How To Learn Thanksgiving History

The first national holiday was celebrated on American soil even before the colonies officially became the United States of America. It was Thanksgiving in 1621, in the Plymouth Colony of what was to become the state of Massachusetts, where Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanks. Some historians argue that this holiday actually happened much earlier with a first celebration in St. Augustine, Florida in 1565, but the Plymouth celebration is traditionally viewed as the actual first Thanksgiving.

When Native Americans and settlers came together to celebrate the abundance of the fall harvest, venison, wild fowl and cooked pumpkin was on the menu, along with a dish called nasaump, a thick porridge made from dried corn that is boiled. Cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, mincemeat pie and other foods that Americans traditionally associate with Thanksgiving dinner unfortunately were not part of the original feast, coming much later as Thanksgiving Day menu additions.

Traditionally held each year on the fourth Thursday of the month of November, Thanksgiving almost had its official date permanently moved to the third Thursday of November by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1930. It was an attempt to create a longer shopping season for Christmas gift buying and to help the faltering Depression-era economy. But die-hard traditionalists would have none of it, and Thanksgiving remained officially observed on the last Thursday of November.

The holiday is observed as a government holiday at federal, state and local levels as well as a religious and secular holiday, with most families using it as an occasion to get together before the rush of the Christmas holiday season.  The Thanksgiving Day feast, usually served late in the afternoon, has roast turkey as its centerpiece, although vegetarians in recent years have shifted to non-meat turkey substitutes.  Wild rice, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, green beans, stuffing or dressing, pumpkin pie and mincemeat tarts round out the usual spread at the American family's Thanksgiving holiday dinner.  Two annual Thanksgiving Day traditions found in most American households include watching the televised Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from New York City, and watching collegiate football games on television through sleepy eyes brought on by eating too much turkey and pie.