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July 05, 2008
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Thanksgiving History
Thanksgiving Day in the United States is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. The custom of celebrating the harvest goes back to ancient times and remains a widespread custom.
Thanksgiving Day commemorates the celebration held in 1621 after the first harvest by the Plymouth Colony. The Pilgrims who traveled from England on the Mayflower landed on December 21, 1620. The harsh winter claimed about half their number. The local Wampanoag Indians, who were friendly to the newcomers, furnished seeds and taught them how to plant corn. The corn and the crops grown from the seeds they had brought with them produced a bountiful harvest. Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day to celebrate the harvest. The celebration brought together the colonists and the Indians, who were led by their chief Massasoit. The colonists provided water fowl, wild turkey and fish. The Indians contributed deer to the feast.
The tradition of observing a day of thanksgiving spread throughout the colonies, but was celebrated on different dates.
In 1789 President George Washington proclaimed a National Thanksgiving Day in honor of the new United States Constitution.
In 1846 Sarah Josepha Hale, the editor of a magazine called Godey’s Lady’s Book, began a campaign to have the last Thursday in November designated as a national Thanksgiving Day. Her campaign resulted in victory in 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln decided that the national Thanksgiving Day would be held on the last Thursday in November.
In 1941 Congress named the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day, which is not always the last Thursday in November.
Today Thanksgiving Day is a time for family and friends to come together to count their blessings by sharing an elaborate meal including turkey and pumpkin pie, to watch parades and football games and to get ready to begin their Christmas shopping.
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