The Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. In the US it is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November, and in Canada, on the second Saturday of October.
Facts about Thanksgiving Day
As its name implies, the Thanksgiving Day is a day where people come together to show their gratitude for the blessings received during the year, also expressing affection for their friends and family. This is one of the most important holidays in the US and Canada, along with Christmas and the New Year. The Thanksgiving Day is therefore a family holiday, where it is normal to make long trips to visit relatives. Another great tradition of this holiday is the food. Families celebrate this day with great gastronomic variety where they typically eat turkey (so it is also known as Turkey Day - Turkey Day), sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, apple pie, pecan pie, among many other things
There is a ceremony on Thanksgiving Day where the American President pardons two turkeys (an officer and a reserve), thereby saving the animals from the same fate of the other 46 million turkeys - the estimate number of turkeys that is eaten in the public holiday.The Thanksgiving Day is also well known for big parades. The best known of all is Macy's Parade in New York, where hundreds of participating media figures and characters from the world of childhood and fantasy like Mickey, Spiderman and others meet. On Thanksgiving Day there are also football games, one of the most popular sports in America.The Friday after Thanksgiving Day is known as Black Friday. On that day, several shops have amazing promotions, and for this reason, the stores are overcrowded, so that every year, there are always cases of clashes between customers struggling as they try to get the same products.
There is a ceremony on Thanksgiving Day where the American President pardons two turkeys (an officer and a reserve), thereby saving the animals from the same fate of the other 46 million turkeys - the estimate number of turkeys that is eaten in the public holiday.The Thanksgiving Day is also well known for big parades. The best known of all is Macy's Parade in New York, where hundreds of participating media figures and characters from the world of childhood and fantasy like Mickey, Spiderman and others meet. On Thanksgiving Day there are also football games, one of the most popular sports in America.The Friday after Thanksgiving Day is known as Black Friday. On that day, several shops have amazing promotions, and for this reason, the stores are overcrowded, so that every year, there are always cases of clashes between customers struggling as they try to get the same products.
The First Thanksgiving
The first Thanksgiving Day was celebrated in the United States in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, by pilgrims (the founders of the village) together with their Indian friends who had helped them survive.
After the crops were severely damaged by the harsh winter, the colonists had a good corn harvest the following summer, in 1621. To mark the occasion and celebrate that difficult year in terms of agriculture, the governor of the village decided to organize a party in the autumn of 1621. This party was attended by about 90 Indians and ducks were eaten, turkey, fish and corn. From this year onwards, in New England, each autumn a feast of Thanksgiving to God was organized because of good harvests In 1863, Abraham Lincoln (president at the time) announced that the last Thursday of November would be known as the National Day of Thanksgiving.
