Thanksgiving - History, Traditions, And Its Meaning In Today's World
On the last thursday of November, American families get together to celebrate Thanksgiving.
In the US, Thanksgiving officially kicks off the holiday season - and actually, more people in the US celebrate Thanksgiving than they do Christmas. Since this holiday is a tradition of the country and has nothing to do with religion, Thanksgiving is a day that every American can celebrate.
History of Thanksgiving
The origins of Thanksgiving date back to 1621.
As the pilgrims from England were adjusting to their new life, their harvest of the year before had failed and half of the population died due to famine.
Luckily, the local Wampanoag tribe taught the pilgrims how to grow corn, beans and squash as well as catch fish and other seafood.
Thanks to their help, the pilgrims managed to achieve a particularly rich harvest one year later, in 1621.
To show their gratitude, they invited the Wampanoag tribe to a 3-day feast with goose, lobster, cod, dear, and other delicacies.
The classic turkey actually wasn't a part of the meal back then - there are several rumours about how turkey actually became a traditional Thanksgiving food.
Some say this was due to a turkey hunt before the dinner in 1621, others say Queen Elizabeth I started this tradition, or the turkey might have been added to the menu because there are countless wild turkeys in North America.
For the next few decades, Thanksgiving was mostly known and celebrated in New England, but not in southern parts of the US. Every state was celebrating their own harvest festivals at different times during autumn.
It wasn't until 1863 when president Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving an official national holiday on the last thursday of each november.
Thanksgiving traditions
Pardoning the Thanksgiving turkey
Every year, the president of the United States pardons 2 turkeys and spares their lives.
Each Thanksgiving, the white house would be gifted with several turkeys during Thanksgiving - which were generally eaten, of course.
In 1987, Ronald Reagan was the first president to spare the turkey's lives - and his successor George HW Bush made the pardoning ceremony into an official tradition ever since then.
80 turkeys are randomly chosen as candidates for the pardoning.
The two largest and best-behaved birds are then pardoned by the president, and continue to live their lives at Morven Park in Virginia.
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
The annual parade of Macy's department store in New York City has also become a tradition on Thanksgiving and is being broadcasted globally on TV during Thanksgiving morning.
The parade features giant balloons and statues, floats, marching bands, cheerleaders and more.
It all started in the 1920s when many of the Macy's employees were immigrants, and wanted to celebrate the American holiday with a kind of parade that they knew from their home in Europe.
Home for the holidays
As mentioned above, Thanksgiving is even more important than Christmas to some Americans.
No wonder that Thanksgiving is one of the busiest travel days in the whole year - everyone is taking flights, trains or buses to get back home over the Thanksgiving weekend.
An estimated 25 million people will be traveling cross-country and worldwide during these few days.
But for anyone who isn't able to visit their family on Thanksgiving: the concept of "Friendsgiving", celebrating with close friends instead of family, has also become quite popular.
Thanksgiving in modern times
The world and society have changed drastically since the first Thanksgiving dinner 400 years ago.
For one, the eating habits have also changed quite a bit - many households will be having a vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free or gluten-free Thanksgiving.
In times of Instagram and Snapchat, Thanksgiving has also become much more about sharing your family experience online - and of course, making your food "instagrammable" is part of that.
Many people are actually criticizing Thanksgiving and its origins now - the legend of the first Thanksgiving may be a lie and the holiday as we know it has become a tool for consumerism.
And it's true - Thanksgiving has turned from a holiday of gratitude to a global consumerism phenomenon with "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday".
Most stores are offering the biggest discounts of the year during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Even in Europe, which has nothing to do with traditional Thanksgiving, stores have started bringing out Black Friday deals every year.
In the US, black friday might just be the most profitable day for the economy, with over 100 million people going shopping that day.
And people really take their black friday deals seriously - there is countless video footage on youtube showing people running, fighting and hurting others in order to be first in line or get a selected discount product.
This is quite the contrast to the original meaning of this holiday - being thankful, helping each other, and being a supportive community.
GRATITUDE
But this one key factor of Thanksgiving remains: GRATITUDE.
In times like these, gratitude is actually more important than ever.
On Thanksgiving day, people are reminded to think about what they're grateful for - but actually, Gratitude is something that we should practice every day and not only once a year.
Embracing Gratitude in your daily life can have a huge impact on your mood, surroundings, and overall well-being.
Gratitude makes you feel grounded, it reminds you to appreciate the little things in life!
At the same time, knowing how blessed you are also makes you cope better with stress and small issues that we would normally get annoyed over.
I am beyond grateful for the countless blessings in my life.
What are you most grateful for this Thanksgiving ?
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© Sirwinchester
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Everyone debates its origins, and some people condemn, and refuse to celebrate it because of that. I really think it's the most beautiful holiday though. Being humble and thankful for what we have is celebration worth having. A time to be grateful for the roof over our head, food on our plate, and loved ones to share it with. In a time where it seems everyone is constantly looking to prove they had it "harder" then their peers, we need to be reminded that even though most impoverished, traumatized, or oppressed among us in the western world are still some of the most provilidged people to ever walk the planet. The fact that "micro aggressions" and "free" healthcare are some of our biggest issues proves how privilidged we are. It shows our biggest concern isn't starving to death, or being taken by the elements any more. Even with all the comforts of modern society somehow we are more depressed and suicidal than ever in history. We have a higher suicide rate than slaves did. We have a higher suicide rate then the worst parts of Africa, are we really more oppressed and picked on then starving children? Even 100 years ago a 40 hour work week and weekends off was almost unheard of. For most of history almost everyone worked all day every day just to feed themselves, but now we feel oppressed when we can't live a comfortable lifestyle with our 40 hour work week. The average American watches 4 hours of tv a day. The fact that most people have 4 hours of leisure time a day, plus 2 days a week off and their not starving to death is quite amazing. The world needs to be humble and thankful more than ever. Most of the world has it harder than any of us. Be thankful, be humble, and realize how damn lucky we are. Thanks @sirwinchester you da man!
Very insightful, you are so right. In our modern society, it is easy to lose perspective and get annoyed over "first world problems".
Being healthy, having food and shelter, and family/friends is already a huge blessing that you should be thankful for every single day.
Nice topic chosen for today dear @sirwinchester ....I think Thanksgiving is a good tradition of our elders...
Thank you! You're right, it's all about family and giving thanks to you elder family members as well.
thank for new information history @sirwinchester
goog people are never forget the history
Glad you enjoyed it :)
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones.Hope you are able to avoid the Black Friday shopping madness
Thank you and happy Thanksgiving to you as well!
I will definitely stay away from Black Friday!
Happy thanks giving to you and your family, lets hope the coming year would bring health ,wealth and happiness to all of us .Thanks for sharing very informative content ,have up voted your post
Thank you very much, I appreciate it. Wishing all the best for you and your family as well.
Very beautiful history, i like it
Thank you :)
Great post on thanksgiving day buddy. Loved reading it. Happy thanksgiving day to you. Upvoted and following u as always.
Regards Nainaz
#thealliance
Thank you, much appreciated!
Thank you so much for giving a great history #Thanksgiving
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Did the Pilgrims kill all the Indians on purpose, or was it partly accidental, are most Americans part Indian due to interracial breeding, marriages, like between people like Pocahontas & John Smith back in the 1600's A.D, & are all Americans automatically evil because of what like alleged Democrats & others did in like the late 1800's & were the Indians already murdering each other, tribes versus other tribes, for many centuries?