In the United States, Thanksgiving Day is one of the
biggest holidays of the year. It is celebrated primarily in the United States
and Canada. In the United States it is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of
November. It is a day when families from all over the United States get
together (sometimes travelling long distances) and prepare traditional dishes,
watch football on TV and have a big meal.
A traditional meal usually consists of a stuffed oven
roasted turkey as the main dish. Other dishes like potatoes (in various forms)
and cranberry sauce are also considered traditional by most families. Watching
a football game on TV has also become part of the Thankgiving tradition for
American families. Many also like to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade
on TV, which is transmitted, live from New York City.
The origins of this holiday in the United States go
back to 1621 when the Pilgrims and the native Indians sat together and enjoyed
a feast to celebrate a successful harvest. The Pilgrims were Europeans who came
to the United States seeking religious freedom. They founded a colony at
Plymouth in present day Massachusetts but would not have survived without the
help of the native Indians who lived there. They continued this traditional
feast for many years after that.
When the United States won its independence from
England in 1776, each state celebrated Thanksgiving on a different day. In 1863
President Abraham Lincoln, in an effort to unite the northern and southern
states, fixed Thanksgiving Day for the entire country as the last Thursday of
November. In 1941, President Franklin D Roosevelt made Thanksgiving Day the
fourth Thursday of November (not necessarily the last one).
