The history of the Thanksgiving holiday is the history of America itself. It all started with the Pilgrims before the United States was even a country. The first Thanksgiving happened as part of that fateful harvest festival, which was held in the fall of 1621 in what is now Massachusetts.
But it was far from today's fanfare backyard games of touch football, obviously, but probably also no pumpkin pie or cake either. The event didn't become well known until Bradford's journal was discovered and published by Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor, in the early 1800s. Hale was so taken with the story of that first Thanksgiving that she lobbied five different U.S. presidents to make it a federal holiday.
The tale of early settlers sharing a meal with local Native Americans is just one of many stories about settling in North America chronicled in the journal of William Bradford. It wasn't quite the rosy version of Thanksgiving history that most of us learned in school, but Pilgrims and people from the Wampanoag tribe did meet during a celebration. The first governor of the Plymouth colony couldn't have known then that the settlers' humble harvest festival would become a landmark in U.S. history and the basis for what is, after Christmas, the second most popular holiday in America.
In 1863, Hale got her to wish, and President Abraham Lincoln finally declared Thanksgiving an official U.S. holiday, putting it on the calendar for the last Thursday of November. He hoped that the new holiday would help reunite a country fractured by civil war.
The modern holiday is generally a gathering of loved ones sharing an epic feast. It's rich with Thanksgiving traditions and has even spawned Friendsgiving, an offshoot of the holiday that's celebrated with friends.
On Thanksgiving day, grab the family for some Thanksgiving crafts for kids, then put a fresh twist on your Thanksgiving decorations and Thanksgiving table decor. When turkey day arrives, have these funny Thanksgiving quotes on hand to share with guests around the table.
Thanksgiving remained the last Thursday in November for nearly a century. Most years, that meant Thanksgiving was on the fourth Thursday, but occasionally there is a fifth Thursday in November. As you can probably imagine, this became confusing. After all, there was no Google to ask when is Thanksgiving. So in December 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt decided to change Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday in November.
Here's an interesting Thanksgiving fact to share with dinner guests: Roosevelt didn't change the holiday's date simply to create consistency, though that was certainly a factor. He also reasoned that the change slightly lengthened the holiday season, which was good for the economy.
He appears to have been correct, and the economic explanation makes even more sense these days. Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is the largest shopping day in America and when we prepare for Christmas, Hanukkah, and the winter gift-giving holidays. It's such a big spending season that some stores open on Thanksgiving and restaurants open on Thanksgiving.
Do other countries celebrate Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving celebrates the union of some of the first settlers with the Native Americans, and so it is a uniquely American holiday. Thanksgiving with a capital T originated and is most celebrated in the United States, but many countries around the world have harvest celebrations centered around acknowledging reasons to be grateful.
Today, Thanksgiving-type celebrations happen in the fall in Canada, Brazil, Grenada, Saint Lucia, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Rwanda, Liberia, and parts of Australia. There are a variety of different thanksgiving origin stories, dates of celebration, and traditions centered around each culture.
