When Was Thanksgiving Day Established?
In the United States of America, Thanksgiving became an official national holiday in the year 1941 on December 26th.
That year, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had to decide on a static day for the fest’s celebration because, for a long time, the United States didn’t have any specific day for its celebration.
Common people were quite unhappy with this vague.
However, the Thanksgiving festival is not only associated with the United States because many other countries especially in Europe and America also celebrate it.
Some of those countries are Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Liberia, etc.
On different dates and years, they established Thanksgiving as one of their main official national holidays.
However, the root of this festival is the same for all and that is – Thanksgiving is a harvest festival for all of them.
What Is The Origin of Thanksgiving Day?
According to historians, the first ever Thanksgiving was celebrated in October 1621 by 53 pilgrims of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and 90 Wampanoag Native Americans.
The pilgrims organized the festival as a success of their first harvest in the new world (present-day America).
The celebration lasted for three consecutive days, where they thanked and prayed to the almighty god for providing them the opportunity to reach the new world and use its resources for their happiness.
According to another group of historians, the first celebration happened in 1619 but not 1621 in an English colony called Berkeley Hundred in Virginia.
However, this theory is less known and preferred than 1621’s.
What Is The History of Thanksgiving In The United States After The 13 Colonies’ Independence?
After the victory in the Revolutionary War, the new President of the newly formed United States of America declared the first Thanksgiving in 1789 as a day of prayer and thanksgiving to the almighty god for making the 13 colonies an independent democratic country.
However, after him, the US 3rd President Thomas Jefferson refused to celebrate it showing some religious causes.
For the first time, in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in the country. Although after he died the celebration day remained unsteady for almost 78 years.
Finally, on December 26th, 1941, President Roosevelt declared a static day for the Thanksgiving celebration.
In the present day, the fourth Thursday of every year November is celebrated as a national holiday for Thanksgiving.
