In November, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. It all started way back in 1621 when English settlers, called Pilgrims, celebrated after their first successful harvest in the New World. The three-day feast took place in Plymouth, Massachusetts. About 50 Pilgrims were there along with about 90 members of the Wampanoag Indian tribe.
After the Pilgrims’ first feast, it took over 200 years for Thanksgiving to become an official national holiday. In 1863, in the middle of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln declared that the fourth Thursday in November should be celebrated as a day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”
Since then, Thanksgiving has been an American tradition, a time when families and friends gather together to count their blessings and eat lots of good food (but not necessarily in that order). So today — and every other day — take time to count your blessings. You may not be able to count them all, but it never hurts to try!
Quotes about Being Thankful
“It is always possible to be thankful for what is given rather than to complain about what is not given.”
Elisabeth Elliot.”
“No matter what our circumstance, we can always find a reason to be thankful.”
David Jeremiah
“It is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“Fill up the spare moments of your life with praise and thanksgiving.”
Sarah Young
“If you can’t tell whether your glass is half-empty or half-full, you don’t need another glass. What you need is better eyesight and a more thankful heart.”
Marie T. Freeman
Fun Facts About Thanksgiving
Fun Fact: The first Thanksgiving was a three-day feast. But the Pilgrims and Indians may not have eaten much turkey. Instead, they probably ate fish, oysters, geese, ducks, deer, pumpkins, and cranberries.
Fun Fact: The first nationwide “day of thanksgiving” was approved by the Continental Congress and signed by George Washington in 1789. But the celebration was to be a one-time event, not an annual holiday. It took another 66 years before Abraham Lincoln declared the national holiday that we still celebrate today.
Fun Fact: The woman who wrote “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Sarah Josepha Hale, is known as the “Mother of Thanksgiving” because she helped convince President Lincoln that the holiday would be a good idea. Sarah Hale had already been promoting the idea of a national Thanksgiving holiday for 20 years when Lincoln finally made it official.
Fun Fact: Other nations celebrate Thanksgiving, too. These holidays often take place in the fall, but not on the fourth Thursday in November. For example, in Canada Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October.
Fun Fact: The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade began in 1924 when about 400 employees marched through New York City with live animals from Central Park Zoo. There were no big balloons at the first Macy’s parade.
Here's a riddle for you:
Which side of a turkey has the most feathers?
The outside.
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