What is "Thanksgiving" day actually about?

Question

Accuse me for my igorance but i'm British and i'm just curious what thanksgiving day is about, when is it, I think its some time in November and do other countries such as Australia celebrate it or is it just America, a simple straightforward answer would be much appreciated, thank you.

Answer 1

annual national holiday in the United States and Canada celebrating the harvest and other blessings of the past year.

The American holiday is rich in legend and symbolism. Americans generally believe that their Thanksgiving is modeled on a 1621 harvest feast shared by the English colonists (Pilgrims) of Plymouth and the Wampanoag Indians. In fact, neither the standard Thanksgiving meal of turkey, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie nor the family orientation of the day reflects the Plymouth event...

Answer 2

It's an occasion celebrated both in the United States and Canada (on different dates) as a family event. The story of Thanksgiving is basically the story of the Pilgrims and their thankful community feast at Plymouth, Massachusetts.

The Pilgrims, who set sail from Plymouth, England on a ship called the Mayflower on September 6, 1620, were fortune hunters, bound for the resourceful 'New World'. The Mayflower was a small ship crowded with men, women and children, besides the sailors on board. Aboard were passengers comprising the 'separatists', who called themselves the "Saints", and others, whom the separatists called the "Strangers".
After land was sighted in November following 66 days of a lethal voyage, a meeting was held and an agreement of truce was worked out. It was called the Mayflower Compact. The agreement guaranteed equality among the members of the two groups. They merged together to be recognized as the "Pilgrims." They elected John Carver as their first governor.

Although Pilgrims had first sighted the land off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, they did not settle until they arrived at a place called Plymouth. It was Captain John Smith who named the place after the English port-city in 1614 and had already settled there for over five years. And it was there that the Pilgrims finally decided to settle. Plymouth offered an excellent harbor and plenty of resources. The local Indians were also non-hostile.

But their happiness was short-lived. Ill-equipped to face the winter on this estranged place they were ravaged thoroughly.

Somehow they were saved by a group of local Native Americans who befriended them and helped them with food. Soon the natives taught the settlers the technique to cultivate sweetcorn and grow native vegetables, and store them for hard days. By the next winter they had raised enough crops to keep them alive. The winter came and passed by without much harm. The settlers knew they had beaten the odds and it was time to celebrate. They celebrated it with a grand community feast wherein the friendly native Americans were also invited. It was kind of a harvest feast, the Pilgrims used to have in England. The recipes entail "corn" (wheat, by the Pilgrims usage of the word), Indian corn, barley, pumpkins and peas, "fowl" (specially "waterfowl"), deer, fish. And yes, of course wild turkey.
However, the third year was really bad when the sweetcorn got damaged. Pilgrim Governor William Bradford ordered a day of fasting and prayer, and rain happened to follow soon. To celebrate - November 29th of that year was proclaimed a day of thanksgiving. This date is believed to be the real beginning of the present Thanksgiving Day.
Though the Thanksgiving Day is presently celebrated on the fourth Thursday of every November. This date was set by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939 (approved by Congress in 1941). Earlier it was the last Thursday in November as was designated by the former President Abraham Lincoln. But sometimes the last Thursday would turn out to be the fifth Thursday of the month. This falls too close to the Christmas, leaving the businesses even less than a month's time to cope up with the two big festivals. Hence the change.

Nowadays essential items on the table for Thanksgiving are turkey, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.

Answer 3

A day set aside to thank God for all of your blessings.

Answer 4

thanksgiving is to give thanks for the fall harvest. when the settlers came to north america...it was the native indians that showed them how to live off the land. they showed them how to grow corn and what veg they could eat and grow. also, how to raise turkey's and other livestock. that's why turkey is traditional to eat at this time.

if it wasn't for the native indians, the english would have starved to death...and the english still slaughtered thousands of indians.....what english always did best..rape and pillage.

Answer 5

it's the american equivalent of our harvest fesitival. thanking the lord for natures bounty

Answer 6

The day Americans give thanks for kill the native indigenes (Red Indians) of the Land

Answer 7

I believe it is their equivalent to our harvest festival, giving thanks for their crops. I may be wrong, so please don't be annoyed with me if I am.