Thanksgiving (Pt 1)

So this week is Thanksgiving. Similar to the Halloween post, I figured now is a good chance to talk about the history of Thanksgiving. (If this sounds like a cop-out, well... it is!)

The very first Thanksgiving happened with the Pilgrims, when they came to America during the 17th Century. Thought to be an outgrowth of the Harvest Festival back in the Old Country, the Pilgrims decided to celebrate the last day of Harvest with a celebration. At first it was more a religious observance rather than a celebration. They literally thanked God for rain. This happened off and on until about the 18th Century. After the Revolutionary War, each successive president starting from Washington would proclaim a day as Thanksgiving. This day would bounce back and forth based on the whim of the president at the time.

Lincoln signed a proclamation (He sure loves to make proclamations, doesn't he?) to celebrate Thanksgiving on the final Thursday of November. This continued annually until FDR came into power. Now remember, during his term of office, the Great Depression was going on. He wanted to move Thanksgiving back a week to the second-to-last Thursday, in order to give merchants more time to sell things during the holidays. You see, back then, Americans celebrate one holiday at a time, not like now when you see Christmas ads even before Halloween has come and gone! Since no one can do any shopping until Thanksgiving was out of the way, FDR's solution was to move it back, thus lengthening the Christmas season. But FDR didn't make it a federal mandate, he still left it up to the states. Some decided to follow his advice, some did not. In what is very common in the political arena, a compromise was reached. Congress passed a resolution which stated that Thanksgiving will always fall on the fourth Thursday of the month. In some years, it would be the second-to-last week, and in other years, it would be the last week. This year, it just happens to be the second to last week.

On Thurs, I'll post some of the more common Thanksgiving traditions. See you then!