Thanksgiving, a national holiday is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the US & second Monday of October in the Canada. Thanksgiving has its roots in the religious traditions, but it is more of a secular celebration these days.
The day commemorating thanksgiving, was set in stone by President Roosevelt in 1939 and was approved by Congress in the year 1941.
So, what is the history of Thanksgiving? Why is it celebrated?
Thanksgiving Day was celebrated by the religious refugees from England, who were popularly known as the Pilgrims in the year 1621 at the Plymouth Plantation, where they invited the local Native Americans to a harvest feast, after the previous’ year’s harvest which failed and starved almost half of the pilgrims to death. It was then that the local Wampanoag tribe taught them the techniques of growing corn, beans and squash, fishing and seas-food catching. Although, now the Turkey is the official food on the menu of the thanksgiving dinner, it was not on the menu of the 1621 Thanksgiving- which included goose, lobster, cod and deer.
In tribute to the season of harvest & togetherness, a rich-colored harvest palette was the doodle by the Google US.
So, how did Turkey became the national food on the menu? There are many theories- one of which is the mandatory turkey hunt before the 1621 harvest feast, and it continued to be so.
Another theory suggests that as wild turkeys are native to North America, it became a natural & easy choice for them to include it in the feast.
Since 1947, US presidents were gifted with turkeys at Thanksgiving, which was always generally eaten at the feast. Ronald Reagan was the first president to “pardon” a turkey, in 1987, which was later adapted as a tradition by his successor, George HW Bush.
Thanksgiving is a day, when you have to be thankful for everything that you have. Because, there is always something, however little, the thing may be, for being thankful.
Thanksgiving has a legacy of over hundreds of years. And throughout its journey from 1621 to 2016, it has evolved with various traditions. But, few customs, that have been the same are:
- Customs of offering prayers
- Customs of family get-together and a family dinner
- Custom of Decoration
- Custom of sending a thank you notes
The American holiday season traditionally begins when Thanksgiving ends- on the “Black Friday” which falls the day after Thanksgiving and has been held forth since the 1930s.
By: Archa Dave
