Holiday:
Thanksgiving is a holiday in the USA and Canada when
people give thanks. It is celebrated every year on the
fourth Thursday of November in the USA and on the second
Monday of October in Canada.
In 1863, Abraham Lincoln set aside the last Thursday of
November as a national Day of Thanksgiving. American
immigrants brought the customs and practices of the American
Thanksgiving to Canada, beginning on April 5, 1872. The
United States Congress permanently established the fourth
Thursday of each November as a national holiday in the year
1941, and Canadian Parliament later established the second
Monday of each October as a national holiday in the year
1957.
Although not as famous, the first "day of Thanksgiving"
actually took place at Berkeley Hundred, Virginia in 1619 -
a year before the Mayflower brought the Pilgrims to
Massachusetts.
The Pilgrims were early settlers on the east coast of North
America. They traveled from England on a ship called the
Mayflower and made their new home in what is now Plymouth,
Massachusetts, 380 km northeast of what is now New York.
Many of the Pilgrims died during their first winter in North
America. They were cold and did not have enough food. The
following year, though, the Native Americans, who were from
the Wampanoag tribe, helped them grow crops. At harvest time
in the winter of 1621, they were very thankful that they had
a good crop of food to eat during the coming winter. They
thanked God and the Native Americans for teaching them how
to grow the local foods.
They invited three of the Wampanoags who had helped them to
their feast. They were Squanto, Samoset, and Chief
Massasoit. The Wampanoags brought their families. This was
over 90 people. There were so many people that the Pilgrims
did not have enough food to make the meal, so the Wampanoags
brought along their own food for the feast.
The Wampanoags brought turkey, duck, fish, deer, berries,
squash, and cornbread. They also brought vegetables that
they had farmed and shown the Pilgrims how to care for.
The Thanksgiving holiday is a four-day holiday over the
weekend. Families and friends usually eat a special meal
together (usually with a turkey as the main dish). This meal
also usually includes mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce,
pumpkin pie, several casseroles, and stuffing. The food
eaten today for Thanksgiving is very different from the food
that was eaten at the First Thanksgiving in 1621.
Source:
Simple Wikipedia: Thanksgiving |
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