In the United States and Canada, a day is set aside each year as Thanksgiving Day. On this day, people give thanks with feasting and prayer for the blessings they have received during the year.
In the United States, Thanksgiving is usually a family day, celebrated with big dinners and joyous reunions. The very mention of Thanksgiving often calls up memories of kitchens and pantries crowded with good things to eat. This day is also a time for serious religious thinking, church services, and personal prayer.
In Canada, Thanksgiving Day is celebrated in much the same way as in the United States. It was formerly celebrated on the last Monday in October; but in 1957 the Canadian government proclaimed the second Monday in October for the holiday.
The first American Thanksgiving Day was celebrated during the second winter the Plymouth colonists spent in the New World. That first winter in Massachusetts killed nearly half the members of the colony. New hope grew in the summer of 1621 and the corn harvest brought rejoicing. Governor William Bradford decreed that Dec. 13, 1621, be set aside as a day of feasting and prayer.
The custom of Thanksgiving Day spread from Plymouth to other New England colonies. During the Revolutionary War, eight days of thanks were observed for victories and for being saved from dangers.
On Nov. 26, 1789, President George Washington issued a general proclamation for a day of thanks. That same year the Episcopal Church announced that the first Thursday in November would be a regular day for giving thanks.
For many years there was no national Thanksgiving Day. By 1830 New York had an official state Thanksgiving Day, and other northern states followed this example. Virginia was the first southern state to adopt the custom. It proclaimed a Thanksgiving Day in 1855.
In 1863, President Lincoln issued a proclamation setting aside the last Thursday of November as a day of thanksgiving and praise.
Each year afterward, for 75 years, the President of the United States formally proclaimed that Thanksgiving Day should be celebrated on the last Thursday of November.
In 1939 President Roosevelt proclaimed Thanksgiving Day to be celebrated one week earlier. His purpose was to help business by making the shopping period between Thanksgiving and Christmas longer. Congress finally ruled that after 1941 the fourth Thursday of November would be observed as Thanksgiving Day and would be a legal holiday.
-Wayne Miller