Thanksgiving History and Significance Essay
Introduction, significance of thanksgiving, works cited.
Thanksgiving is a day celebrated in the United States every year. The tradition of Thanksgiving celebrations in the United States can be traced back to the year 1863. Important to note is that Thanksgiving Day is a public holiday in the United States which is celebrated every year in November, (usually the fourth week of that month) and ” it is a big deal in America because Americans believe it to be the unique holiday, hardly found in this form anywhere else on earth” (Baker 1). This holiday is celebrated with a lot of merrymaking and communal
Thanksgiving as it is the day celebrated with an aim of showing gratitude for all the great things that life has given to a person, for example, family, friends, positive feelings and emotions. In an argument advanced by Bradford, “children should be enlightened on the importance of Thanksgiving so that it can be easy to preserve and pass the tradition to the present and future generation” (144). Even though Thanksgiving is often referred to as the harvest festival, it is something more than what it seems to suggest at first sight.
Thanksgiving Day was created by people, who were religious people that were running away from persecution in England; they were referred to as pilgrims. Initially, the pilgrims went to settle in the Netherlands, but later, they went to the North America for the purposes of setting up a colony.
Most of the pilgrims arrived in North America in the year 1620 at a time when the autumn season was welcoming the winter season. As Snow says, for them it was “a day of prayer and meditation, not necessry connected with a harvest or a feast. It was a special day of religious observance to acknowledge an act of God’s benevolence” (108). Unfortunately, a big number of the pilgrims died in the North America due to the cold weather they encountered.
The pilgrims began to engage in farming activities during the spring season. During their short stay in the North America, the native Indians assisted the pilgrims by means of guiding them on how to do farming, and also how to cook.
By the end of the summer season, the pilgrims had managed to get a bumper harvest and as such, they were able to store enough food to last out to the winter season . Following the good harvest, the pilgrims decided to organize a festival for the purposes of showing their gratitude to God for the good harvest they got.
Throughout the existence of mankind, the greatest happiness emanates from contentment of the individual. As such, it is always prudent for an individual to show his or her gratitude especially to those who in one way or another enabled this or that person to achieve what they were eager to achieve.
Needless to say, the foregoing principle forms the basis of Thanksgiving celebrations in the United States. During Thanksgiving, people celebrate and honor those who forfeited their own interests for the sake of others. The sacrifice made by the native Indian Americans is, therefore, celebrated and honored during the celebration of Thanksgiving. The United States sacrificed their land and gave up their culture for the greater interest of the nation.
Appreciating people is a simple and yet very powerful way of encouraging people for them to continue making more sacrifices and doing what is best for the sake of others. What is more, appreciating others through Thanksgiving presupposes a clear and loud message that the sacrifice made is recognized by the person it was meant for, and that it was satisfactory. “After all, the phrase thank you is cited as a virtual that is above all other virtues in the universe” (Weaver & Gollust 37).
Unlike in the traditional connotation of Thanksgiving, when people were grateful to God for a good harvest, the festival today, which is now celebrated across different countries all over the world, has a bit different meaning; on this day some families, priests, etc. visit the less fortunate and share with them what they have in plenty.
This gesture assures the less fortunate that there are people of good will who do care about them. Some of the significant features of Thanksgiving include family bonding, sharing and cooking meals, festive traditions as well as family values; it is also the dat symbolyzing the meaning of life, and above all a thanksgiving day.
As has been mentioned above, one of the most important aims of Thanksgiving festival is to create bonding between the members of one family. During the celebrations family members come together and strengthen their relationship as a family. Children are taught the values and traditions of the family as well as they are taught to respect the elders in the family and in the society, in general.
In other words, the concept of unity is emphasized during Thanksgiving. Family members, who do not stay around, travel long distances to reunite with other members of their families in order to enjoy the reunion of the family by means of sharing delicious food, praying together, singing and having other fun activities.
Thanksgiving is also the time when family’s friends and relatives share recipi and cook meals for each other at home, which is unlike during other celebrations when usually the packed food is served. Some of the traditional dishes prepared during Thanksgiving celebrations include sweet potatoes, corns, pie made out of pumpkin, cranberries, carved turkeys, to mention but a few. Generally, Thanksgiving is regarded as a period that spices up the holiday mood before Christmas.
