How did thanksgiving originate?

Question

is it only ceebrated in the US?

Answer 1

Canada has a thanksgiving day too but it is a different month from ours. The Pilgrims started it with a feast and the American Indians were invited and participated in the event.

Answer 2

Each year in November we all gather with our families and eat turkey, dressing, pumpkin pie, and plenty of other traditional foods. But, why do we celebrate Thanksgiving? And, how many of us know exactly how Thanksgiving originated? Most Americans think they have a pretty good idea, but its always nice to go over the beginning of Thanksgiving to remind us why we give thanks and how it all really started. Interestingly enough there are several ideas of how Thanksgiving originated. The most common one is discussed below. The common idea is that Thanksgiving originated with the Pilgrims. Most Americans have this idea that when the Pilgrims landed in America and settled themselves they wanted to give thanks and appreciation for making it through the long journey. Also, they ended up sharing their feast with the Native Americans. Or did they? The fact is that the first Thanksgiving was shared between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians in 1621. The celebration was more of a harvest festival with sports, games, food, dancing, singing, and revelry. When it comes to the food they ate the menu wasnt much like todays. Instead, it consisted of venison, fowl, and other foods prepared by the pilgrims. Interestingly enough the first Thanksgiving as we know it did not create a yearly tradition among the pilgrims. Partly because the following year was a poor one and because many new settlers had arrived, Thanksgiving became a celebration that was only observed occasionally over the following centuries. However, thanks to the Revolutionary War all of America celebrated Thanksgiving together in 1777. But, that still didnt get the tradition going like it is today. It wasnt until 1863 when Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November Thanksgiving that the tradition really became part of Americas culture. The only other change was when Franklin Roosevelt changed the date to the fourth Thursday in 1939. Of course, you may have learned a different Thanksgiving story in school or you may be one who believes Thanksgiving as a celebration shared by the Indians and the Pilgrims took part in their celebration. There is no shortage of ideas about how Thanksgiving originated. However, the above account is one that is traditionally accepted by Americans and the one that most people tend to believe.

Answer 3

Thanksgiving Day , legal holiday in the U.S., first celebrated in early colonial times in New England. The actual origin, however, is probably the harvest festivals that are traditional in many parts of the world Festivals and Feasts. After the first harvest was completed by the Plymouth colonists in 1621, Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving and prayer, shared by all the colonists and neighboring Native Americans. The Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock held their Thanksgiving in 1621 as a three day "thank you" celebration to the leaders of the Wampanoag Indian tribe and their families for teaching them the survival skills they needed to make it in the New World. It was their good fortune that the tradition of the Wampanoags was to treat any visitor to their homes with a share of whatever food the family had, even if supplies were low. It was also an amazing stroke of luck that one of the Wampanoag, Tisquantum or Squanto, had become close friends with a British explorer, John Weymouth, and had learned the Pilgrim's language in his travels to England with Weymouth.
After the first New England Thanksgiving the custom spread throughout the colonies, but each region chose its own date.

Apart from the US, Canada also celebrates Thanksgiving but on a different date.

In Europe it is not celebrated.

Answer 4

Thanksgiving Day in the United States is an annual day of thanks for the blessings of the past year, observed on the fourth Thursday in November in each of the states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. It is a historical, national, and religious holiday that began with the Pilgrims. After the survival of their first colony through the bitter winter, and the gathering of the harvest, Gov. William Bradford of Plymouth Colony issued a thanksgiving proclamation in the autumn of 1621. This first thanksgiving lasted three days, during which the Pilgrims feasted on wild turkey and venison with their Indian guests.

Days of thanksgiving were celebrated sporadically until, on November 26, 1789, President Washington issued a proclamation of a nation-wide day of thanksgiving. He made it clear that the day should be one of prayer and giving thanks to God. It was to be celebrated by all religious denominations, a circumstance that helped to promote a spirit of common heritage.

Credit for establishing this day as a national holiday is usually given to Sarah J. Hale, editor and founder of the Ladies' Magazine (from 1828) in Boston. Her editorials in the magazine and letters to President Lincoln urging the formal establishment of a national holiday of thanksgiving resulted in Lincoln's proclamation in 1863, designating the last Thursday in November as the day. Succeeding presidents annually followed his example, except for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who in 1939 proclaimed Thanksgiving Day a week earlier--on the fourth but not the last Thursday--to encourage holiday shopping. In 1941, Congress adopted a joint resolution setting the date on the fourth Thursday.

Answer 5

Every country has it's own Thanksgiving, except it's celebrated on different dates. Thanksgiving originated from the pilgrims that came to America from Europe to escape religious prosecution.

Answer 6

This started when the pilgrims attacked the indians and took over their land. It was a celebration for "finding" the new land that was just taken over. American forefathers decided it was more acceptable to call it a time to be thankful for what we have( Instead of what we took and what the Pilgrims lost)

Answer 7

contrary to popular beleife, the first Thanksgiving was in Jamestown and they had oysters, corn, nuts, hare, and other small things. They did not have turkey or any other meat like that. :]