Holiday observed on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States and the
second Monday in October in Canada. Celebrations of thanksgiving and harvest festivals
were known throughout Europe long before the Reformation and the coming of the
Pilgrims to America. The Saxons and the Celts celebrated Harvest Home; the Romans
observed Cerealia; the Israelites feasted during the Feast of Tabernacle, and all celebrated
through communal eating. In America the first Thanksgiving was observed by the
Popham colonists at Monkegon as part of the thanksgiving service of the Church of
England; early churchmen referred derisively to Thanksgiving Day as St. Pompion’s Day
(Pumpkin Day). In a similar vein, modern Americans sometimes refer to the holiday as
“Turkey Day.” A second Thanksgiving took place in 1623 to give thanks for the end of a
drought in July; the next recorded public Thanksgiving was celebrated in Boston by the
Bay Colony in gratitude for the safe arrival of ships bearing food and friends. These early
celebrations, more recreational than religious in nature, often lasted for several days and
involved games of skill as well as eating.
Attitudes toward other holiday celebrations affected how Thanksgiving was
celebrated. The Puritans were suspicious of the idolatry of the English Christmas
celebration; however, over the years, their Thanksgiving holiday took on many aspects of
English Christmas, including the reunion of family and friends and the serving of special
foods. In time, turkey replaced beef roast, and pumpkin pie became an expected dessert.
In its early history, Thanksgiving was a moveable feast, not tied to any particular date.
From 1631–1684 twenty-two public Thanksgivings were held; in 1742 there were two.
Thanksgiving was celebrated on whatever day and in whatever season seemed
appropriate. The idea of good harvest and a thanksgiving feast formed a natural
connection.
Thanksgiving became a nationally recognized holiday during the American
Revolution when Congress recommended a day be set aside for that purpose. However,
after the General Thanksgiving for Peace in 1784, the custom was omitted until
In Castle Garden, New York,
immigrants partake of their first
Thanksgiving dinner. Engraving,
Harper’s Weekly, 29 November 1884.
Library of Congress.
the adoption of the federal Constitution in 1789, when Washington and the Congress
assigned Thursday, November 26, as a day for a national observance. Although the
observance became uniform and traditional throughout New England, it was not
recognized in the South until 1858 when eight governors sent forth proclamations much
after the New England model, in spite of some opposition by their constituents to
“Yankee ideas.” President Abraham Lincoln recommended special days for Thanksgiving
during the Civil War. Although few Americans had much to be thankful for, this
symbolic idea began to heal the wounds. Credit for the permanent status of Thanksgiving
Day as a national holiday must be given to Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Godey’s Lady’s
Book, who worked for years to promote this idea, petitioning congressmen and die
president himself. Thanksgiving thus became a national institution, supported by the
power and authority of the national government but based on an ancient agrarian tradition
of giving thanks for bountiful harvests. In Canada a Thanksgiving holiday was first
observed in 1879, but is celebrated in October.
The center of Thanksgiving is the dinner; the central symbol of that meal is the turkey.
Although there is no evidence that turkeys were eaten at the first Thanksgiving, Governor
William Bradford of Plymouth Colony himself mentioned that during that autumn wild
turkeys were plentiful. The fowl suppliers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania began to push
the idea of turkey for Thanksgiving in the mid-19th century, and by 1883 the American public adopted the Thanksgiving turkey. Historians, writers, and artists rendered not just
contemporary Thanksgiving tables laden with turkey and pumpkin pies, but also the
tables of times past.
In this same commercial vein, Thanksgiving has traditionally marked the official
opening of the Christmas shopping season. In 1939 businessmen urged President
Roosevelt to move the date of Thanksgiving from the last Thursday in November to the
next-to-last in order to increase the number of shopping days before Christmas. Some
Americans actually celebrated Thanksgiving twice that year, ordering twice as many
turkeys. But in 1941, Congress officially mandated the last Thursday in November as the
day of celebration, and so it has remained. Thus, a powerful set of historical memories
reinforced by federal authority and the popular and commercial media created a
Thanksgiving Day celebration more traditional and uniform today than in the past and the
most uniformly celebrated of all of our national holidays, especially in terms of food.
Lin T.Humphrey