The day after Halloween, candy goes on sale, pumpkins are thrown away, and the Christmas carols begin. We skip right over Thanksgiving and dive straight into the season of giving and receiving. While everyone loves the decorations, food, and songs of Christmas, there is an unanswered question: why are there no Thanksgiving songs? We have decorations, although they’re quite minimal compared to Christmas decorations, and we definitely have the food! (It’s nicknamed “Turkey Day” for a reason.) There are no songs about Thanksgiving other than made-up songs for Preschool… or are there?

Did you know that the song “Jingle Bells” was written to be a Thanksgiving song? In 1850, James Lord Pierpont was at the Simpson Tavern in Medford, Massachusetts, when Medford’s famous sleigh races to Malden Square went by. The story goes that Pierpont then plucked out the famous song on the tavern owner’s piano because he wanted to play something for Thanksgiving at his Sunday school class in Boston. The song wasn’t just popular with the kids; adults loved it too! In fact, they loved it so much that they altered the lyrics to “One Horse Open Sleigh” (which was the original name) and used it for Christmas. The song was published in 1857.

What is the reason as to why “Jingle Bells” became a Christmas song? No one really knows; perhaps people thought it was too jolly for Thanksgiving and decided to change it? We may not know the reason behind why “Jingle Bells” was changed to a Christmas song, but we could certainly break tradition! This Thanksgiving, after everyone has finished their meal, gather around the piano and play a lovely round of “Jingle Bells.” Happy Thanksgiving!