Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Thanksgiving Day:

 

It's more than just pilgrims, pumpkin pie, turkey and the day before the busiest shopping day of the year read on...

 

Despite the popular conception that New Englanders held the first Thanksgiving, the first Thanksgiving in English-speaking America actually took place in Virginia - more than a year before the Mayflower set sail for Plymouth.

 

History records show that the first Thanksgiving occurred when Captain John Woodlief - a veteran of Jamestown who survived its "starving time" - led his crew and passengers from their ship to a grassy slope along the James River for the New World's first Thanksgiving service on December 4, 1619. 

 

The next recorded celebration, also the most recognized, occurred in 1621.   In July of 1620, forty-six "Saints" started their journey to America from Holland aboard the Mayflower.  This group of people had spent the last twelve years of their lives hiding in exile from religious persecution in England.  On November 11, 1621 they arrived and settled an area of present day Massachusetts in an abandoned Indian village called Patuxet.  Their late arrival, harsh winter, and lack of food caused great hardship.  Nearly half of the original Pilgrims from the Mayflower died.  Squanto, a previous inhabitant of Patuxet, befriended the pilgrims and lived with them.  His knowledge of agriculture, hunting and construction was a Godsend to these humble people.  The following November, they celebrated a Thanksgiving for their arrival and bounty in the new land.  Other local native Americans, the Wampanoags, joined in the festivities by bringing additional food and playing games with the settlers.  

 

The first national celebration of Thanksgiving occurred in 1777.  It was a one time event used as a way to celebrate the American defeat of the British at Saratoga during the Revolutionary War.  Thanksgiving was erratically recognized until 1827 when Sarah Joseph Hale started a campaign to make it a national holiday.  As the editor of the Boston's Ladies Magazine, Sarah started writing editorials about her belief that the country needed to set aside a day to give thanks.

 

Finally, her persistence paid off with Abraham Lincoln on October 3, 1863.  Two hundred forty-four years after the first Thanksgiving celebration, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national holiday.  It wasn't until 1941, that Congress declared the fourth Thursday in November to be the legal Holiday in America known as Thanksgiving!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Gobble! Gobble! Gobble!