This article was written By: David J.
Silverman
Thanksgiving Day, annual national holiday in the United States and Canada celebrating the
harvest and other blessings of the past year. Americans generally believe that
their Thanksgiving is modeled on a 1621 harvest feast shared by the
English colonists (Pilgrims)
of Plymouth
and the Wampanoag people.
The American holiday is
particularly rich in legend
and symbolism, and the traditional fare of the Thanksgiving meal typically includes
turkey, bread stuffing, potatoes, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. With respect
to vehicular travel, the holiday is often the busiest of the year, as family
members gather with one another.
Plymouth’s Thanksgiving began with a
few colonists going out “fowling,” possibly for turkeys but more probably for
the easier prey of geese and ducks, since they “in one day killed as much
as…served the company almost a week.” Next, 90 or so Wampanoag made a surprise
appearance at the settlement’s gate, doubtlessly unnerving the 50 or so
colonists. Nevertheless, over the next few days the two groups socialized
without incident. The Wampanoag contributed venison to the feast, which
included the fowl and probably fish,
eels, shellfish, stews,
vegetables, and beer. Since Plymouth had few
buildings and manufactured goods, most people ate outside while sitting on the
ground or on barrels
with plates on their laps. The men fired guns, ran races,
and drank liquor,
struggling to speak in broken English and Wampanoag. This was a rather
disorderly affair, but it sealed a treaty between the two groups that lasted
until King Philip’s
War
The New England colonists
were accustomed to regularly celebrating “Thanksgivings,” days of prayer thanking God for
blessings such as military victory or the end of a drought. The U.S. Continental
Congress proclaimed a national Thanksgiving upon the enactment of the
Constitution, for example. Yet, after 1798, the new U.S.
Congress left Thanksgiving declarations to the states; some objected to the
national government’s involvement in a religious observance, Southerners were
slow to adopt a New England custom, and others took offense over the day’s
being used to hold partisan speeches and parades. A national Thanksgiving Day
seemed more like a lightning rod for controversy than a unifying force.
Thanksgiving Day did not become an
official holiday until Northerners dominated the federal government. While
sectional tensions prevailed in the mid-19th century, the editor of the popular
magazine Godey’s
Lady’s Book, Sarah Josepha
Hale, campaigned for a national Thanksgiving Day to promote unity. She
finally won the support of President Abraham Lincoln.
On October 3, 1863, during the Civil War,
Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday,
November 26.
The holiday was annually proclaimed
by every president thereafter, and the date chosen, with few exceptions, was
the last Thursday in November. President Franklin D.
Roosevelt, however, attempted to extend the Christmas shopping
season, which generally begins with the Thanksgiving holiday, and to boost the
economy by moving the date back a week, to the third week in November. But not
all states complied, and, after a joint resolution of Congress
in 1941, Roosevelt issued a proclamation in 1942 designating the fourth
Thursday in November (which is not always the last Thursday) as Thanksgiving
Day.
As the country became more urban and
family members began to live farther apart, Thanksgiving became a time to
gather together. The holiday moved away from its religious roots to allow
immigrants of every background to participate in a common tradition.
Thanksgiving Day football
games, beginning with Yale
versus Princeton
in 1876, enabled fans to add some rowdiness to the holiday. In the late 1800s
parades of costumed revelers became common. In 1920 Gimbel’s department store
in Philadelphia staged a parade of about 50 people with Santa Claus at the rear
of the procession. Since 1924 the annual Macy’s parade in New York City has
continued the tradition, with huge balloons since 1927.
The holiday associated with Pilgrims and Native Americans has come to symbolize
intercultural peace,
America’s opportunity for newcomers, and the sanctity of home and family.
Days of thanksgiving in Canada
also originated in the colonial period, arising from the same European
traditions, in gratitude for safe journeys, peace, and bountiful harvests. The
earliest celebration was held in 1578, when an expedition led by Martin Frobisher
held a ceremony in present-day Nunavut to give thanks for
the safety of its fleet. In 1879 Parliament
established a national Thanksgiving Day on November 6; the date has varied over
the years. Since 1957 Thanksgiving Day has been celebrated in Canada on the
second Monday in October.
The Palm Springs Guru
says “Thank you.” To author, David J. Silverman, an our friends at https://www.britannica.com/
for this interesting and educational article.
You can read the
original article at https://www.britannica.com/topic/Thanksgiving-Day
