Thanksgiving Day, 2008
It will be Thanksgiving Day again. And this year, what is your thanksgiving plan? Watch the parade, see the big balloons, have family get-together with your family, enjoy mom-cooked feast, or whatever? In this article, I’d like to discuss Thanksgiving history, Thanksgiving music videos, and possible Thanksgiving discounts.
What is Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada it is celebrated on the second Monday in October. In 2008, Thanksgiving is celebrated on Thursday, November 27 in the US, and October 13 in Canada.
The First Thanksgiving
When we think of Thanksgiving today, we will think of football, pumpkin pie, parades, turkey dinner complete with cranberry sauce, and Black Friday shopping spree the following day. But what were things like on the first Thanksgiving Day?
Of course there wouldn’t be football or parades in 1621. The Pilgrims and the Wampanoag tribe had a fun time at their Thanksgiving party. The Pilgrims were so thankful for their harvest that year and to the Wampanoag for teaching them to grow crops. Their Thanksgiving celebration was a big three-day party. It was held outside because the Pilgrims did not have a building large enough for 140 people to eat in. They ate many different kinds of foods at their Thanksgiving party. Some of the things they ate were deer, turkey, fish, squash, corn, and other vegetables. It was a big feast of people of both cultures giving thanks for the fall harvest. It is interesting to note that the religious element, giving thanks to God, was not present at this particular celebration in 1621, even though the Pilgrims were devoutly religious. In fact, some early Pilgrim "thanksgiving days" were actually fasts rather than feasts.
Now when we sit around having our Thanksgiving dinner, we still have to feel thankful to the early days of 1621.
How Thanksgiving Became a Holiday
After 1621, future Thanksgiving celebrations occurred at various times throughout the year. George Washington declared a feast of Thanksgiving in 1789, and presidents issued similar yearly proclamations after that. During the Civil War, poet Sarah Hale started a campaign to celebrate the holiday on the same day throughout the country.
President Abraham Lincoln saw it as a way to unite the country, and in 1863 he proclaimed a national Thanksgiving celebration on the last Thursday in November. It was changed from the last Thursday to the third Thursday by Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 as a way to lengthen the Christmas shopping holiday. In 1941, Roosevelt finally changed the date to the fourth Thursday in November, proclaiming it a Federal holiday in 1941.
Thanksgiving Recipes
If you are cooking the Thanksgiving dinner yourself, here I get you a nice list of Thanksgiving Recipes.
Thanksgiving Music
Here I got you a very nice Thanksgiving music.
Thanksgiving Discount
Moyea Software would like to say "thank you" to all users of our programs, no matter purchased or un-purchased. So we plan to have some thanksgiving discounts later on.
