what is thanksgiving?

Answer 1

The roots of this holiday go as far back as 1621 when the Pilgrims who arrived in the New World from England celebrated a particularly bountiful harvest following a very harsh winter earlier in the year.

Thanksgiving was originally intended to be just that – a day of giving thanks for all that we have been blessed with: homes to shelter us, food to sustain us, friends and family to support us, and the freedom to worship and live in any way that we might choose. I could tell you that this warm and fuzzy sentimental tradition is still carried out today, but I would be lying. Thanksgiving has become all about the food, and it is viewed as the final hurdle we must cross in order to unabashedly start reveling in the Christmas season.

The Pilgrims were members of the English Separatist Church, and sailed to Holland in order to flee from religious persecution. They did experience more religious freedom while there, but became disillusioned with the Dutch way of life, viewing their way of living as ungodly. Eventually, the Pilgrims managed to strike up a deal with a London stock company, who helped to finance this pilgrimage to America. Oddly enough, only about one-third of those aboard the ship (for those of you who don’t know it was called the Mayflower) were actually religious Puritans. The remainder of the men on board were hired by the stock company to protect their interests.

So as the story goes, the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. The Pilgrims were unprepared for the harsh New England winter that lay ahead of them, and by the following fall 46 of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower had perished. However, the harvest of 1621 was bountiful, and the Pilgrims decided to celebrate with a feast, including the Indians who had helped them to survive through that first year. The feast lasted for three days, and did not include the traditional items we think of when we think of Thanksgiving dinner today. The meal included wild duck and geese, venison, boiled pumpkin, fish, berries, clams, lobster, dried fruit, and watercress.

Thanksgiving was celebrated off and on over the next few hundred years until it was finally established as a legal holiday by Congress to be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November every year in 1941.

Answer 2

Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is an annual one-day holiday to give thanks (traditionally to God) for the things one has at the close of the harvest season. In the United States, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November, and in Canada it is celebrated on the second Monday in October. In the United Kingdom, Thanksgiving is another name for the Harvest festival, held in churches across the country on a relevant Sunday to mark the end of the local harvest, though it is not thought of as a major event (compared to Christmas or Easter) as it is in other parts of the world. This tradition was taken to North America by early settlers, where it became much more important.

Sorry to be yet another Wikipedia bore! I just couldn't resist it!!!

Answer 3

The first settlers to arrive on the Mayflower were in a sticky situation. They were starving and ill equiped to deal with the new world. The local indians took pity on them and fed them, introducing the Euros to Turkey.

A big feast was held, to thank god for the new friends and survival of the colony. They roasted up a turkey and did a lot of eating.

This event is celebrated every year in America and is their big day, like our Xmas. Turkey gets roasted. People travel to relatives that they would not normally see. Sit down and break bread, trying to avoid the usual arguments. USW.

Answer 4

Pumpkin Pie

Answer 5

Thanksgiving is a tim to be thankful for the good things in life.
Not to stuff your mouth with turkey!

Answer 6

Avoiding payment for the sevices or materials received

Answer 7

We remember the founding of our nation!

Answer 8

a cooked up holiday that advertisers made up to get people to spend money.

Answer 9

a day were everyone say thank you, what for? i dunno

oh and its also a day where turkey sales goes up

Answer 10

a day in which all family gather to thank god about his blessings