It goes without saying that during Thanksgiving, food stores register the highest sales in comparison with any other period of the year. This holiday also caracterizes American culture. As Wallendorf and Arnould provide, ” Thanksgiving Day is a collective ritual that celebrates material abundance enacted through feasting” (13). This may be attributed to the fact that most people buy food stuff with an aim of giving it to others, namely, whom they care about, to those people they appreciate, or in case they simply want to help the needy.
In addition, Thanksgiving gives an opportunity for people to do charity and participate in religious ceremonies. Families, friends, and colleagues come together to sing songs and make prayers of Thanksgiving to God. “Prayer of Thanksgiving” is one of the songs that are commonly sung during Thanksgiving celebrations” (Bradford 145).
Some Americans make contributions during Thanksgiving which they give to the less fortunate individuals in the society. The poor, homeless, and the less fortunate members of the society are provided with clothes and food by some churches.
In an argument by Weaver & Gollust, “Thanksgiving is also an opportunity to show appreciation which is often done by give the family members and friends some presents” (43). This day is celebrated by most people in the United States in order to show their respect and appreciation to their colleagues at work, friends, elders, as wells as siblings.
“Some of the common presents given out during the Thanksgiving Day include: Jewellery, Thanksgiving flowers, wine, and cookies to mention but a few. It has been contended that the celebrations of Thanksgiving Day in the United States mark the commencement of the Christmas period” (Weaver & Gollust 42).
“In our day to day lives there are many problems and challenges that we encounter and such challenges and problems destructs the lives of people to the extent that there seems to be nothing worthwhile or good in life. Some of these issues may include unemployment, health problems, and many others” (Karter 36).
Thanksgiving is one of the events that reminds such individuals that there is hope, that there is a brighter side of life, such as loved ones, friends, along with other great things that life has to offer. Indeed, there are very few opportunities where an individual gets a chance to have quality time with his or her family. This opportunity is offered by Thanksgiving at least once a year.
Since 1863 the United States has been celebrating Thanksgiving every year. As a national holiday, Thanksgiving emanated from a declaration by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 that November 4 th of that year would be a thanksgiving day for the whole nation. The celebrations of this day or the inception of Thanksgiving Day by president Abraham Lincoln was intended to celebrate unity in the United States, as the country was undergoing civil war at the time.
Today, however, Thanksgiving is a festival where people celebrate and honor those who forfeited their own interests for the sake of others. The significance of thanksgiving days includes the moment when family members come together and strengthen their relationship as a family; it is also an opportunity for individuals to help and share what they have with the less fortunate in the society, and above all, it is an opportunity to show gratitude to those who sacrificed their interests for the benefit of others.
Baker, James W. Thanksgiving: The Biography of an American Holiday. Lebanon: University of Hampshire Press, 2009. Print.
Bradford, Edward. History of Plymouth Plantation . Harvard: Little, Brown and Company. 1856. Print.
Karter, Diana. Thanksgiving: An American holiday, an American history . Indiana: Indiana University press, 2004. Print.
Snow, Stephen Eddy. Performing the Pilgrims: A Study of Ethnohistorical Role-Playing at Plimoth Plantation. Mississippi: Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2008. Print.
Wallendorf, Melanie and, Eric J. Arnould. “We Gather Together”: Consumption Rituals of Thanksgiving Day”. Journal of Consumer Research . 18.1 (1991): 13-24. Print.
Weaver, Carolyn & Shelly, Gollust. “History & Lore.” The History of Thanksgiving 12.2 (2012): 23-45. Print.
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IvyPanda. (2018, December 11). Thanksgiving History and Significance. https://ivypanda.com/essays/thanksgiving-2/
"Thanksgiving History and Significance." IvyPanda , 11 Dec. 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/thanksgiving-2/.
IvyPanda . (2018) 'Thanksgiving History and Significance'. 11 December.
IvyPanda . 2018. "Thanksgiving History and Significance." December 11, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/thanksgiving-2/.
