# What is thanksgiving day?



## 1357bunnylover (Nov 22, 2012)

So, what is thanksgiving day? Do you have a day off?
I asked my mum and she said 'i don't know, they have a big feast and eat turkey' lol.
Is this right? What's it for?


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## JBun (Nov 22, 2012)

It started with the pilgrims here in the US in the 1600's, as a kind of harvest feast. Now it's a national holiday, kind of like a day to give thanks for all the good things in our lives. We get together, usually with family, and have a nice dinner with turkey, potatoes, stuffing, pie, etc. and spend the day together chatting, visiting, some people will go out to a movie, etc. Just a nice day to relax(unless you're the one cooking the turkey ), eat, and have fun together


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## Apebull (Nov 22, 2012)

:yeahthat: 

It's just a day set aside to give thanks for all we have.


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## Hyatt101 (Nov 22, 2012)

Yep


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## mdith4him (Nov 22, 2012)

The Pilgrims were a religious group from England who wanted to worship God in their own manner (and didn't want to follow the English king's religious laws). They came to the "New World" for religious freedom. When they arrived in the New England area in late fall they didn't have many supplies or food. Half the Pilgrims died that winter. In the spring, the local Indian group reached out to the Pilgrims and showed them how to farm, hunt, and gather from the forests. By the harvest season, they had more than enough food for the coming winter. They celebrated with the Indians with a big feast.

Later, Abraham Lincoln officially made the fourth Thursday in November a day of thanksgiving. Today families celebrate together and give thanks for all the blessings we have 

If you want more info, check out http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/. They have a lot of fun interactive sections on the website all about the first Thanksgiving (and why we celebrate it today).


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## qtipthebun (Nov 23, 2012)

Of course the part people forget is then the Pilgrims went and killed a whole lot of the Native people....but we just celebrate it as a day of food.

Here's a site about the actual history...just feel like I've gotta stand up for Native people here, since those who make the history "forgot" about this part.

http://suite101.com/article/native-american-pequot-tribes-1637-thanksgiving-a-travesty-a309761


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## kkiddle (Nov 23, 2012)

The others did a good job telling the history. What I tell my other UK friends is that it's basically like Christmas but without Santa and with turkey. Families get together and eat like any other holiday.

Most people get Thanksgiving Thursday off and the next day is "black Friday" which is like the opening day of Christmas shopping.


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## missyscove (Nov 23, 2012)

On Thanksgiving we celebrate how thankful we are for all the good things in our lives. 
On black Friday, people get trampled and die rushing to buy cheap goods. (I do my black friday / cyber monday shopping on the internet).


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## Nancy McClelland (Nov 23, 2012)

:yeahthat:


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## Hyatt101 (Nov 23, 2012)

I could not agree more missycove. On thanksgiving, we give thanks for what we have, and have a pleasant time. Next day we're trampling our neighbor to death over some stupid thing on sale we don't need. I DO NOT like black friday!! :grumpy:


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## Imbrium (Nov 24, 2012)

*sigh* thanksgiving = the last day before you can't do any shopping anywhere without being subjected to christmas music. I had to listen to it while I was grocery shopping tonight.


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## qtipthebun (Nov 24, 2012)

*Picks up and moves to San Antonio* You mean they don't start playing Christmas music until yesterday?? 

My roommate and I went shopping the first weekend in November and were caught in a Christmas concert. The grocery store here has been playing it for weeks already!!


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## kkiddle (Nov 24, 2012)

Yeah, the store I work at plays Christmas music the day after Halloween. I work nights, so when midnight hit on Halloween, I got to hear the first Christmas song. :rollseyes


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## Nancy McClelland (Nov 26, 2012)

After some research, George Washington declared today a national day of Thanksgiving on this date in 1789 to honor the signing and ratification of the constitution. Later, Lincoln proclaimed the 4th Thursday in November to be a federal holiday that we now associate with the harvest celebration the Pilgrims had before their second winter after the native population taught them how to survive. I'm usually thankful for the smoked turkey we have and leave it at that.


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## Nancy McClelland (Nov 26, 2012)

One thing I thought about--doubt if this date originally was a harvest celebration as the harvest is usually finished before the end of October. The catholic church took over a lot of Pagan rites and sites and turned Halloween into a Harvest Festival to draw in the pagans that celebrated other things on that day that they didn't care for. Just like Saturnalia being co-opted for the birth of Christ even though the census that they traveled "home" for was in the spring, not winter. Things have a tendency to get "new" meanings and added to over decades and centuries.


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