Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the
fourth Thursday in November in the United States.
By the fall of 1621 only half of the
pilgrims, who had sailed on the Mayflower, survived. The survivors, thankful to
be alive, decided to give a thanksgiving feast.
Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the
second Monday in October in Canada.
The Plymouth Pilgrims were the first to
celebrate the Thanksgiving.
The pilgrims arrived in North America in
December 1620.
The Pilgrims sailed across the Atlantic
Ocean to reach North America.
The pilgrims sailed on the ship, which was
known by the name of 'Mayflower'.
They celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day
in the fall of 1621.
The pilgrims did not serve pumpkin pie,
Rather, they made stewed pumpkin at the first Thanksgiving feast.
They celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day
at Plymouth, Massachusetts.
The drink that the Puritans brought with
them in the Mayflower was the beer.
The Wampanoag Indians were the people who
taught the Pilgrims how to cultivate the land.
The Pilgrim leader, Governor William
Bradford, had organized the first Thanksgiving feast in the year 1621 and
invited the neighboring Wampanoag Indians also to the feast.
The first Thanksgiving feast was held in
the presence of around ninety Wampanoag Indians and the Wampanoag chief,
Massasoit, was also invited there.
The first Thanksgiving celebration lasted
three days.
President George Washington issued the
first national Thanksgiving Day Proclamation in the year 1789 and again in 1795.
The state of New York officially made
Thanksgiving Day an annual custom in 1817.
Sarah Josepha Hale, an editor with a
magazine, started a Thanksgiving campaign in 1827 and it was result of her
efforts that in 1863 Thanksgiving was observed as a day for national
thanksgiving and prayer.
Abraham Lincoln issued a 'Thanksgiving
Proclamation' on third October 1863 and officially set aside the last Thursday
of November as the national day for Thanksgiving. Whereas earlier the
presidents used to make an annual proclamation to specify the day when
Thanksgiving was to be held.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt restored
Thursday before last of November as Thanksgiving Day in the year 1939. He did
so to make the Christmas shopping season longer and hus stimulate the economy
of the state.
Congress passed an official proclamation in
1941 and declared that now onwards Thanksgiving will be observed as a legal
holiday on the fourth Thursday of November every year.
At the original Thanksgiving, there was no
milk, cheese, bread, butter, mashed potatoes, corn or pumpkin pie.
It has been estimated that 88% of Americans
eat turkey at Thanksgiving.
The famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
began in the 1920’s.
According to Guinness World Records, the
largest pumpkin pie ever baked was 12 feet in diameter and 2,020 pounds.