Thanksgiving occurs on the fourth Thursday of November every year. It rolls around right after Halloween and is overshadowed by Christmas.
According to history.com, in 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. In 1789, George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation by the national government of the United States; in it, he called upon Americans to express their gratitude for the happy conclusion to the country’s war of independence and the successful ratification of the U.S. Constitution. In 1817, New York became the first of several states to officially adopt an annual Thanksgiving holiday; each celebrated it on a different day, however, and the American South remained largely unfamiliar with the tradition.
In 1827, the noted magazine editor and prolific writer Sarah Josepha Hale - author, among countless other things, of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb” - launched a campaign to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday. For 36 years, she published numerous editorials and sent scores of letters to governors, senators, presidents and other politicians. Abraham Lincoln finally heeded her request in 1863, at the height of the Civil War, in a proclamation entreating all Americans to ask God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.” He scheduled Thanksgiving for the final Thursday in November, and it was celebrated on that day every year until 1939.
But what does Thanksgiving mean to us nowadays? It certainly does not have the religious meaning it used to hold, but many families celebrate Thanksgiving in the U.S.A. People attend parades, eat turkey, and gather with their family around the table. For some, it's about cooking a lot of food and wearing something fancy. For others, it might be just eating Chinese food in sweat pants with their family and watching the football game. For me, Thanksgiving means being grateful. It means watching the Macy's parade in the morning and the dog show after with my sister. It means giving thanks to whoever you believe in for the life you've been given and the opportunities you have, even if they're not the best. It means being with the people you love who will be there for you - not particularly blood family. It means eating great food made by awesome people. It means being thankful for who is in your life and what is in your life.
What will you be thankful for this Thanksgiving?