Winter is almost upon us, and the end of the year creeps ever closer.
The next major holiday in the UK, therefore, is Christmas. However for those in the United States and Canada (and expats living abroad), Thanksgiving is celebrated before December 25.
Arguably even bigger than Christmas to Americans, Thanksgiving is a time when friends and family come together, often enjoying a special Thanksgiving feast.
But when is Thanksgiving, and why is it celebrated?
When is Thanksgiving 2022?
This year, American friends and families will be sitting down together to give thanks today (Thursday, November 24).
However, in Canada, Thanksgiving 2022 has already taken place, and was celebrated on Monday, October 10.
This is because the Canadian Thanksgiving is closely linked to the harvest festival we are more familiar with in the UK – and is therefore celebrated earlier in autumn on the second Monday of October.
Is Thanksgiving the same date every year?
Thanksgiving has been celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November (in the US) since 1941.
This was a slight amendment to the past tradition of celebrating it on the last Thursday of November, because there are some years when there are five Thursdays in the month.
The original tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November dates back to 1863 when President Lincoln declared that all Americans should: ‘set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise.’
Why is Thanksgiving celebrated and when did it start?
Thanksgiving is a celebration where friends, families, neighbours, and other communities come together to celebrate the blessings of their past year.
It is widely cited by historians that one of the first feasts and celebrations akin to today’s Thanksgiving started back in 1621.
It is said that the Plymouth colonists – who came over on the Mayflower from Plymouth, England – and Wampanoag Native Americans shared an autumn harvest feast.
The harvest was a celebration between the European settlers and the Native Americans following a brutal few months.
The colonists first arrived the year before, around September 1920, and arrived to unwelcoming conditions; most of the colonists remained on board the ship, where they suffered from exposure, scurvy, and outbreaks of disease.
Only half of the Mayflower’s original passengers and crew lived to see the spring harvest the following March. They eventually moved ashore to what is now known as New England, where they received a visit from an Abenaki Native American who greeted them in English.
More Native Americans returned, including Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe.
Historians describe how Squanto taught the settlers, weakened by malnutrition and illness, how to cultivate corn, extract sap from maple trees, catch fish in the rivers and avoid poisonous plants.
In November 1621, after the first corn harvest proved successful, Governor William Bradford organised the celebratory feast and invited a group of the Native American allies for a festival that is said to have lasted for three days.
For nearly two centuries after this first harvest feast, colonies had their own separate feasts and celebrations on different dates up until 1863 when, in the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day was to be held each November.
How is Thanksgiving celebrated?
The traditional menu for the Thanksgiving meal includes turkey, bread stuffing, potatoes, cranberries, and pumpkin pie.
There’s also usually a big football game on, with the tradition dating back to Ivy League rivals Yale and Princeton facing off in 1876.
The Thanksgiving Parade has also become well-known around the world, dating back to 1920 when Gimbel’s department store in Philadelphia staged a parade of about 50 people with Santa Claus at the rear of the procession.
Since 1924, the annual Macy’s parade in New York City has continued the tradition.
MORE : Quotes, messages, Instagram captions, and images to celebrate Thanksgiving
MORE : Daniel Craig risks fury as he names Thanksgiving his favourite holiday – but brands stuffing an ‘abomination’
MORE : Joe Biden mocks Republican midterms ‘red wave’ while pardoning Thanksgiving turkeys
Follow Metro across our social channels, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Share your views in the comments below
Sign up to our guide to what’s on in London, trusted reviews, brilliant offers and competitions. London’s best bits in your inbox
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
