Thanksgiving and football
Eine sportlich-festliche Kombination: Sport und ein voller Magen vertragen sich nicht? Thanksgiving in den USA beweist Jahr um Jahr, dass beides sehr gut zusammengeht. Schon im 19. Jahrhundert wurden an diesem Feiertag Football-Spiele ausgetragen und bis heute ist das kollektive Mitfiebern in den Stadien und an den Bildschirmen ein fester Bestandteil von Thanksgiving.
By Franziska Lange and Siobhan Bruns
Physical activity and culinary festivity
Stuffed turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie (you can find a recipe here) … Dinner tables in the US are traditionally laden with food on Thanksgiving, the holiday that started out as a harvest festival and continues to be rich with delicious offerings of the season. An aspect that doesn’t necessarily come to mind in connection with feasting but that is nonetheless closely linked with Thanksgiving is sport: Football and Thanksgiving have belonged together since the late 19th century.
Initially, high schools and colleges held football games on Thanksgiving so that fans could watch them more or less in peace and quiet on their day off. The professional teams of the National Football League (NFL) took up the idea in 1920 – and Thanksgiving had a new old tradition. From the 1930s on, people could listen to the games on the radio. Since 1953, the matches have been broadcast on television and watching football on TV is now one of the fixtures of the holiday.
| Photo: Picture Alliance
