Today is Thanksgiving Day: what it is and why this American tradition is celebrated

Thanksgiving Day is undoubtedly one of the most popular and important holidays in the United States. As you may have noticed, there are numerous scenes in television series and movies that depict families gathered around a table full of food. But why is this holiday celebrated? What is the significance of Thanksgiving Day?

As we know, Thanksgiving Day is a globally recognized tradition, and although it is increasingly celebrated in more places, it is originally a holiday from Canada and the United States. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November, which is why this year it falls on the 28th. It is a time for family gatherings, with an abundance of food, where turkey takes center stage. The fundamental purpose of this gathering is to give thanks.

Its origins date back to the story of the first settlers who arrived in the U.S. from England and relate to the autumn harvest. According to tradition, a group of settlers from Plymouth, in what is now Massachusetts, decided to celebrate the good autumn harvest with the Wampanoag Indians in the early 1620s to show their gratitude for teaching them the techniques of corn cultivation and hunting. These teachings secured the prosperity of the settler community after a period of famine and illness caused by consuming poisonous native plants.

This celebration has endured over time, and each year it is celebrated in more American colonies and states. In 1817, New York State adopted the fourth Thursday in November as a national holiday, and finally, in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it a non-working day throughout the country.

Although the way this holiday is celebrated has changed over the years, the main origin, which remains intact, is to share blessings with family and close loved ones. Even though family members may be apart during the rest of the year, on Thanksgiving Day it is customary to gather in a home, specifically that of the eldest relative, usually the grandparents. To stay true to tradition, the foods served are closely related to those that were served at the first Thanksgiving of the settlers and natives: turkey, corn, pumpkins, and cranberry sauce.

Giving thanks for all the good one has, asking for blessings together for everyone... are some of the rituals followed during the evening. Some charitable organizations offer the traditional meal to the homeless and those in need in their community.

Some of the most typical traditions of this holiday include the family dinner. As mentioned earlier, loved ones gather around a table filled with side dishes of sweet potatoes, carrot cake, cranberry sauce, turkey stuffing, pumpkin pie, and vegetable cream. To top it off, handmade centerpieces are often created, usually by the youngest family members.

In the United States, it is also common to gather to watch the football game that takes place before the Thanksgiving dinner. It is a tradition to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, organized by Macy's department store, an event that has been held since 1927. In this parade, we can see characters from children's television riding on spectacular floats.

To answer this question, we must again delve into the origins of this holiday. When settlers invited the Native Americans to dinner as a thank-you after the great harvest, they brought a turkey. This event has made turkey the star and the main dish of Thanksgiving Day. It is very common to accompany it with cranberry sauce, a food item that was also present at the first celebration of the holiday, as the settlers prepared this condiment to combine with the turkey and the other foods harvested.

The Turkey Pardoning Ceremony is another tradition that cannot be missed on a day like this. The President of the United States, in this case, Donald Trump, is in charge of sparing the life of one of the two turkeys; the one that is pardoned is the one that is served moments later at the President's Thanksgiving dinner table.