Facts about Thanksgiving
Much like its American counterpart, Canada's top professional football league, the Canadian Football League, holds a nationally televised doubleheader known as the "Thanksgiving Day Classic."
In America, Thanksgiving dinner is held on this day, usually as a gathering of family members and friends.
American football is often a major part of Thanksgiving celebrations in the United States, begun with the match between Yale University and Princeton University in 1876.
Don Juan de Oсate ordered his expedition party to rest and conducted a mass in celebration of thanksgiving on April 30, 1598.
First and foremost, baked or roasted turkey is usually the featured item on any Thanksgiving feast table (so much so that Thanksgiving is sometimes referred to as "Turkey Day").
The traditional Thanksgiving feast shared among family, friends, and the extended community is a significant gathering that reinforces the founding concepts of the celebration.
The National Football League has played games on Thanksgiving every year since its creation; the tradition is referred to as the Thanksgiving Classic.
At the time this celebration was not regarded as a Thanksgiving observance; harvest festivals were existing parts of English and Wampanoag tradition alike.
No Thanksgiving proclamations were issued by Thomas Jefferson but James Madison renewed the tradition in 1814, in response to resolutions of Congress, at the close of the War of 1812.
The Friday after Thanksgiving is popularly known as Black Friday, so-called because of the heavy shopping traffic on that day.
The Dallas Cowboys have hosted every Thanksgiving Day since 1966, with the exception of 1975 and 1977 when the then-St. Louis Cardinals hosted.
Berkeley Plantation continues to be the site of an annual Thanksgiving event to this day.
The U.S. Congress in 1941 passed a bill requiring that Thanksgiving be observed annually on the fourth Thursday of November, which was sometimes the last Thursday and sometimes (less frequently) the next to last.
The Friday after Thanksgiving, although not a Federal holiday, is often a company holiday for many in the U.S. workforce, except for those in retail.
In 1940, in which November had four Thursdays, he declared the third one as Thanksgiving.
The date and location of the first Thanksgiving celebration is a topic of modest contention.
Thanksgiving was originally a religious observance for all the members of the community to give thanks to God for a common purpose.
After the Seven Years' War ended in 1763 handing over New France to the British, the citizens of Halifax held a special day of Thanksgiving.
Frobisher's feast was one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in North America, although celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful bounty of crops had been a long-standing tradition before the arrival of Europeans.
Starting in 1879, Thanksgiving Day was observed every year, but the date was proclaimed annually and changed year to year.
George Washington, leader of the revolutionary forces in the American Revolutionary War, proclaimed a Thanksgiving in December 1777 as a victory celebration honoring the defeat of the British General Burgoyne at Saratoga.
On Thanksgiving Day families and friends usually gather for a large meal, the result being that the Thanksgiving holiday weekend is one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
Leaving for American in 1619, they took the Thanksgiving custom with them, adding a greater religious component found in the Bible regarding how to celebrate Sukkot.
Certain kinds of food are traditionally served at Thanksgiving meals.
During the eighteenth century, individual colonies commonly observed days of thanksgiving throughout each year in honor of a military victory, an adoption of a state constitution, or an exceptionally bountiful crop.
Our people have prospered, our nation has grown, our Thanksgiving traditions have evolved—after all, they didn't have football back then.
The 1940 Bald Eagle Protection Act in the U.S., which protected the Bald Eagle and the golden eagle, prohibited commercial trapping and killing of the birds.
Thanksgiving is a statutory holiday in most jurisdictions of Canada, with the provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia being exceptions.
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day (Canadian French: Jour d'action de grвce), occurs on the second Monday in October.
Vermont C. Royster's "And the Fair Land" and "The Desolate Wilderness" have been the Wall Street Journal's traditional Thanksgiving editorials since he wrote them in 1961.
A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed—to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October.
Partaking in the customary Thanksgiving turkey and accompanying dishes symbolizes partaking in the bounty of the harvest.
On December 26 of that year President Roosevelt signed this bill, for the first time making the date of Thanksgiving a matter of federal law.
Irregular Thanksgivings continued after favorable events and days of fasting after unfavorable ones.
Religious and spiritual organizations offer services and events on Thanksgiving themes the week-end before, the day of, or the week-end after Thanksgiving.
The Pilgrims did not hold a true Thanksgiving until 1623, when it followed a drought, prayers for rain, and a subsequent rain shower.
The secular Thanksgiving holiday also coincides with the start of the four week Advent season before Christmas in the Western Christian church calendars.
The American Football League also had a Thanksgiving Classic since its founding in 1960, with its eight founding teams rotating one game each year (two games after the AFL-NFL merger).
During the American Revolutionary War the Continental Congress appointed one or more thanksgiving days each year, each time recommending to the executives of the various states the observance of these days in their states.
To feed the needy, most communities have annual food drives that collect non-perishable packaged and canned foods, and corporations sponsor charitable distributions of staple foods and Thanksgiving dinners.
Cable stations usually carry marathons of their popular shows on Thanksgiving day.
Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day had its origins in a harvest festival to thank God for the bounty of the autumn harvest.
