Thanksgiving is on its way to a dinner table near you. But have you ever truly understood why we “give thanks” on this food-filled Thursday? Most people know that Thanksgiving is a time to gather with family, friends, and a bountiful feast to celebrate and give thanks to God for an abundance of food from the autumn harvest. But do many people know the roots of this North American tradition? Here is a brief summary of what Thanksgiving is all about and how it came to be what it is today. In the United States, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. Traditionally, Thanksgiving is a time to share a feast among family and friends. Many people will travel thousands of miles to celebrate this holiday in the home of a relative. A traditional Thanksgiving meal in the United States will consist of turkey, cranberry, mashed potatoes, candied yams, gravy, green beans, stuffing, and the ever-popular pumpkin pie. Although it is not agreed upon, it is believed by many that the first Thanksgiving was in the autumn of 1621, when the Pilgrims held a three-day feast in celebration of their bountiful harvest following their arrival in North America. Many accounts of this feast depict the Pilgrims and Native Americans to have laid down their weapons to celebrate the abundant food together. Following this historical event, Thanksgiving was not again held until 1623, following a drought. Thanksgivings continued to occur on an irregular basis until the mid 17th Century, when they began annually, following the autumn harvest. But it wasn’t until 1863 that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a National Thanksgiving Day to be held on the final Thursday in November. Today, we continue to feast and give thanks on this glorious day. However, we not only give thanks for what we are about to consume, we give thanks for the loved ones that we choose to surround ourselves with. Thanksgiving began as a thanks to God for an abundance of food and alas, continues today as a giving of thanks for all that God has given us. "The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth." Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln, 3 October, 1863. Elizabeth Smith is a part-time freelance writer when she is not caring for her two young children. She also runs an online gift basket business called Crafty Gift Creations ~ Gift Baskets for Any Season and Every Reason: A website forged out of a love for gift giving. It is always better to give than to receive.
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