand how it is that this society can have turned its back on so many of the things that had defined it previously. Americans in general used to be individualistic and ambitious while at the same time being supremely pleasant, polite and optimistic. Americans in general used to believe in the primacy of the US Constitution as a set of ground rules for the American experiment. Now those things that were once exhibited by a majority of Americans appear to be only the domain of a minority, most of whom are senior citizens. The individualism has been replaced by a herd mentality that makes the French suddenly look like 55 million Daniel Boone/Mark Twain clones. The ambition to succeed in achieving great things has been replaced by a raw, amoral desire for the trappings of wealth. The politeness has gone into hiding way deep in the countryside where, if you can get there, someone might actually still smile and say hello to you simply because that's what done. I have a Sri Lankan American friend who moved away from the DC area to West Virginia years ago to follow a job opportunity, and now he doesn't even like coming back to DC. He says that people here are mean and impolite. And then there's driving culture, Europeans used to visit this country and be absolutely dumbfounded at how courteous the driving was, now they watch themselves 'cause they don't want to get run over by some soccer Mom, or shot by some soccer mom's wacked out husband.

Could it be that Americans have consumed away their combination of independence, grit, and likeability? Could it be that on top of the fear of violence is the even greater fear of losing creature comforts, and the deepest of those fears would be losing those creature comforts while others around you appear to retain them? It seems possible. After all, where some would say that this meaner, more greedy America is the product of 9/11, I would say that previous generations lived with far more danger and precariousness than we have since 9/11 while keeping their positive, friendly, play-fair American-ness. What's different now? Being adult versions of spoilt children is what's different now. This country represents 6% of humanity with the majority of the remaining 94% being poor and without prospects. Perhaps we should all be more mindful of that and try to re-capture the spirit that put his country on the map in the first place....and that spirit did not involve the sowing of fear in one's peers for personal gain.

I think it's possible. Hey, maybe the West Virginians and Kentuckians should re-teach this country how to be more true to itself?

End of Rant. Comments welcome.

Great Words on Tyranny

I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.
Thomas Jefferson, Third US President


The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.
James Madison, US President 1809-17


If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.
James Madison, US President 1809-17


The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the party that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections.
Lord Acton, British Historian 1834-1902


While we are under the tyranny of Priests, it will ever be their interest, to invalidate the law of nature and reason, in order to establish systems incompatible therewith.
Ethan Allen, American Revolutionary War Leader


The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.
Maximilien Robespierre, French Revolutionary/Leader of the Committee for Public Safety


A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian Writer/Soviet Dissident


There is no week nor day nor hour when tyranny may not enter upon this country, if the people lose their roughness and spirit of defiance.
Walt Whitman, American Poet