History Of Thanksgiving
In America, Thanksgiving traditionally initiates the holiday season, which includes Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and New Year's Eve. But what are the origins of Thanksgiving as a national holiday? Did the tradition truly begin with the Pilgrims from England?
The inaugural Thanksgiving was not termed "Thanksgiving," but was a three-day feast to celebrate America's first plentiful harvest with the help of the neighboring Wampanoag Native Americans. The Mayflower's passengers where part of an English Puritan faction called the English Separatist Church.
In 1676, Charlestown, Massachusetts' governing council decided to designate a day for giving thanks for their blessings, choosing June 29 for this observance. Then, in October 1777, all thirteen colonies participated in a joint Thanksgiving event. George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789. Later, in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln established the last Thursday in November as a national Thanksgiving Day. President Franklin Roosevelt, in 1939, shifted Thanksgiving Day to one week earlier, marking the date as it is celebrated today.