From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For Thanksgiving observances in other countries, see
Thanksgiving.
| Thanksgiving |
The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth
by Jennie A. Brownscombe. (1914) |
| Observed by |
United States |
| Type |
National |
| Date |
Fourth Thursday in November |
| 2010 date |
November 25 |
| 2011 date |
November 24 |
| 2012 date |
November 22 |
| Celebrations |
Giving thanks, spending time with family, feasting, football games, parades |
Thanksgiving or
Thanksgiving Day, celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, has officially been an annual tradition in the
United States since 1863, when during the
Civil War, President
Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday,
November 26.
[1] As a
federal and
popular holiday in the U.S., Thanksgiving is one of the "big six" major holidays of the year (along with
Christmas,
New Year's Day,
Memorial Day,
Independence Day, and
Labor Day). Together with Christmas and the New Year, Thanksgiving is a part of the broader
holiday season.
The event that Americans commonly call the "First Thanksgiving" was celebrated to give
thanks to God for guiding them safely to the New World.
[2] The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three days, providing enough food for 13 Pilgrims and 90
Native Americans.
[3] The feast consisted of
fish (
cod,
eels, and
bass) and shellfish (
clams,
lobster, and
mussels), wild
fowl (
ducks,
geese,
swans, and
turkey),
venison,
berries and
fruit,
vegetables (
peas,
pumpkin,
beetroot and possibly,
wild or cultivated
onion), harvest grains (
barley and
wheat), and the
Three Sisters:
beans, dried Indian
maize or corn, and
squash.
[2][4][5][6] The New England colonists were accustomed to regularly celebrating "thanksgivings"—
days of prayer thanking God for blessings such as military victory or the end of a drought.
[7]
Source
