The History of Thanksgiving: From Pilgrims to Presidents

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The Origins of Thanksgiving

The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621 by the Pilgrims, a group of English settlers who had arrived at Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts the previous year. They were joined by the Wampanoag, a Native American tribe who had helped them survive the harsh winter and taught them how to grow corn, beans and squash. The feast lasted for three days and included wild turkey, venison, fish, shellfish, cornbread, pumpkin and cranberries.

The National Holiday

Thanksgiving was not an annual event until the late 18th century, when some states and cities declared it a public holiday. The first national Thanksgiving was proclaimed by President George Washington in 1789, but it was not fixed to a specific date. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln declared that Thanksgiving would be celebrated on the last Thursday of November, as a way to heal the nation after the Civil War. In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved it to the fourth Thursday of November, to extend the Christmas shopping season and boost the economy during the Great Depression.

The Modern Celebration

Today, Thanksgiving is one of the most popular and cherished holidays in the United States. It is a time for families and friends to gather together, share a traditional meal of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie, and express gratitude for their blessings. It is also a time for watching parades, football games and classic movies on TV, volunteering at soup kitchens and food banks, and shopping for bargains on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.