Thanksgiving
| Thanksgiving Day | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Observed by |  Canada United States |
| Type | National, cultural |
| Date | 2nd Monday in October (Canada) 4th Thursday in November (U.S.) |
| 2010 date |
October 11, 2010 (Canada); |
| 2011 date |
October 10, 2011 (Canada); |
Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Traditionally, it has been a time to give thanks for a bountiful harvest. While it may have been religious in origin, Thanksgiving is now primarily identified as a secular holiday.[1] It is sometimes casually referred to as Turkey Day.
In Canada, Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the second Monday in October, which is Columbus Day in the United States. In the United States, it falls on the fourth Thursday of November.
The precise historical origin of the holiday is disputed. Although Americans commonly believe that the first Thanksgiving happened in 1621 at Plymouth, Massachusetts, there is strong evidence for earlier celebrations in Canada (1578) and by Spanish explorers in Florida (1565).[citation needed]
Thanksgiving Day is also celebrated in Leiden, in the Netherlands. A different holiday which uses the same name is celebrated at a similar time of year in the island of Grenada.
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Historical origins
The date, location, and purpose of the first Thanksgiving celebration are topics of some disagreement.
In the United States
- Florida (1565)
Author and teacher Robyn Gioia and Michael Gannon, of the University of Florida, have argued that the earliest attested "thanksgiving" celebration in what is now the United States was celebrated by the Spanish on September 8, 1565 in what is now Saint Augustine, Florida.[2][3]
- Virginia (1619)
A day of thanksgiving was codified in the founding charter of Berkeley Hundred in Charles City County, Virginia in 1619.[4]
- Massachusetts (1621)
While not the first thanksgiving of any sort on the continent, the traditional origin of modern Thanksgiving in the United States is generally regarded to be the celebration that occurred at the site of Plymouth Plantation, in Massachusetts, in 1621. The Wampanoag Native Americans helped the pilgrims who arrived in Massachusetts cultivate the land and fish, saving them from starvation. This harvest celebration occurred early in the history of what would become one of the original Thirteen Colonies that later were to become the United States. This Thanksgiving was modeled after harvest festivals that were commonplace in Europe at the time.
According to historian Jeremy Bangs, director of the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum, the Pilgrims may have been influenced by watching the annual services of thanksgiving for the relief of the siege of Leiden in 1574, while they were staying in Leiden.[5]
In Canada
- Newfoundland (1578)
The history of Thanksgiving in Canada goes back to an explorer, Martin Frobisher, who had been trying to find a northern passage to the Pacific Ocean. Frobisher's Thanksgiving celebration was not for harvest, but for homecoming. He had safely returned from a search for the Northwest Passage, avoiding the later fate of Henry Hudson and Sir John Franklin. In the year 1578, Frobisher held a formal ceremony in Newfoundland to give thanks for surviving the long journey.[6]
- New France (17th C)
French settlers who came to New France with explorer Samuel de Champlain in the early 17th century also took to celebrating their successful harvests. They even shared their food with the indigenous peoples of the area as well as setting up what became known as the "Order of Good Cheer."[7]
- Other influences
As many more settlers arrived in Canada, more celebrations of good harvest became common. New immigrants into the country, such as the Irish, Scottish and Germans, would also add their own harvest traditions to the harvest celebrations. Most of the American aspects of Thanksgiving (such as the turkey) were incorporated when United Empire Loyalists began to flee from the United States during the American Revolution and settled in Canada.[7]
Fixing the date of the holiday
Currently, in the United States Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November, and in Canada it is celebrated on the second Monday of October .
Thanksgiving in the United States was observed on various dates throughout history. By the mid 20th century, the final Thursday in November had become the customary day of Thanksgiving in most U.S. states. It was not until December 26, 1941, however, that President Franklin D. Roosevelt, after pushing two years earlier to move the date earlier to give the country an economic boost, signed a bill into law with Congress, making Thanksgiving a national holiday and settling it to the fourth (but not final) Thursday in November.[8]
Thanksgiving in Canada did not have a fixed date until the late 19th century, at which time it was typically held on November 6. After the end of World War I, Thanksgiving Day and Remembrance Day ceremonies were usually held during the same week. To prevent the two holidays from clashing with one another, in 1957 the Canadian Parliament proclaimed Thanksgiving to be observed on its present date.[7]
Observance around the world
United States
Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, currently celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, has been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863. Historically, Thanksgiving has been a religious observance to give thanks to God.[1]
Canada
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day (Canadian French: Jour de l'Action de grâce), occurring on the second Monday in October, is an annual Canadian holiday to give thanks at the close of the harvest season. Although the original act of Parliament references God and the holiday is celebrated in churches, the holiday is also celebrated in a secular manner.
Netherlands
Many of the Pilgrims who would end up at the Plymouth Plantation had resided in the city of Leiden from 1609–1620, many of whom had recorded their birth, marriages and deaths at the Pieterskerkchurch.[9] To commemorate this, a non-denominational Thanksgiving Day service is held each year on the morning of the American Thanksgiving Day in the Pieterskerk, a Gothic church in Leiden, to commemorate the hospitality the Pilgrims received in Leiden on their way to the New World.[10]
Grenada
In the West Indian island of Grenada, there is a national holiday known as Thanksgiving Day which is celebrated on October 25. Even though it bears the same name, and is celebrated at roughly the same time as the American and Canadian versions of Thanksgiving, this holiday is unrelated to either of those celebrations. Instead the holiday marks the anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of the island in 1983, in response to the deposition and execution of Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop.[11]
Liberia
In the West African country of Liberia, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the first Thursday of November.
References
- ^ a b "Thanksgiving Day". Encyclopædia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/590003/Thanksgiving-Day. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
- ^ USA Today article reporting research into the purportedly first Thanksgiving in St. Augustine, FL
- ^ See also NYTimes article of Nov 25, 2008
- ^ "The First Thanksgiving Proclamation — June 20, 1676". The Covenant News. http://www.covenantnews.com/thanks01.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-27.
- ^ Jeremy Bangs. "Influences". The Pilgrims' Leiden. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~netlapm/Page31K.htm. Retrieved 2010-09-11.
- ^ "Canada's first Thanksgiving: Frobisher set stage for our celebrations in different spirit than U.S.". canada.com. http://www.canada.com/holidays/thanksgiving2005/story.html?id=74257801-d907-46e0-9bbd-c386515c6fe5.
- ^ a b c Solski, Ruth "Canada's Traditions and Celebrations" McGill-Queen's Press, ISBN 1-5503-5694-1 p.12
- ^ See 55 Stat. 862 (1941).
- ^ Consulate General of the United States, Amsterdam. "Thanksgiving Day Events in the Netherlands, 2007". U.S. Department of State. http://amsterdam.usconsulate.gov/thanksgiving_events.html. Retrieved 2010-10-02.
- ^ "Dutch town". The World (radio program). http://www.theworld.org/?q=node/22856&answer=true. Retrieved 2008-11-28. "The Pilgrims arrived in Leiden in 1609, after fleeing religious persecution in England. Leiden welcomed them because it needed immigrants to help rebuild its textile industry, which had been devastated by a long revolt against Spain. Here, the Pilgrims were allowed to worship as they wanted, and they even published their arguments calling for the separation of church and state. Jeremy Bangs directs the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum. He says the Pilgrims quickly adopted several Dutch customs, like civil marriage and Thanksgiving."
- ^ Grenada Board of Tourism official website
External links
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