1. IvyPanda . "Thanksgiving History and Significance." December 11, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/thanksgiving-2/.
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Thanksgiving 2024
By: History.com Editors
Updated: November 19, 2024 | Original: October 27, 2009
Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in the United States, and, in 2024, falls on Thursday, November 28. In 1621, the Plymouth colonists from England and the Native American Wampanoag people shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies.
For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. It wasn’t until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War , that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November. But the holiday is not without controversy. Many Americans—including people of Native American ancestry—believe Thanksgiving celebrations mask the true history of oppression and bloodshed that underlies the relationship between European settlers and Native Americans.
Thanksgiving at Plymouth
In September 1620, a small ship called the Mayflower left Plymouth, England, carrying 102 passengers—an assortment of religious separatists seeking a new home where they could freely practice their faith and other individuals lured by the promise of prosperity and land ownership in the "New World." After a treacherous and uncomfortable crossing that lasted 66 days, they dropped anchor near the tip of Cape Cod, far north of their intended destination at the mouth of the Hudson River. One month later, the Mayflower crossed Massachusetts Bay, where the Pilgrims , as they are now commonly known, began the work of establishing a village at Plymouth.
Did you know? Lobster, seal and swans were on the Pilgrims' menu.
Throughout that first brutal winter, most of the colonists remained on board the ship, where they suffered from exposure, scurvy and outbreaks of contagious disease. Only half of the Mayflower’s original passengers and crew lived to see their first New England spring. In March, the remaining settlers moved ashore, where they received an astonishing visit from a member of the Abenaki tribe who greeted them in English.
Several days later, he returned with another Native American, Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe who had been kidnapped by an English sea captain and sold into slavery before escaping to London and returning to his homeland on an exploratory expedition. Squanto taught the Pilgrims, weakened by malnutrition and illness, how to cultivate corn, extract sap from maple trees, catch fish in the rivers and avoid poisonous plants. He also helped the settlers forge an alliance with the Wampanoag, a local tribe, which endured for more than 50 years and remains one of the few examples of harmony between European colonists and Native Americans.
When Was the First Thanksgiving?
In November 1621, after the Pilgrims’ first corn harvest proved successful, Governor William Bradford organized a celebratory feast and invited a group of the fledgling colony’s Native American allies, including the Wampanoag chief Massasoit. Now remembered as America’s “first Thanksgiving”—although the Pilgrims themselves may not have used the term at the time—the festival lasted for three days. While no record exists of the first Thanksgiving’s exact menu , much of what we know about what happened at the first Thanksgiving comes from Pilgrim chronicler Edward Winslow, who wrote:
“Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the Company almost a week, at which time amongst other Recreations, we exercised our Arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five Deer, which they brought to the Plantation and bestowed on our Governor, and upon the Captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty."
Historians have suggested that many of the dishes were likely prepared using traditional Native American spices and cooking methods. Because the Pilgrims had no oven and the Mayflower’s sugar supply had dwindled by the fall of 1621, the meal did not feature pies, cakes or other desserts, which have become a hallmark of contemporary celebrations
Origins of Thanksgiving National Holiday
Pilgrims held their second Thanksgiving celebration in 1623 to mark the end of a long drought that had threatened the year’s harvest and prompted Governor Bradford to call for a religious fast. Days of fasting and thanksgiving on an annual or occasional basis became common practice in other New England settlements as well.
During the American Revolution , the Continental Congress designated one or more days of thanksgiving a year, and in 1789 George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation by the national government of the United States; in it, he called upon Americans to express their gratitude for the happy conclusion to the country’s war of independence and the successful ratification of the U.S. Constitution . His successors John Adams and James Madison also designated days of thanks during their presidencies.
In 1817, New York became the first of several states to officially adopt an annual Thanksgiving holiday; each celebrated it on a different day, however, and the American South remained largely unfamiliar with the tradition.
In 1827, the noted magazine editor and prolific writer Sarah Josepha Hale —author, among countless other things, of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb”—launched a campaign to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday. For 36 years, she published numerous editorials and sent scores of letters to governors, senators, presidents and other politicians, earning her the nickname the “Mother of Thanksgiving.”
