Thanksgiving is one of the biggest holidays in the US, if not the biggest. It’s a time for family, for appreciating everything we have in our lives, for giving thanks. And for SEX. Yes, seriously. What most people don’t know is that Thanksgiving is actually a holiday with its roots firmly steeped in sensuality and sex.
This year, we want to show people just how sexy Thanksgiving really is.
Reason 1: Pilgrims & Puritans
You might think the Pilgrims were a puritanical community of sexually repressed people, but that’s really not true at all.
First, the puritans were not sexually repressed, not in the slightest. They openly praised sex in a married relationship, as sex was considered a gift from God. A gift they made good use of. Once the pilgrims landed in what is now known as New England, the population boomed and increased by more than 30 times its starting number in just 100 years, from 21,000 people to over 700,000.
But more interestingly, if a woman wasn’t sexually satisfied with her husband she could file for divorce, with 1 out of every 6 divorces being a direct result of male impotence.
Reason 2: A Harvest Festival of Fertility
Thanksgiving commemorates an age-old harvest festival celebrated by the Pilgrim Fathers in 1621, and is held in the US on the fourth Thursday in November. A similar holiday is held in Canada, usually on the second Monday in October but did you know Thanksgiving was actually celebrated all around the world, well before the Puritans’ time? The origins of Thanksgiving go back even before Christianity, where fertility gods were worshipped during the feasts at the harvest festivals, by the Saxons, the Celts, the Romans and even the Greeks.
Reason 3: The Feast of Aphrodisiacs
For many the best part of Thanksgiving is the dinner. But believe it or not the foods that are traditionally eaten at a typical American Thanksgiving dinner are major aphrodisiacs.
- Clams and other shellfish that resembled female intimate parts have long been a part of the Thanksgiving diet. In 2005, a group of Italian and American scientists released the findings of a study claiming that amino acids found in bivalves, (oysters, mussels and scallops as well as clams), have the potential to raise sexual hormone levels.
- Sweet potatoes are said to increase female sex drive. Although a plate of mashed potatoes today hardly seems sexually stimulating, potatoes – and sweet potatoes in particular – were hailed as aphrodisiacs when they were first introduced to the European palate, probably because they were such a rare delicacy at the time.
- What’s a Thanksgiving table without some male aphrodisiacs as well? According to Alan Hirsch, a neurologist at Chicago’s Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, the aroma of pumpkin pie increases blood flow to the penis by 40 percent.
Reason 4: All the Saucy 1950’s Vintage Ads Say So
Even as recent as the 1950’s, our more conservative forefathers and foremothers still treated Thanksgiving as a highly sexualised holiday. From scantily clad women, to sexy pilgrims and naughty turkeys, the nations ads campaigns were all a touch on the raunchier side. Even Marilyn Monroe helped to ad some sizzle to Thanksgiving.
Reason 5: The Turkey and the Trimmings
The proof is normally in the pudding, but for Thanksgiving it’s clearly the turkey that holds the proof. Sometime during the 19th Century Americans added turkey to the menu. While not an aphrodisiac in the true sense, it is a very sexy food. Breasts… thighs… stuffing… it’s basically food porn.
