Turkey, stuffing, dressing, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, buttered rolls and pumpkin pies are a few of the traditional foods for Thanksgiving Day meal.
Thanksgiving Day - a day designated for feasting.
Thanksgiving is traditionally a time for feasting. Church gatherings and family gatherings around a harvest table full of food is a mouthwatering event to say the least.
Thanksgiving Traditions
American football is often a major part of Thanksgiving celebrations in the United States. Professional games are traditionally played on Thanksgiving Day; until recently, these were the only games played during the week apart from Sunday or Monday night. The National Football League has played games on Thanksgiving every year since its creation; the tradition is referred to as the Thanksgiving Classic. see Thanksgiving Traditions
Thanksgiving is celebrated in more than one country
- United States: fourth Thursday in November in the United States- In the United States, Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day is an annual one-day legal holiday to express gratitude for the things one has at the end of the harvest season. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. The period from Thanksgiving Day to New Year's Day is often collectively referred to as the "holiday season." Thanksgiving is generally considered a secular holiday, and is not directly based in religious canon or dogma. The holiday's origins trace to harvest festivals that have been celebrated in many cultures since ancient times, and most people celebrate by gathering at home with family or friends for a holiday feast. A tradition also exists to share the fruits of the harvest with those who are less fortunate. Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in the United States commemorating the Pilgrims ' celebration of the harvest reaped by the Plymouth Colony in 1621, after a winter of great starvation and privation. The celebration was probably held in October. read more
- Canada: second Monday in October in Canada; commemorates a feast held in 1621 by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag. On January 31, 1957, the Canadian Parliament proclaimed: “ 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." • Thanksgiving in Canada
- Great Britain: Thanksgiving is another name for the Harvest festival, held in Churches across the land on a relevant Sunday to mark the end of the local harvest. This tradition was taken to North America by early settlers and today in Canada and the USA this has become Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, an annual one-day holiday to give thanks at the close of the harvest season.
- In Grenada there is a national holiday of Thanksgiving Day on 25 October. It is unrelated to holidays in Canada and the United States even though it bears the same name. It marks the anniversary of the US-led invasion of the island in 1983 in response to the deposition and execution of Grenadan Prime Minister Maurice Bishop.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Thanksgiving Day in America is a time for family and friends to gather together and give thanks for all that God has given us.
Thanksgiving was originally a religious observance for all the members of the community to give thanks to God for a common purpose. Historic reasons for community thanksgivings include the 1541 thanksgiving mass after the expedition of Coronado safely crossing part of Texas and finding game, and the 1777 thanksgiving after the victory in the revolutionary battle of Saratoga etc.
____________________________________________________________________________
What type of holiday is this?
____________________________________________________________________________
Thanksgiving Facts
- The first proclaimed day of thanksgiving in the colony was not held until 1623.
- After the American Revolution the first national Thanksgiving Day, proclaimed by President George Washington, was Nov. 26, 1789.
- The Episcopal Church began celebrating an annual day of thanksgiving on the first Thursday in November.
- President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a Thanksgiving Holiday in 1863, appointing as the date the last Thursday of November.
- n 1941 Congress passed a joint resolution decreeing that Thanksgiving should fall on the fourth Thursday of November.
- The customary turkey dinner is a reminder of the wildfowl served at the Pilgrims' celebration.
- Canadians also celebrate a national Thanksgiving Day, on the second Monday in October; prior to 1957 it was on the last Monday of the month.
- Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parage is a tv tradition.
Pilgrim Facts
- The Pilgrims set ground at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620.
- At the beginning of the following fall, they had lost 46 of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower.
- celebrate with a Thanksgiving feast -- 52 English colonists (pilgrims) and 91 Indians who had helped the Pilgrims survive their first yea; gathered for a 3 day harvest feast.
- It is believed that the Pilgrims would not have made it through the year without the help of the native indians.
___________________________________________________________________
The First Thanksgiving Meal
History tells us that there is only one written account of what the first Thanksgiving meal was like and turkey was not even a mentioned meat for the table but is traditional for our Thanksgiving meals now in modern times. Wow! We do know that turkey was an available wild animal that was hunted and eaten in many areas but it was not a mentioned meat at the first Thanksgiving meal. Instead, the word turkey that the pilgrims was said to of said... referred to any type of fowl like duck or waterfowl. • see The First Thanksgiving Meal • Thanksgiving Side Dishes • Traditional Food
_____________________________________________
Test your Knowledge of Thanksgiving
____________________________________________________________
A Holiday that I bet you didn't even know existed!
When: Every year, the day after Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving leftovers provide a great excuse to partake in this national pastime of dineing over the kitchen sink. This unique Holiday has been reserved for the day after Thanksgiving when most kitchens are packed full of leftover foods and desserts. ____________________________________________________________________________
November Days to Remember
__________________________________________________________________________
Resources: This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses some material from Wikipedia/article wfday / and other related pages. Top photo: homestead stock
