Do you say grace before dinner?

[Crumpets]

Today is Thanksgiving. This is something I've seen in movies and on TV (probably most memorably in Iron Giant and Talladega Nights) but it's not something I've ever done, and it's not something anyone I've ever had dinner with has ever done. Probably a result of the Seattle irreligious bubble, but I'm curious if this is still something people commonly do elsewhere or if it's more a decades-old thing kept alive by popular culture.

[soundchaser]

One side of my extended family will almost certainly insist on it this evening. Hand-holding and all.

[Joe Republic]

No.

A few years ago we went over to my wife's best friend's house to celebrate her dad's 60th birthday.  As dinner was served, without warning an uncle announced we would all say grace, and suddenly everybody around the table was holding hands.  It was incredibly awkward.

[Mr. Smith]

Used to all the time, and if I visit relatives I'll let them do it.

I prefer the secular version, which is toasting now or The Simpsons-esque "rub-a-dub dub, thanks for the grub".

[Fuzzy Says: "Abolish NPR!"]

Yes.  And breakfast, lunch, and snacks as well.

It's not just being thankful.  This practice was to ask prevention from being poisoned by one's food. Worldwide, one cannot always take adequate sanitation for granted. 

[John Dule]

Never done this, never been anywhere that it was done, and never met anyone who does this.

[President Johnson]

Never. I'm atheist.

[LBJer]

Never. I'm atheist.

Same here.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

No, but I make the sign of the cross.

Family used to say grace at Thanksgiving, but there was never any handholding. Handholding is gay, and I'm NOT gay. I'm not gay.

[HillGoose]

no, u never know what might hear ur prayers

[Santander]

I've been at more dinners with toasts to the President of Israel than I have dinners where someone says grace.

[Fuzzy Says: "Abolish NPR!"]

No, but I make the sign of the cross.

Family used to say grace at Thanksgiving, but there was never any handholding. Handholding is gay, and I'm NOT gay. I'm not gay.

Handholding is a gesture of agreement.  "One can put a thousand to flight; two can put ten thousand to flight, and a three-fold cord is not easily broken."

[Vosem]

Only at special occasions with particular social groups. Perhaps a single-digit number of times a year in practice. Thanksgiving is normally one of those occasions, though — the whole point is “giving thanks”!

[Kuumo]

I never do that, and the only people I know who do are my devout evangelical Christian extended family.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Yes, always

[Joe Republic]

the whole point is “giving thanks”!

I would personally thank all the various farmers if they happened to be gathered in my dining room, but that doesn't tend to happen very often.

[Joe Republic]

Grace? She passed away 30 years ago

THE BLESSING

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

Been to three houses that do it while on exchange here, kinda weird but not a big deal to me.

[Vosem]

the whole point is “giving thanks”!

I would personally thank all the various farmers if they happened to be gathered in my dining room, but that doesn't tend to happen very often.

Nobody has to be there physically; in fact the main point is to give thanks for the arrival of the Puritans/your particular immigrant ancestors/the European colonization of the Americas generally, since you would not be enjoying the holiday if that had not happened.

[Joe Republic]

the whole point is “giving thanks”!

I would personally thank all the various farmers if they happened to be gathered in my dining room, but that doesn't tend to happen very often.

Nobody has to be there physically; in fact the main point is to give thanks for the arrival of the Puritans/your particular immigrant ancestors/the European colonization of the Americas generally, since you would not be enjoying the holiday if that had not happened.

Yeah, I get the concept, but it's still pretty weird to say thank you (or anything at all) to anybody that's not in the room or the other end of a phone line.

[Vosem]

the whole point is “giving thanks”!

I would personally thank all the various farmers if they happened to be gathered in my dining room, but that doesn't tend to happen very often.

Nobody has to be there physically; in fact the main point is to give thanks for the arrival of the Puritans/your particular immigrant ancestors/the European colonization of the Americas generally, since you would not be enjoying the holiday if that had not happened.

Yeah, I get the concept, but it's still pretty weird to say thank you (or anything at all) to anybody that's not in the room or the other end of a phone line.

It's a little weird to celebrate anything that's already happened!

[Joe Republic]

K, now you're just babbling incoherently.  Happy turkey day, friend.

[Del Tachi]

the whole point is “giving thanks”!

I would personally thank all the various farmers if they happened to be gathered in my dining room, but that doesn't tend to happen very often.

Nobody has to be there physically; in fact the main point is to give thanks for the arrival of the Puritans/your particular immigrant ancestors/the European colonization of the Americas generally, since you would not be enjoying the holiday if that had not happened.

Is that the main point?

Interesting tidbit of trivia:  the first proclamation of an annual day of thanksgiving was made by Abraham Lincoln in 1863;  it didn’t mention the pilgrims. 

Thanksgiving is a foreign Yankee imposition; it wasn’t even regularly celebrated in the South until the turn of the century.  We prefer our grand Easter and Christmas dinners (something the Puritans would shudder at.)

[Ferguson97]

I used to when I was a kid, but not anymore.

[Crumpets]

the whole point is “giving thanks”!

I would personally thank all the various farmers if they happened to be gathered in my dining room, but that doesn't tend to happen very often.

Nobody has to be there physically; in fact the main point is to give thanks for the arrival of the Puritans/your particular immigrant ancestors/the European colonization of the Americas generally, since you would not be enjoying the holiday if that had not happened.

Is that the main point?

Interesting tidbit of trivia:  the first proclamation of an annual day of thanksgiving was made by Abraham Lincoln in 1863;  it didn’t mention the pilgrims. 

Thanksgiving is a foreign Yankee imposition; it wasn’t even regularly celebrated in the South until the turn of the century.  We prefer our grand Easter and Christmas dinners (something the Puritans would shudder at.)

This is my usual comeback when someone tries to pull the "Thanksgiving celebrates genocide" line (which I have actually heard real people claim unironically in real life). If you make it part of the great melting pot of American immigration storyline, people suddenly feel much less inclined to engage in jaded virtue signaling.