HAPPY THANKSGIVING

"To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven."

~ Johannes A. Gaertner

Thanksgiving Day is a very important day in the United States. There are many things that are especially related to the celebrations of the Thanksgiving Day. These include Thanksgiving turkey trivia, pilgrims, thanksgiving proclamation, thanksgiving as a national holiday and other things. Some of such facts are mentioned here which will not only help you enhance your knowledge about Thanksgiving Day but also make you enjoy this day with even more zeal.



*Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States.


 *The Plymouth Pilgrims were the first to celebrate the Thanksgiving.

 *The pilgrims arrived in North America in December 1620.

*The Pilgrims sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to reach North America.


 *The pilgrims sailed on the ship, which was known by the name of 'Mayflower'.


 *They celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day in the fall of 1621.


*They celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day at Plymouth, Massachusetts.

*The Wampanoag Indians were the people who taught the Pilgrims how to cultivate the land.


*The Pilgrim leader, Governor William Bradford, had organized the first Thanksgiving feast in the year 1621 and invited the neighboring Wampanoag Indians also to the feast.


*The first Thanksgiving feast was held in the presence of around ninety Wampanoag Indians and the Wampanoag chief, Massasoit, was also invited there.


 *The first Thanksgiving celebration lasted three days.

*Abraham Lincoln issued a 'Thanksgiving Proclamation' on third October 1863 and officially set aside the last Thursday of November as the national day for Thanksgiving. Whereas earlier the presidents used to make an annual proclamation to specify the day when Thanksgiving was to be held.


 *President Franklin D. Roosevelt restored Thursday before last of November as Thanksgiving Day in the year 1939. He did so to make the Christmas shopping season longer and thus stimulate the economy of the state.


 *Congress passed an official proclamation in 1941 and declared that now onwards Thanksgiving will be observed as a legal holiday on the fourth Thursday of November every year.


*Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird of the United States. But it was Thomas Jefferson who opposed him. It is believed that Franklin then named the male turkey as 'tom' to spite Jefferson.


 *The annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade tradition began in the 1920's.


 *When the Pilgrims arrived in North America, the clothing of the Native Americans was made of animal skins (mainly deer skin).


 *On December 11, 1620 the first Pilgrims (or Puritans, as they were initially known) landed at Plymouth Rock.


 *By the fall of 1621 only half of the pilgrims, who had sailed on the Mayflower, survived. The survivors, thankful to be alive, decided to give a thanksgiving feast.


I am blessed to be able to spend time this Thanksgiving with my family. I am so grateful we are all healthy and strong. What a blessing to live in this choice land and to have the restored gospel. We are so blessed and let us always give thanks! Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

A candy Thanksgiving Turkey all the kids made!