History Of Thanksgiving

People in the United States celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November, a national holiday honoring the early pioneers and Native Americans who came together to hold a historic harvest feast.

In 1620 a small ship called The Mayflower left their home in England seeking a new home where they could freely practice their religion. The people on The Mayflower are commonly known as pilgrims. They eventually settled on a place called Plymouth, which is now a town in Massachusetts. When they got there it was a bad winter. Many of the pilgrims suffered from bad Diseases and only half of The Mayflowers crew lived through the harsh winter.

Eventually, the pilgrims came across the Native Americans. They saw that The Pilgrims were dying of disease so they taught them many skills such as growing crops, getting sap from trees, catching fish, etc.

In November 1621 after the pilgrims first corn harvest was successful their governor organized a giant feast and invited a bunch of their Native American friends. This is now remembered as America’s first thanksgiving and it lasted for three whole days. Many historians believe that instead of eating turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, etc. the pilgrims ate mostly seafood.

It was not until the 19th century that the western holiday of Thanksgiving began to take form. Sarah Josepha Hale, the editor of Godey's Lady's Book magazine, advocated for an annual national Thanksgiving holiday in 1846. But it wasn't until 1863 when two national Thanksgivings were proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln; one in August to celebrate the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg, and the other in November to give thanks for "general blessings." It's the second one we're celebrating today. That is the history of thanksgiving!