Thanksgiving is always on the last Thursday of each November. Read more about the holiday that’s celebrated in the United States and Canada.
The event that Americans commonly call the “First Thanksgiving” was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in 1621. This feast lasted three days, and — as accounted by attendee Edward Winslow — it was attended by 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims.
In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today 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.
On October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a Proclamation making Thanksgiving a national holiday.
Read about what was on the menu at the first Thanksgiving compared to a traditional Thanksgiving dinner today.
Since 1924, Macy’s Department Store has presented the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City starting at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Thanksgiving Day and on television since 1952.
Activities
1. Watch This is America, Charlie Brown: The Mayflower Voyagers.
2. Make a Thanksgiving craft project. Below are some ideas!
3. Draw a Turkey with Shoo Rayner.
4. Write an essay or create a presentation on the first Thanksgiving.