ThanksGiving Traditions, History and Info

Thanksgiving is that time of year to once again bring people and families together, and to remind us what we have in our lives to be thankful for.

The first thanksgiving was in 1621. It happened when the Native Americans had a great farming season and the pilgrims were running out of food. The Native Americans decided that they would save the pilgrims from starvation and invited them to a great feast.

If this act of kindness did not happen the pilgrims would have died. In this great feast they ate turkey, pumpkin, cranberries, corn etc. In the late 1700's, George Washington declared that the third Thursday of November would be Thanksgiving, a day to celebrate the generosity that the pilgrims had received from the Native Americans.
Thanksgiving celebrations were observed irregularly in the years after 1621. However, by 1789, the Thanksgiving custom had spread throughout the colonies and, in that year, George Washington proclaimed November 26 as a "day of public thanksgiving and prayer." Washington's proclamation still did not lead to a regular national observance although many states did celebrate Thanksgiving on an annual basis.

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation which invited Americans to "observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens." Such proclamations were repeated by the President of the United States for the next 75 years. In 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt changed the date to the fourth Thursday in November.
The First Thanksgiving [SWF] - Includes a timeline, an interactive tour,
Informationa about the Mayflower voyage, and the life of the Wampanoag