THANKSGIVING

It’s Thanksgiving today (in the US). I decided to do some research into the origin of Thanksgiving in the US and in Canada.

Thanksgiving in the United States is always celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated the second Monday in October.

In a 1789 proclamation, President George Washington called on the people of the United Stated to acknowledge God (this is very important and has easily been forgotten over generation, but remembering this is quite essential) for affording them “an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness” by observing a day of thanksgiving. Devoting a day to “public thanksgiving and prayer,” as Washington called it, became a yearly tradition in many communities.

Thanksgiving became a national holiday in 1863. In that year, during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln made his Thanksgiving Day Proclamation. He asked his fellow citizens to “to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise …”

It was not until 1941 that Congress designated the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day, thus creating a federal holiday.

However official, the idea of a special day of giving thanks was not born of presidential proclamations. Native American harvest festivals has been celebrated for centuries, and colonial services dated back to the late 16^th century. Thanksgiving Day, as we know it today, began in the early 1600s when settlers in both Massachusetts and Virignia came together to give thanks for their survival, for the fertility of their fields, and for their faith. The most widely know early Thanksgiving is that of the Thanksgiving is that of the Pilgrims in Plimoth, Massachusetts, who feasted for 3 days with the Wampanoag people in 1621.

CANADIAN THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving Day in Canada is celebrated on the second Monday in October. The first Canadian Thanksgiving Day was observed on April 15, 1872, to celebrate the recovery of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) from a serious illness.

I was so amazed at my findings. We have to be grateful in life for the things we are blessed with, for our dreams and our aspirations. Develop an attitude of thankfulness and gratitude. I saw this on my friend’s wall on Facebook and I decided to share it.

Comment below if you would embark on this wonderful activity next year (mine might not be a jar but I’m definitely doing it).

Signing out,

Xoxo

Xingyang