Origins Of Thanksgiving In North America
Thanksgiving day annual national holiday in the united states and canada celebrating the harvest and other blessings of the past year.
Origins of thanksgiving in north america. As soon as young americans can say thanksgiving they re learning about the origins of the holiday. American children learn about it in school and millions of families across the country mark the day with turkey stuffing cranberry sauce pumpkin pie and other traditional foods. Thanksgiving may be america s most beloved national holiday but its history is all over the place.
The history of thanksgiving in america. Thanksgiving day is a national holiday in the united states and thanksgiving 2020 occurs on thursday november 26. The thanksgiving holiday s history in north america is rooted in english traditions dating from the protestant reformation it also has aspects of a harvest festival even though the harvest in new england occurs well before the late november date on which the.
There was another celebration in plymouth in 1623 and one in boston in 1631 that people claim was the actual first thanksgiving. In the united states the thanksgiving holiday takes place on the fourth thursday of november every year. Prayers of thanks and special thanksgiving ceremonies are common among almost all religions after harvests and at other times.
The modern thanksgiving holiday america celebrates is thus derived from bits and pieces of traditional european harvest celebrations indigenous spiritual traditions of thanksgiving and spotty documentation and the omission of other documentation including the work of indigenous historians and other scholars. Americans generally believe that their thanksgiving is modeled on a 1621 harvest feast shared by the european colonists pilgrims of plymouth and the wampanoag people. But the plan was thwarted by an increasing number of american militia some estimate 13 000 troops vs.
In reality there were lots of thanksgiving celebrations in north america before 1621 as well because days of thanksgiving were often celebrated after good. The british were confident they could interfere with the american army in the north by overtaking the battlefield thereby cutting off the new england troops from the rest of the colonies. The thanksgiving harvest festival chiefly observed in north america falls on the second monday of october in canada and on the fourth thursday of november in the us every year november 26 in 2020.
In 1621 the plymouth colonists and wampanoag indians shared an autumn harvest. You probably know the legend yourself. The history of thanksgiving and the presidential turkey pardon thanksgiving day 2020.