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Explore the human capacity to celebrate!
Human Geography
Thanksgiving
Resources
Thanksgiving is a
holiday celebrated in much of North America, generally observed as an
expression of gratitude, usually to God. The most common view of its
origin is that it was to give thanks to God for the bounty of the autumn
harvest. In the United States, the holiday is celebrated on the fourth
Thursday in November. Source:
Wikipedia
Thanksgiving on the Net - Welcome
A good Thanksgiving site, with a few good selected links to other Thanksgiving
sites. You can also...
Thanksgiving - Wikipedia
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is an annual holiday observed in the United
... For example, the modern Canadian Thanksgiving was brought to Canada by....
History
of Thanksgiving HistoryChannel.com's History of Thanksgiving allows
visitors to travel back to Plymouth and learn..
A Brief
History
We cherish the serving of turkey on Thanksgiving,
but did you know we did not always celebrate this treasured holiday, nor
was the turkey always the main meal. The Pilgrims in October, 1621 continued the
celebration of an old English tradition called Harvest Home ceremonies.
The farmers would celebrate the final harvest and prepare for the coming
winter, with food, games and celebration. The first American feast mentions
contests, games and numerous vegetables, deer and fowl, but does not mention
the turkey. The Native Americans joined in the multiple day festivities
and were rewarded some years later with an attack that killed most of them
and forced the rest off the land.
The holiday did not become official until
Sarah Josepha Hale of Godey's Lady Book led a single handed campaign
to make it a national holiday. In 1863 Lincoln felt it would be a
great help in the war effort and declared the last Thursday in November
Thanksgiving Day. Many homes during the war set a place for their sons,
husbands and brothers in hopes of their safe return. Franklin D. Roosevelt
in 1939 moved it to the third week, to give more shopping time between
Thanksgiving and Christmas. Congress entered and came up with the "fourth
Thursday" compromise and thus we have the established date. Canada
has their own Thanksgiving holiday on the second Monday in October.
As to the feathered fowl. It became the mainstay
of the feast after World War II, due in large part to an aggressive campaign
of the poultry industry (before this time several different main dishes
were served). They had just developed hybrid birds and were eager to increase
sales. Thus they developed the Pilgrim images we are use to seeing.
Resources
A Brief
History