Abraham Lincoln finally heeded her request in 1863, at the height of the Civil War , in a proclamation entreating all Americans to ask God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.”
He scheduled Thanksgiving for the final Thursday in November, and it was celebrated on that day every year until 1939 when Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week in an attempt to spur retail sales during the Great Depression . Roosevelt’s plan, known derisively as Franksgiving, was met with passionate opposition, and in 1941 the president reluctantly signed a bill making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November.
Thanksgiving Food
In many American households, the Thanksgiving celebration has lost much of its original religious significance; instead, it now centers on cooking and sharing a bountiful meal with family and friends. Turkey, a Thanksgiving staple so ubiquitous it has become all but synonymous with the holiday, may or may not have been on offer when the Pilgrims hosted the inaugural feast in 1621.
Today, however, nearly 90 percent of Americans eat the bird—whether roasted, baked or deep-fried—on Thanksgiving, according to the National Turkey Federation. Other traditional foods include stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Volunteering is a common Thanksgiving Day activity, and communities often hold food drives and host free dinners for the less fortunate.
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
Parades have also become an integral part of the holiday in cities and towns across the United States. Presented by Macy’s department store since 1924, New York City’s Thanksgiving Day parade is the largest and most famous, attracting more than 3 million spectators along its 2.5-mile route and drawing an enormous television audience. It typically features marching bands, performers, elaborate floats conveying various celebrities and giant balloons shaped like cartoon characters.
Beginning in the mid-20th century and perhaps even earlier, the president of the United States has “pardoned” one or two Thanksgiving turkeys each year, sparing the birds from slaughter and sending them to a farm for retirement. A number of U.S. governors also perform the annual turkey pardoning ritual.
Thanksgiving Controversies
For some scholars, the jury is still out on whether the feast at Plymouth really constituted the first Thanksgiving in the United States. Indeed, historians have recorded other ceremonies of thanks among European settlers in North America that predate the Pilgrims’ celebration.
In 1565, for instance, the Spanish explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilé invited members of the local Timucua tribe to a dinner in St. Augustine , Florida , after holding a mass to thank God for his crew’s safe arrival. On December 4, 1619, when 38 British settlers reached a site known as Berkeley Hundred on the banks of Virginia’s James River, they read a proclamation designating the date as “a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.”
Some Native Americans and many others take issue with how the Thanksgiving story is presented to the American public, and especially to schoolchildren. In their view, the traditional narrative paints a deceptively sunny portrait of relations between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people, masking the long and bloody history of conflict between Native Americans and European settlers that resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands. Since 1970, protesters have gathered on the day designated as Thanksgiving at the top of Cole’s Hill, which overlooks Plymouth Rock, to commemorate a “ National Day of Mourning .” Similar events are held in other parts of the country.
Thanksgiving's Ancient Origins
Although the American concept of Thanksgiving developed in the colonies of New England, its roots can be traced both to Native Americans, as well as back to the other side of the Atlantic.
Both the Separatists who came over on the Mayflower and the Puritans who arrived soon after brought with them a tradition of providential holidays—days of fasting during difficult or pivotal moments and days of feasting and celebration to thank God in times of plenty.
As an annual celebration of the harvest and its bounty, moreover, Thanksgiving falls under a category of festivals that spans cultures, continents and millennia. In ancient times, the Egyptians , Greeks and Romans feasted and paid tribute to their gods after the fall harvest. Thanksgiving also bears a resemblance to the ancient Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot.
Finally, historians have noted that Native Americans had a rich tradition of commemorating the fall harvest with feasting and merrymaking long before Europeans set foot on America's shores.
Who Was Squanto, and What Was His Role in the First Thanksgiving?
Without Squanto, a.k.a. Tisquantum, to interpret and guide them to food sources, the Plymouth Colony Pilgrims may have never have survived.
Colonists at the First Thanksgiving Were Mostly Men Because Women Had Perished
The three‑day feast was about giving thanks, but it wasn't much like today's holiday.
8 Thanksgiving Celebrations Around the World
The United States isn’t the only nation with a holiday dedicated to gratitude—here are eight different variations of the Thanksgiving tradition from around the world.
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