Thanksgiving History and Origin

One of the biggest and warmest holidays of the United States, Thanksgiving has its history and origin way back in centuries. There are discrete instances of thanksgiving observances in history, all of which bear resemblance to the modern celebrations of Thanksgiving; but the generally proper and circulated view is that the modern day American Thanksgiving has its origin in 1621, when the Pilgrims, or the English settlers and the Native Americans renowned a three-day long feast in Plymouth, Massachusetts. But quite contrary to this beloved belief, the Pilgrims were never the first to have a Thanksgiving feast. Feasts celebrating a good harvest existed well before the Pilgrims or the settlers arrived. Nevertheless, it's true that these Pilgrims held a Thanksgiving feast (more aptly, a feast to say 'thanks') in the first year of their survival in America

Following this Pilgrim's 1621 Thanksgiving observance, began the Thanksgiving tradition of retention feasts after a good harvest. Citizen ordinarily celebrate Thanksgiving to mark the Autumn harvest and make merry in the plentiful yield. There is, however, a long tradition of celebrating the harvest throughout history. It might interest you to know that even the ancient Greeks and Romans had their respective harvest celebrations with music, parades and feasts quite like today's Thanksgiving celebrations. Citizen in ancient China also had their harvest festival with families feasting together on 'moon cakes' (round yellowish cakes). This was to celebrate the full moon and, as a matter of fact, the Chinese still celebrate this as their Moon Festival with much hype and hoopla ! Then again, there's the harvest festival of the Jews. The Jewish harvest fest, Sukkot, is renowned for eight days and is an opportunity to catch up with the house on feasts and to be thankful for a good year. The British Isles too has a harvest festival called the Lammas, which marks the starting of the harvest season.

Now, whatever the history and origin, Thanksgiving today is primarily a day set aside in the most part of North America to show gratitude and be thankful to God. Feasts and house reunions are a quarterly trend for Thanksgiving in North America. In the United States, Thanksgiving is renowned on the fourth Thursday in November every year. But in Canada, the harvest season ends a miniature earlier in the year. Hence in Canada, Thanksgiving is renowned on the second Monday in October. The Canadians have a three-day long Thanksgiving weekend and the holiday is not as significantly hyped here as in the United States. The Canadians also do not get enough time for a convenient homecoming. So they reserve the house reunions for the Christmas holiday.

The Thanksgiving holiday has serious religious shades for the Roman Catholic Quebecers, who call it l'Action de Grâce. Thanksgiving has a long-standing history in Europe; it is connected with the harvest festivals held there.

So then, as you see, celebrating harvest is quite old. And so is the thanksgiving act--to thank the Almighty for all the good things He has given us ! And all these harvest festivities, although having cultural differences, are coarse in spirit to the modern American Thanksgiving.