Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day
Is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday ofNovember in the United States. Because of the longstanding traditions of the holiday, the celebration often extends to the weekend that falls closest to the day it is celebrated. Several other placesaround the world observe similar celebrations. Historically, Thanksgiving had roots in religious and cultural tradition. Today, Thanksgiving is primarily celebrated as a secular holiday.
Prayers of thanksand special thanksgiving ceremonies are common among almost all religions after harvests and at other times.[1] The holiday's history in North America is rooted in English traditions dating from theProtestant Reformation. It also has aspects of a harvest festival, even though the harvest in New England occurs well before the late-November date of the holiday[2][1]
100 English colonists crossedthe Atlantic to settle in the New World. Their first winter in the New World American was extremely difficult. Went hungry, cold and killed half of the settlers. The following spring, aided by theWampanoag Indians learned to plant corn, a plant previously ignored for settlers. The Indians also taught them to grow other food, hunting and fishing. In the fall of 1621 were harvested bountiful cropsof corn, barley, beans and pumpkins. The settlers, as a thank organized religious feast, which the Americans have historically well known: The America's First Thanksgiving.
The traditionalrepresentation of where the first Thanksgiving was held in the United States, and even the Americas, has often been a subject of debate, though the debate is often confused by mixing up the ideas of aThanksgiving holiday celebration and a Thanksgiving religious service. This debate has been called a "tempest in a beanpot" and "marvelous nonsense." There is evidence for an earlier religious service by...