Thanksgiving is a day marked by feasts and family gatherings. It is celebrated as an annual holiday in the United States and Canada. It takes place on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States and on the second Monday in October in Canada. Several other countries, including Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Laos, Liberia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and Grenada have Thanksgiving celebrations as well.

Origins of the holiday

The Pilgrims of the Plymouth colony held the first Thanksgiving in 1621. They had landed in America on their ship the Mayflower on December 21, 1620. Only half of them survived that first winter. The next year, the harvest in the fall was good. They had 20 acres of corn because the Native Americans had given them corn kernels to grow. They also had barley and plenty of meat. Ninety Native Americans, with their chief, Massasoit, enjoyed a three-day feast with the colonists to celebrate their good harvest.

Thanksgiving becomes a national holiday

Sarah Josepha Hale, the editor of a popular women's magazine, led the effort to have Thanksgiving become a national celebration. Beginning in 1846, she sent letters to the president and state governors to have the last Thursday in November made a national holiday. She picked that date because on the last Thursday of that month (November 26) in 1789, George Washington had proclaimed a “National Thanksgiving Day” in honor of the new United States Constitution.

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving. Every president who followed him continued the tradition. In December 1941, Congress officially named the fourth Thursday in November (which is not always the last Thursday) as Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving in Canada

The first Thanksgiving Day in Canada was observed at Port Royal, Nova Scotia, in 1710, when the town and fort passed into English hands for the last time. A national Thanksgiving Day was celebrated in Canada in 1879. In 1931 the second Monday in October was named the Canadian Thanksgiving Day.

How Thanksgiving is celebrated

Thanksgiving is celebrated in both countries with turkey feasts. It is a time for family and friends to come together and remember the good things in their lives. In the United States, Thanksgiving Day parades and football games have become important traditions as well.