Today in History: The Origins of Thanksgiving
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THANKSGIVING DAY
While American mythology generally credits the Pilgrims and the members of the Wampanoag tribe with celebrating the first Thanksgiving, harvest festivals in which communities express their gratitude for their blessings predate the arrival of Europeans in North America. Both the French and Spanish settlers adopted these customs and they also appear in Jamestown before the arrival of the Pilgrims.
The three day Thanksgiving celebration in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621 was not referred to as a “Thanksgiving” feast at the time, but as a harvest celebration. It was attended by the 50 survivors from the Mayflower and 90 Wampanoags.
During the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress issued a proclamation each year asking the individual states to set aside a day to thank God for His blessings and ask his aid in prosecuting the war. After the war, presidents continued to sporadically declare days of Thanksgiving until Abraham Lincoln made the final Thursday in November Thanksgiving Day in 1863. The last Thursday of November continued to be recognized as Thanksgiving Day until 1939 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt switched it to the second to last Thursday in November in an attempt to boost sales during the Great Depression by stretching out the Christmas season. (In 1939 there were five Thursdays in November.) Republicans protested the change as an insult to Lincoln and the public began to refer to November 30 as “Republican Thanksgiving” and November 23 as “Franksgiving” (For FRANKlin D. Rooesvelt). (Yes, our government during the Great Depression, with World War II having just broken out in Europe, really had nothing better to do than debate the proper day to be thankful.)
In 1941, Congress got involved and made Thanksgiving Day the fourth Thursday in November rather than the last day. This was seen as a compromise between the two positions. It also made the celebration a matter of federal law. (Of course, not every state could accept this compromise. Texas was the last holdout, abandoning the last Thursday of the month only in 1956.)
And that’s why we celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November even today.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
