Thanksgiving Day
I sat down with one of my best friends yesterday. I asked her where she would be on Thanksgiving. She was celebrating Thanksgiving with her family and for the first time in five years she and her family would celebrate the holiday with her nephew, a Marine veteran from Iraq. I know at least one thing this family will be thankful for on Thanksgiving Day.
Thanksgiving is a very old tradition. Most cultures around the world celebrated Thanksgiving in autumn to give thanks for the harvest. The three day long feasts would be times for people to share meals, memories, and praise. Today thanksgiving is best known as an American Holiday.
The first of many Thanksgiving was held between September 21 and November 11 1621 in Massachusetts by 50 Plymouth Pilgrims and their Wampanoag neighbors. After this event Thanksgiving was celebrated erratically. There was no national holiday. From 1777 to 1783 Congress would declare Thanksgiving days and they were usually held in December. Presidents like George Washington, John Adams, Abraham Lincoln would declare Thanksgiving observances. James Madision declared Thanksgiving twice in 1815.
President Lincoln would help us set November as the month for Thanksgiving in 1863 and 1864. In 1865 Andrew Johnson followed the precedent set forth by President Lincoln and set the last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving, a National observance would follow for many years. Finally, on November 26, 1941, President Roosevelt signed a bill that established the fourth Thursday in November as the national Thanksgiving public holiday. As for Black Friday, well that is another story.
So what is your Thanksgiving story? Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving? Do you eat anything different than the standard Thanksgiving fare? Share your stories, please.
I hope you all have a blessed and safe Thanksgiving. I pray that you will be surrounded by loved ones and build new memories.