1952 Thanksgiving is really the quintessential American holiday celebration, dating from the 17th Century arrival of the British Pilgrims in the New World. The Pilgrims were a somewhat joyless bunch, staunch Calvinist Puritans who rejected the traditional Church calendar of holy days and religious feasts used by the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church, and regarded celebration of Christmas, Easter and the Saints' days as improper to their interpretation of Christian piety. Instead, they observed only the three religious holidays for which they could find New Testament justification; the Sunday Sabbath, Days of Fasting and Humiliation, and Days of Thanksgiving and Praise.

Fast Days more often occurred in the spring (when food supplies were usually running low anyway), and Thanksgiving days were usually declared after the autumn harvest. Unlike the Catholic or Anglican Thanksgivings, the Calvinists never observed these celebrations on Sunday to avoid conflict with the Sabbath, but usually at mid-week.

The "First American Thanksgiving" occurred between September 21 or 22, 1621, when a group of Plymouth men returned from Massachusetts, and November 9, 1621, when the ship Fortune arrived, according to the journal of one Edward Winslow published in 1622, which relate, in part:

"Our Corne did proue well, & God be praysed, we had a good increase of Indian Corne, and our Barly indifferent good, but our Pease not worth the gathering, for we feared they were too late sowne, they came vp very well, and blossomed, but the Sunne parched them in the blossome; our harvest being gotten in, our Governour sent foure men on fowling, that so we might after a more speciall manner reioyce together, after we had gathered the fruit of our labors; they foure in one day killed as much fowle, as with a little helpe beside, served the Company almost a weeke, at which time amongst other Recreations, we exercised our Armes, many of the Indians coming amongst vs, and among the rest their greatest King Massasoyt, with some nintie men, whom for three dayes we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed fiue Deere, which they brought to the Plantation and bestowed upon our Governour, and upon the Captaine, and others. And although it be not alwayes so plentifull, as it was at this time with vs, yet by the goodneses of God, we are so farre from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty."

The first national Thanksgiving Day was declared in 1777 by the Continental Congress, but bore less of a resemblance to the modern holiday than the feasting and games of the Pilgrim harvest celebration, and also commemorated the patriotic victory over the British at Saratoga. In 1789, both Houses of Congress by joint committee, requested George Washington to"recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness" Washington chose Thursday, the 26th day of November as Thanksgiving Day.

Other Thanksgivings were declared off and on until 1815, after which the holiday reverted to being a regional observance until 1863, when two national days of Thanksgiving were declared by Abraham Lincoln, one celebrating the victory at Gettysburg on August 6, the other being the first last-Thursday-in-November Thanksgivings. Franklin Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving ahead one week to the next-to-last Thursday in November in order to create a longer Christmas shopping season, but public protest of the change convinced FDR to move Thanksgiving back to its original date two years later. In 1941, Thanksgiving was sanctioned by Congress as a legal holiday, as the fourth Thursday in November.

A reference to turkeys appears in William Bradford's"Bradford's History Of Plimoth Plantation' published in 1898:

"And now begane to come in store of foule, as winter aproached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degree). And besids water foule, ther was great store of wild Turkies, of which they took many, besids venison, & Besids they had aboute a peck a meale a weeke to a person, or now since harvest, Indean corne to yt proportion."

An interesting brief history of the 16th Century development of the Thanksgiving observance in Calvinist new England can be found here:
http://www.plimoth.org/Library/Thanksgiving/th1.htm

Another historical vignette on American Thanksgiving, along with other Thanksgiving links, can be found there, which notes:

"In 1817 New York State had adopted Thanksgiving Day as an annual custom. By the middle of the 19th century many other states also celebrated a Thanksgiving Day. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln appointed a national day of thanksgiving. Since then each president has issued a Thanksgiving Day proclamation, usually designating the fourth Thursday of each November as the holiday."

Incidentally, if you're wondering why Canada celebrates Thanksgiving nearly two months earlier than the U.S., the Encarta encyclopedia explains that: "Because Canada is north of the United States, its harvest comes earlier in the year. Accordingly, the Thanksgiving holiday falls earlier in Canada than in the United States. The Canadian Parliament set aside November 6 for annual Thanksgiving observances in 1879. In 1957 the date was shifted to an even earlier day, to the second Monday in October."

And as a former vegetarian, I got a kick out of happening across this website, Vegetarian Thanksgiving, 2000, which has a complete menu for a totally vegan Thanksgiving dinner. Looks good, but I think something is missing without that turkey!

Enjoy, and try not to overeat!

And a final note, reader Steve Ontong wrote:

Hi,

I came across your site recently and found it to be really amazing . I particularly liked your "Happy Canadian Thanksgiving" and noticed you link to Thanksgiving resources and thought our web site might be of interest to you and your visitors. I have an e-card site http://www.thanksgiving-cards.net/ related to greetings on Thanksgiving. I wonder if you would be interested in linking to us. Happy Thanksgiving!

Steve
http://www.thanksgiving-cards.net/

Sure thing, Steve. Great site!


Another Thanksgiving site:

Your shortcut guide to the best of Thanksgiving day, Thanksgiving clip art, Thanksgiving history, free Thanksgiving clipart, Thanksgiving pictures to color, Thanksgiving clipart, Thanksgiving fun, Thanksgiving kids crafts and more.

You can check it out at:
http://12c4.com/thanksgiving.htm


You might also want to check out Alisa Schadt's Turkey Day! icons.

Icons in this set:
Acorn, Bread, Candles, Leaf, Oven Mit, Pie, Pot, Pumpkin Pie, Silverware, Soup, Teapot, Turkey.

For more information, visit:
http://www.xicons.com/details/960.html

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