What is Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving is a holiday that has become known for its turkey feasts and parades. It is a celebration where family and friends come together to give thanks for the blessings they have received. The first Thanksgiving was held in 1621 after the Pilgrims’ first corn harvest was successful. A celebration was organized with the colony’s Native American allies. The first Thanksgiving lasted three days, but today Thanksgiving is celebrated every year on the fourth Thursday of November.
How did Thanksgiving become an official holiday?
After the first Thanksgiving, there were many days designated for religious fastings and days of thanks. George Washington was the first to issue the first official Thanksgiving in the United States in 1789. He called upon Americans to express their gratitude and thanks for the country’s newfound independence from Britain. New York was the first of many states to officially adopt an annual Thanksgiving holiday in 1817. Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving as an official nationwide holiday in 1863 during the height of the Civil War, scheduling it for the final Thursday of November.
At the height of the Great Depression, former president Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up one week, in an effort to give people more time to shop for Christmas in 1939. “Franksgiving,” as it became known, was met with much of disagreement. Roosevelt signed a bill in 1941 which officially moved Thanksgiving back to the fourth Thursday in November.
How is Thanksgiving celebrated today?
Each family has their own Thanksgiving traditions, whether it be playing a friendly family game of football, a 5k in the morning or group nap after all the turkey. On a nationwide scale, the President of the United States pardons a turkey every year in honor of Thanksgiving. It is unclear as to where this tradition comes from, but it is thought to have begun in 1947 with former President Harry Truman. Others believe it to have started in the 1860s with Abraham Lincoln after his son begged him to spare his pet turkeys life. One popular Thanksgiving tradition is parades. The Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade is the oldest Thanksgiving parade in the country. Celebrating its 98th year, the parade was first held in 1920 by Gimbel Brothers Department store. Once Gimbels closed in 1986, WPVI-TV stepped in to continue the holiday tradition. The goal among the organizers is to make this parade, “the most band-friendly parade in the country,” featuring 19 marching bands including high school, university and specialty marching bands. This parade brings together the City of Brotherly Love to celebrate and give thanks.
How do Native Americans commemorate Thanksgiving?
According to Indian Country Today Media Network, “the Pilgrims settled in an area that was once Patuxet, a Wampanoag village, but it had been abandoned four years prior because of a deadly outbreak of a plague brought by European traders. Before 1616, the Wampanoag numbered 50,000 to 100,000, occupying 69 villages scattered throughout southeastern Massachusetts and eastern Rhode Island. The plague, however, killed thousands, up to two-thirds, of them. Many also had been captured and sold as slaves.” Many Native Americans commemorate Thanksgiving as a “National Day of Mourning” with protests on the holiday at the top of Coles Hill overlooking Plymouth Rock. They believe Thanksgiving is portrayed as a celebration of happy times, rather than what actually occurred: bloody battles between the European colonists and the Native Americans which resulted in deaths of tens of thousands of Native peoples.
What was on the first Thanksgiving menu?
According to National Geographic News, “feasters likely supplemented their venison and birds with fish, lobster, clams, nuts, and wheat flour, as well as vegetables such as pumpkin, squash, carrots, and peas.”
How is Thanksgiving celebrated at St. Joe’s?
St. Joe’s celebrates its 41st annual Thanksgiving Dinner Dance. There are about 200 guests from senior community centers in the area that come to St. Joe’s for this celebration. Students and guests come together to celebrate with food and dance. St. Joe’s student acapella groups, City Belles and Hawkappella, will perform for the guests, while students volunteer to serve the guests and to take part in the event. The Thanksgiving Dinner Dance is a celebration filled with love, community and gratitude.
