Facts About Thanksgiving You Need to Know
Here are ten things about Thanksgiving that you should know before you start stuffing your face with turkey and watching football. The following article provides some fascinating information about our national day of Thanksgiving, from the origins of the holiday to the average annual consumption of turkey in the United States.
Thanksgiving was first declared a national holiday by George Washington.
During the Revolutionary War and the years immediately following, Congress declared multiple days of Thanksgiving. The importance of prayer and self-deprecation were frequently highlighted during these times (repentance). On November 26, 1789, President George Washington declared the first national Thanksgiving holiday.
In perpetuity, thanks to Abraham Lincoln, Thanksgiving is a national holiday.
One could argue that 1863 was the most pivotal year of the Civil War. On January 1 of that year, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and by summer, troops were engaged at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. Lincoln instituted a national day of thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November, in homage to the original Thanksgiving celebration held by George Washington on the same date. Ever since then, it has become an annual tradition.
In many countries, people gather together to give thanks.
Thanksgiving is widely regarded as the most iconically American holiday. That day kicks off the "holiday season" for us, which continues all the way through Christmas and into the new year. However, many countries, such as Canada, Germany, and even Japan, observe a Thanksgiving holiday. The American Thanksgiving has had a significant impact on the Canadian Thanksgiving.
While Thanksgiving is recognized as a secular holiday, its origins can be traced back to a religious holiday.
The Christian liturgical calendar includes holidays like Easter and Christmas, but Thanksgiving is a secular celebration with no religious overtones. On the other hand, the biblical principles upon which Thanksgiving is founded are extensive. Psalm 95:2, 100:4, 105:1-2, and Ephesians and 1 Thessalonians chapters 5:18–20 and 1 Thessalonians chapter 5:18 are just a few of the many places in the Bible where thanksgiving is mentioned or emphasized (Phil. 4:6; Col. 4:2).
In a roundabout way, the Pilgrims observed the first Thanksgiving in the New World.
The first Thanksgiving was commemorated in 1621 by the Pilgrims and the local Wampanoag tribe at a harvest celebration in Plymouth Plantation (now a part of Massachusetts). During the Pilgrims' first New England winter, the Wampanoag provided vital assistance by sharing their food supply.
The Patuxet man Squanto, who had been adopted by the Wampanoag, acted as a liaison between the Pilgrims and the natives. Although Squanto had been kidnapped and briefly enslaved by other English explorers, his kind disposition toward the Pilgrims may have been at least in part due to his faith in Christianity.
In the course of American history, perspectives on the first Thanksgiving have shifted.
The meaning of Thanksgiving has changed over the years, as Robert Tracy McKenzie demonstrates in his superb book The First Thanksgiving. In the first place, it took over two hundred years for the Pilgrim-Wampanoag meal to be rediscovered in the minds of most Americans. From the middle of the nineteenth century on, Thanksgiving became a symbol of American history.
By the turn of the twentieth century, the Pilgrims were widely recognized as the nation's founding fathers, and elaborate pageants and customs had developed to honor their first Thanksgiving. Even as the true meaning of Thanksgiving evolved over time, the Pilgrims themselves became the most significant icon for that meaning.
The President of the United States issues a proclamation declaring Thanksgiving Day annually.
Every president of the United States since Abraham Lincoln and George Washington has declared Thanksgiving a national holiday. You can find a comprehensive list of proclamations on the internet. Reading the proclamations from year to year reveals how the presidents consistently recast the Pilgrims as archetypal Americans with lessons for modern citizens.
At Thanksgiving, many Americans enjoy a turkey dinner.
On Thanksgiving, up to 88% of Americans consume turkey, as stated on the website Turkey Facts. At Thanksgiving, we consume about 46 million birds, which is roughly twice as much as we do at Christmas. Every year, Americans eat more than 730 million pounds of turkey, and farmers raise about 250 million turkeys for consumption.
On Thanksgiving, Americans also enjoy watching football.
Since the late 1800s, Thanksgiving has seen football games. Since 1934, with the exception of the years of World War II, the Detroit Lions have hosted a Thanksgiving Day game almost every year. There has been a game played at Texas Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, nearly every year since 1966. A large number of college football games take place on or around Thanksgiving Day, and the long weekend is commonly associated with "rivalry games." Numerous cities and towns hold informal "Turkey Bowls," where local schools, churches, and civic organizations play a football game to benefit local charities.