What Is the Meaning of Thanksgiving and Why Do We Celebrate It on a Thursday?

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Whenever the holiday season comes around, annual traditions and Thanksgiving activities seem to explode. Family events center around each special occasion, and Thanksgiving is no exception. However, even though this celebration is so common for American households and we grow up anticipating the turkey, amazing sides (not to mention desserts!), the food coma and football naps, many of us might scratch our heads at the origin story of this beloved holiday. So, what exactly is Thanksgiving? What year did we start celebrating Thanksgiving? Why is Thanksgiving on a Thursday? We have answers to all of these questions and more!

Early on in school, we learn to equate Thanksgiving with a feast between Pilgrims and Native Americans, along with crafts like "Turkey Disguises" and *the* activity of tracing our hand prints to create artsy, truly iconic turkey portraits for fun Thanksgiving crafts. But there is additional background surrounding this holiday that isn't typically taught or highlighted. For example, are you familiar with the "Mother of Thanksgiving," AKA Sarah Josepha Hale? You're about to be! Do you know which president tried changing the date of Thanksgiving? Read on!

We've got all the answers to your Thanksgiving questions!

What is Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving is an American holiday that we celebrate annually on the fourth Thursday of November.

Related: When is Thanksgiving This Year?

Why do we celebrate Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving is commonly known as a way to commemorate the colonial Pilgrims' harvest meal that they shared with Wampanoag Indians (who "were key to the survival of the colonists during the first year they arrived in 1620") in 1621 (although there is controversy about whether or not the meal was originally intended to be shared).

As years passed, designating feasts dedicated to giving thanks "on an annual or occasional basis became common practice in other New England settlements as well."

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When was Thanksgiving first celebrated?

Besides the original meal shared in 1621, Pilgrims held their second Thanksgiving in 1623 to celebrate the end of a long drought. Additional feasts of giving thanks for various reasons were also given in subsequent years. However, technically, the first official, designated Thanksgiving was celebrated much later—in 1789. According to the National Archives, Congress asked President George Washington for a national day of thanksgiving. Thursday, November 26, 1789 was, therefore, declared the "Day of Publick Thanksgivin."

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What is Thanksgiving all about?

Thanksgiving is all about reflecting on blessings and acknowledging gratitude. After all, in President George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation, he stated its purpose: “Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor—and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me 'to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.'”

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How did Thanksgiving become an annual national holiday?

We can all thank the "Mother of Thanksgiving," writer and editor Sarah Josepha Hale, for successfully establishing Thanksgiving as an annual national holiday. As a long-time editor of the magazine Godey's Lady Book, Hale frequently wrote about this already-popular (yet unofficial) autumn tradition. She also lobbied state and federal officials to create a "fixed, national day of thanks on the last Thursday of November."

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When did Thanksgiving become an annual national holiday?

Even after that first established Thanksgiving in 1789, the dates and months of subsequent Thanksgivings varied. It took almost another century for one clear date to be established. Sarah Josepha Hale wrote a letter to President Abraham Lincoln on September 28, 1863, requesting the last Thursday in November to be a day of Thanksgiving announced to the whole country. In response, President Lincoln declared on October 3 that this would, in fact, be the case. He explained that "in the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, the American people should take some time for gratitude."

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These yearly celebrations continued on in this tradition until 1939. That August, President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) announced that Thanksgiving was going to be celebrated a week earlier, saying that "merchants would benefit from another excuse for shopping between Labor Day and Christmas." This caused some controversy throughout the next few years, splitting almost half the nation between the two dates. FDR ultimately reversed his decision in December of 1941, signing the resolution from Congress that declared Thanksgiving would go back to being celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November from then on.

Why is Thanksgiving on a Thursday?

Author Diana Karter Appelbaum has written in Thanksgiving: An American Holiday, an American History: "At first no particular day of the week was reserved for Thanksgiving, but some days thought more appropriate than others. Puritans observe the Sabbath as a biblical ordinance and did not intrude their Thanksgivings upon it. Since Saturday was occupied with preparations for the Sabbath, and Monday was the day just after, these were not convenient choices. Friday was ruled out because it was the fast day of the Catholic Church and any day of prayer held on a Friday would have had Rome-ish overtones. However, Thursday was a lecture day in Boston. Ministers offered afternoon sermons for those with the leisure time to attend weekday religious meetings. Perhaps for this reason, Thursday early became the favorite day for fasts and Thanksgivings. Although other days were occasionally chosen, Thursday became the traditional choice."

Related: 20 Non-Turkey Thanksgiving Dinner Ideas

Why do we eat turkey on Thanksgiving?

There are a few different factors for why we eat turkey on Thanksgiving. First, the Pilgrim Hall Museum has cited letters from William Bradford, the governor of Plymouth in 1621, who wrote that wild turkeys were part of the original meal that was shared between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians. Also, as Thanksgiving became a more prominent celebration, turkeys continued to be plentiful, which made them a convenient main course. And not only that, but we can thank Sarah Josepha Hale for this established aspect of Thanksgiving as well. In her 1827 novel Northwood, she explained a New England Thanksgiving in great detail, including the description of a roasted turkey “placed at the head of the table.”

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Do Indigenous Americans celebrate Thanksgiving?

Native Americans were having harvest feasts long before Pilgrims arrived. However, when it comes to modern Thanksgivings, some tribes (like many of the Sioux Nation) will gather to give thanks for food and life, but others steer clear of marking this specific day as a time of celebration. After all, only 16 years after the shared meal between the Native Americans and Pilgrims, over 500 Wampanoags were massacred in a brutal act of retaliation for the murder of one of the settlers, who the other settlers believed was killed by the Wampanoags. And the heinous violence did not stop there.

According to History.com, after many raids, land-theft, and wars against Native Americans, by the "late 19th century, fewer than 238,000 indigenous people remained, a sharp decline from the estimated 5 million to 15 million living in North America when Columbus arrived in 1492." Facts like these help shed a light on why many Indigenous Americans observe a different holiday on the exact same day as Thanksgiving—the National Day of Mourning.

Related: Celebrate Native American Heritage Month With 25 Native American Heritage Facts 

What is the National Day of Mourning?

According to NationalToday.com, "Every year on the National Day of Mourning, Native American people in New England gather together to protest. To them, Thanksgiving serves as a reminder of the unjust treatment that Native Americans have received since the 1620 Plymouth landing." This observance (sponsored by the United American Indians of New England and also attended by many non-native allies) has been happening in Plymouth, Massachusetts, since 1970. During the day, "Native speakers are invited to give these speeches about the past, as well as current obstacles their people have overcome."

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