Thanksgiving Day

History & Lore
Thanksgiving Day
By Sarah Lane
Jan 7, 2007, 14:04 PST

Thanksgiving Day

Deeply Rooted in Tradition

As the years whiz by, the people of the United States realize there’s more and more to be thankful for during the autumnal Thanksgiving Day celebration. Our nation has survived war, breaches in homeland security, natural disasters, and economic breakdowns, only to stand once again as a unified group. Americans have an uncanny ability to rise to the best of their abilities. This is due mostly to the strength and determination passed down in the form of traditions, from one generation to the next. Freedom, tenacity, grace, and unity are just a few of the lessons we’ve learned from those who came before us. When we sit down at the dinner table for our Thanksgiving meal, we find ourselves repeating the actions of the Pilgrims from some 395 years ago. We cannot possibly understand the hardships our ancestors had to overcome to continue to survive and bring this nation to fruition, but we can give thanks by remembering them on Thanksgiving Day.

Many Thanks

Long before immigrants began traveling to the New World, native tribes danced and performed rituals, hoping for a plentiful harvest. They gathered together to eat and celebrate their good fortune, giving thanks to their gods for plentiful amounts of food. This was really the first celebration of its kind in the New World.

The very first Thanksgiving service recorded by Europeans in North America was in 1578 in Newfoundland. Years later in 1607, the Jamestown colonists held Thanksgiving to pray and give thanks for their safe arrival. A day of thanksgiving was also held in 1623, by the Pilgrims of Plymouth Plantation, Massachusetts. They combined a social celebration with a religious one, and some people believe this is the Thanksgiving we have patterned our modern day feast after. Plymouth itself was the site of the first European settlement in New England. It was founded on December 21, 1620 and is located 35 miles southeast of Boston. Today you can visit there and see replicas of the Mayflower and Plymouth Plantation.

For the next 150 years many thanksgiving celebrations were held during the fall months. Also, the Massachusetts Bay Colony had their first Thanksgiving on July 8th, 1630. Perhaps the most heartfelt observance of this holiday came in 1777 with the U.S. victory over British forces at the battle of Saratoga. General George Washington ordered Thursday, December 18th to be a day of thanksgiving and praise.

Finally in 1789, Elias Boudinot, a delegate and statesman from New Jersey, made the move to establish a permanent day of Thanksgiving for the nation. A Congressional Joint Committee approved and on October 3rd, 1789, President George Washington proclaimed that the American people would observe a day of public thanksgiving and prayer. That year Thanksgiving was held on Thursday, November 26th. This began a tradition of Presidential proclamations concerning the meaning of Thanksgiving and the day it would be celebrated each year.

After James Madison proclaimed a day of thanksgiving for April 13, 1815, it was 47 years before another proclamation came. Abraham Lincoln, our 16th president revived the tradition in 1863. He proclaimed Thanksgiving Day to be celebrated every year, on the fourth day of November. Only twice has this date been changed, both times by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1939 and 1940 the date was changed to the third Thursday of November. This was to allow the merchants still suffering from the Great Depression to have more selling days before Christmas. On November 26, 1941, President Roosevelt signed legislation officially making the fourth Thursday in November, Thanksgiving Day. Since two out of every seven years has five Thursday’s in November, during the next 15 years some states had independent celebrations on the last Thursday of the month. Since 1956, however, all states have celebrated on the 4th Thursday in November.

Overflow of the Melting Pot

Today we remember on Thanksgiving the immigrants who ventured across perilous waters and the Native Americans who helped them survive in their new environment. Thanksgiving Day is said to define our cultural identity as well as sustain old traditions. We celebrate by giving thanks to God for watching over us, and by gathering with family and friends to feast on foods associated with the New World. We eat what we ate when we were young, as our parents prepared meals similar to their parents. Extended families are now scattered across the nation where, as before, entire kin sometimes lived in the same house. According to the U.S. Census Bureau most grandkids live over three hours away from their grandparents. This holiday gives us a chance to visit distant family members and to validate our personal identities and our nation’s identity with continuous traditions. The melting pot overflows now as almost 300 million strong, we overcome barriers, reach out to one another, and simply give thanks that we are here, alive, and together.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Smithsonian Institute, The Library of Congress, Thanks-Giving Square Foundation, P.B.S.