One of Europe's largest Thanksgiving Day services is held in Leiden’s fifteenth-century Gothic church.
Stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet corn, other fall vegetables, and pumpkin pie are commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner.
Today, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and on on the second Monday of October in Canada.
At the time, advertising goods for Christmas before Thanksgiving was considered inappropriate.
In celebrations at home, it is a holiday tradition in many families to begin the Thanksgiving dinner by saying grace.
A thanksgiving day was annually appointed by the governor of New York from 1817.
November had five Thursdays that year, and Roosevelt declared the fourth Thursday (November 23) as Thanksgiving rather than the fifth one.
The first Thanksgiving Day after Canadian Confederation was observed as a civic holiday on April 5, 1872 to celebrate the recovery of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) from a serious illness.
The Detroit Lions have hosted a game every Thanksgiving Day since 1934, with the exception of 1939–1944 (due to World War II).
After World War I, both Armistice Day and Thanksgiving were celebrated on the Monday of the week in which November 11 occurred.
Frobisher's Thanksgiving was not for harvest but homecoming; having safely returned from his search for the Northwest Passage, avoiding the later fate of Henry Hudson and Sir John Franklin.
Thanksgiving days were observed beginning in 1799, but did not occur every year.
The history of Thanksgiving in Canada goes back to the explorer, Martin Frobisher, who was seeking a northern passage to the Pacific Ocean.
Gradually, an annual Thanksgiving after the harvest developed in the mid-seventeenth century.
In 1920, Gimbels department store in Philadelphia staged a parade on Thanksgiving Day.
The group's charter required that the day of arrival be observed yearly as a "day of thanksgiving" to God.
Thanksgiving involves gratitude not only to God but also one's community members.
Most business and government workers (78 percent in 2007) are also given both Thanksgiving and the day after as paid holidays.
The theme of the Thanksgiving holiday also changed year to year to reflect an important event to be thankful for.
The National Turkey Federation has developed the practice of presenting the President of the United States with one live turkey and two dressed turkeys, in a ceremony known as the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation.
A traditional Thanksgiving Day from that period was not a day marked by plentiful food and drink as is today's custom, but rather a day set aside for prayer and fasting.
Thanksgiving celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, at the end of the harvest season, is an annual American Federal holiday to express thanks for one's material and spiritual possessions.
Abraham Lincoln's successors as president followed his example of annually declaring the final Thursday in November to be Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a public holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. It originated as a harvest festival. ... The event that Americans commonly call the "First Thanksgiving" was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in October 1621.
Thanksgiving Day is traditionally a day for families and friends to get together for a special meal. The meal often includes a turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy, pumpkin pie, and vegetables. Thanksgiving Day is a time for many people to give thanks for what they have.
A Thanksgiving Day dinner served to the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935 included: pickles, green olives, celery, roast turkey, oyster stew, cranberry sauce, giblet gravy, dressing, creamed asparagus tips, snowflake potatoes, baked carrots, hot rolls, fruit salad, mince meat pie, fruit cake, candies, grapes, apples, ...
Thanksgiving is a federal government created holiday. It is not based on any religious doctrine like Christmas, or the commemoration of a historic event like the Fourth of July. It is a holiday created by the government for its people to give thanks. VIDEO: Is Thanksgiving a Secular Holiday?Nov 21, 2007
In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states.
Since George Washington's time, Thursday has been the day, and this was solidified by Abraham Lincoln's proclamation in 1863 designating the national day of Thanksgiving to be the last Thursday of November. Later that was amended to the fourth Thursday in November.
Plymouth
The English colonists we call Pilgrims celebrated days of thanksgiving as part of their religion. But these were days of prayer, not days of feasting. Our national holiday really stems from the feast held in the autumn of 1621 by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag to celebrate the colony's first successful harvest.
The English colonists we call Pilgrims celebrated days of thanksgiving as part of their religion. But these were days of prayer, not days of feasting. Our national holiday really stems from the feast held in the autumn of 1621 by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag to celebrate the colony's first successful harvest.
In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states.
According to what traditionally is known as "The First Thanksgiving," the 1621 feast between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag at Plymouth Colony contained waterfowl, venison, ham, lobster, clams, berries, fruit, pumpkin, and squash.
William Bradford and the First Thanksgiving. As was the custom in England, the Pilgrims celebrated their harvest with a festival. The 50 remaining colonists and roughly 90 Wampanoag tribesmen attended the "First Thanksgiving."
The holiday feast dates back to November 1621, when the newly arrived Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians gathered at Plymouth for an autumn harvest celebration, an event regarded as America's “first Thanksgiving.”
1621
On this day in 1863, expressing gratitude for a pivotal Union Army victory at Gettysburg, President Abraham Lincoln announces that the nation will celebrate an official Thanksgiving holiday on November 26, 1863.
Since Bradford wrote of how the colonists had hunted wild turkeys during the autumn of 1621 and since turkey is a uniquely American (and scrumptious) bird, it gained traction as the Thanksgiving meal of choice for Americans after Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863.Nov 25, 2013