Life — November 1, 1906 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Thanksgiving 1908 Fortune-Telling Satire This *Life* magazine cover from November 1, 1908, presents a humorous fortune-telling theme for Thanksgiving. A fashionably dressed woman in an elegant hat and coat consults what appears to be a grid of tarot or fortune cards arranged behind her. The cards display various images: turkeys, chickens, dogs, and other figures—likely representing different fortune-telling outcomes. The satire seems to mock both the Thanksgiving holiday's traditions (the poultry imagery) and contemporary fascination with fortune-telling and spiritualism, which were popular among the upper classes. The woman's fashionable appearance suggests the joke targets wealthy society women's gullibility toward such practices. The artist's signature appears to be "Cesare Dutti" (or similar).