In the USA the 4th Thursday of November is a holiday called Thanksgiving. Today, the holiday is a day to spend with family to give thanks for all the good that is currently happening in our lives. A large meal consisting of turkey or ham (some families serve both) is served. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, bread stuffing, rolls, and pumpkin pie are also served.
The history of Thanksgiving dates back to 1621 with the Pilgrims (some of the first settlers in the country). The Plymouth colonists, in Massachusetts, shared an autumn harvest feast with the Wampanoag Indians. This celebration was a three-day event that happened sometime between September 21 and November 11. The holiday was based on the English harvest festival.
The items on the menu for the first Thanksgiving feast included some of the following: cod, eel, clams, lobster, wild turkey, goose, duck, Indian corn, pumpkin, peas, plums, grapes, walnuts, chestnuts, and acorns. Most of the traditional foods today weren’t on the menu.
The Continental Congress first suggested Thanksgiving as a yearly national holiday during the American Revolution. In 1817, New York State adopted Thanksgiving Day as an annual custom. However, it wasn’t until 1863 when President Lincoln appointed Thanksgiving as the last Thursday in November. This date correlated with the November 21, 1621 anchoring of the Mayflower (the boat the Pilgrims sailed on) in Massachusetts. Finally, in 1941 the US Congress and President Franklin Roosevelt set the date for Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November.
Do you have any similar holidays in your country?