Language and Culture Assistant's Blog: 3rd Cycle: The History of Thanksgiving

I am only going to talk about Thanksgiving in the USA, as Canadians also celebrate their own version of Thanksgiving in October.

Thanksgiving is an important American holiday that occurs between Halloween and Christmas. Unlike other holidays, Thanksgiving doesn't fall on a specific date (for example, the 31st of October or 25th of December). Instead, we celebrate it every 4th Thursday in November. Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday. This year, we will celebrate Thanksgiving on the 28th of November. The date changes every year (next year it will be on the 27th of November 2014).

History

How did Thanksgiving begin? Before the United States was a country, Pilgrims travelled to the continent of North America. They wanted to leave Europe to freely practice their own religion--Protestantism. The Pilgrims arrived in the north-eastern part of the Americas in what is now called Jamestown.

Winter in this part of the Americas is often very cold. Many Pilgrims died. In the spring of 1621 they asked the Native American tribe for help. The Native Americans had been living in that area for hundreds of years. They knew how to farm, hunt, and fish. They shared their knowledge with the Pilgrims. In the autumn of 1621, the Pilgrims and the Native Americans had a meal together to celebrate a successful harvest (when you collect the fruits and vegetables or "crops").

The first Thanksgiving meal didn't have the same traditional foods we eat today. There wasn't any turkey, potatoes, or pumpkin pie! Instead, they ate other roasted meats (such as deer, rabbit, etc), corn, shellfish (such as lobster, mussles, etc), and cranberries: foods that were available at the time.

However, in 1621 they didn't call this meal "Thanksgiving." It didn't become a national holiday until 1863 (over 200 years later!), when President Abraham Lincoln declared that Americans would celebrate it every fourth Thursday in November. He said it was a holiday for "giving thanks," or remembering the things we appreciate in our lives.