Thanksgiving Day, national holiday in the United States commemorating the Pilgrims Pilgrims, in American history, the group of separatists and other individuals who were the founders of Plymouth Colony . The name Pilgrim Fathers is given to those members who made the first crossing on the Mayflower.
..... Click the link for more information. ' celebration of the harvest reaped by the Plymouth Colony in 1621, after a winter of great starvation and privation. The celebration was probably held in October. The neighboring Wampanoags, who outnumbered the colonists, joined them for three days and contributed food to the celebration. The first proclaimed day of thanksgiving in the colony was not held until 1623 (probably at the end of July), following an improvement in prospects for the still struggling colony, and was a day of prayer, not feasting.

After the American Revolution the first national Thanksgiving Day, proclaimed by President George Washington, was Nov. 26, 1789, and the Episcopal Church began celebrating an annual day of thanksgiving on the first Thursday in November. Some states established an annual Thanksgiving Day, but there was no annual national holiday until President Abraham Lincoln, urged by Sarah J. Hale Hale, Edward Everett, 1822–1909, American author and Unitarian clergyman, b. Boston, grad. Harvard, 1839. He was the nephew of Edward Everett. The pastor of a church in Worcester, Mass.
..... Click the link for more information. , proclaimed one in 1863, appointing as the date the last Thursday of November. Although the only known contemporary account of the 1621 Plymouth harvest celebration had been rediscovered in 1841, the national Thanksgiving Day initially was not officially linked to it.

In 1939, 1940, and 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed Thanksgiving the next-to-last Thursday in November. Conflicts arose between Roosevelt's proclamation and about half of those of state governors, and in 1941 Congress passed a joint resolution decreeing that Thanksgiving should fall on the fourth Thursday of November. The day is observed by church services and family reunions; the customary turkey dinner is a reminder of the wildfowl served at the Pilgrims' celebration. Canadians also celebrate a national Thanksgiving Day, on the second Monday in October; prior to 1957 it was on the last Monday of the month.

Thanksgiving Day

U.S. holiday. It originated in the autumn of 1621 when Plymouth governor William Bradford invited neighbouring Indians to join the Pilgrims for a three-day festival of recreation and feasting in gratitude for the bounty of the season, which had been partly enabled by the Indians' advice. Neither the standard Thanksgiving meal of turkey, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie nor the family orientation of the day reflects the Plymouth event, however. Proclaimed a national holiday in 1863, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November (though it was moved back one week in 1939–41 to extend the Christmas shopping season). Canada adopted Thanksgiving as a national holiday in 1879; since 1957 it has been celebrated on the second Monday in October.

Thanksgiving Day

an annual day of holiday celebrated in thanksgiving to God on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States, and on the second Monday of October in Canada

Thanksgiving Day

American holiday celebrating abundant harvest; originally observed by Pilgrims (1621). [Am. Culture: NCE, 2726]

See : Abundance

Thanksgiving Day

American holiday acknowledging God’s favor. [Am. Culture: Brewer Dictionary, 1071]

See : Gratitude