What Everyone Should Know About Thanksgiving

What Everyone Should Know About Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of the biggest public holidays in the U.S calendar and although many British people are aware of the holiday, few actually understand what Thanksgiving is about.

Although thought of as an American celebration only, the holiday is also a major to-do in Canada although held at a slightly different time.

The very first "Thanksgiving" celebration is said to have been held in 1621 and traditionally an extension to the English harvest festival celebration. Other historians suggest that the earlier celebrations were held as far back as 1578 in Canada and 1565 by Spanish explorers in Florida.

Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States while in Canada, it falls on the second Monday in October.

In essence, Thanksgiving is believed to primarily be a harvest festival celebration when relations gather to celebrate a bountiful harvest and pay thanks to the gods. The tradition is said to have started when Native Americans assisted the first Pilgrims through the first harsh winter and showed them how to sow crops, fish and live off the land.

The history of Thanksgiving demonstrates that feasts were held throughout the colonies after fall harvests. Celebrations in the thirteen colonies however did not celebrate Thanksgiving at the same time. It wasn't until during the American Civil War that President Abraham Lincoln, looking for ways to bring the nation together, gave his Thanksgiving Proclamation declaring the last Thursday in November a day of Thanksgiving.

In 1939, 1940, and 1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt, seeking to lengthen the Christmas shopping season, proclaimed Thanksgiving the third Thursday in November. Controversy ensued, and Congress passed a joint resolution in 1941 decreeing that Thanksgiving should fall on the fourth Thursday of November, where it remains.

Thanksgiving today is a holiday where family and friends congregate to catch up, reminisce, tell jokes, share food and generally give thanks for all the good things in life, pretty much as the first pilgrims did at the very first Thanksgiving.

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