Thanksgiving 2024: Surprising History of the U.S. Holiday

When Is Thanksgiving 2024?

The United States celebrates Thanksgiving as a national holiday on the fourth Thursday in November. In 2024, Thanksgiving will be observed on Thursday, November 28. 

Thanksgiving has been held on the fourth Thursday in November since 1941, which means that the date of the holiday shifts each year. The earliest Thanksgiving can occur is November 22; the latest is November 28.

President Roosevelt changed Thanksgiving from the fourth Thursday to the third Thursday in November in 1939. However, this was not a very popular move. (Read more about this story below.)

In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October. In 2024, it is observed on Monday, October 14. Read more about Canadian Thanksgiving here!

History of Thanksgiving

Native Americans in North America celebrated harvest festivals for centuries before a Thanksgiving federal holiday was formally established in the United States. Colonial services for these festivals date back to the late 16th century. The autumnal feasts celebrated the harvest of crops after a season of bountiful growth.

In the 1600s, settlers in Massachusetts and Virginia held feasts to express gratitude for survival, fertile fields, and their faith. The Pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts, had their Thanksgiving feast in 1621 with the Wampanoag Native Americans.

This 3-day feast is considered the ”first” Thanksgiving celebration in the colonies. However, there were other recorded ceremonies of thanks on these lands. In 1565, Spanish explorers and the local Timucua people of St. Augustine, Florida, celebrated a mass of thanksgiving. In 1619, British settlers proclaimed a day of thanksgiving when they reached a site known as Berkeley Hundred on the banks of Virginia’s James River.

Of course, the idea of “thanksgiving” for the harvest is as old as time, with records from the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. Native American cultures, too, have a rich tradition of giving thanks at harvesttime feasts, which began long before Europeans appeared on their soil. And well after the Pilgrims, for more than two centuries, individual colonies and states celebrated days of thanksgiving.

How Did the Pilgrims Come to Settle Here?

When certain men and women of Scrooby, England, were persecuted for separating themselves from the Church of England, they, as Pilgrims, fled to Leiden, Holland. Upon the execution of separatist leader James of Barneveld there on May 13, 1619, they realized that Holland was no freer than England and prepared to go to America.

On July 20, 1620, after putting their plans into effect, they asked for the parting words of their beloved pastor, John Robinson. The next day, they boarded the ship Speedwell, anchored where the canal from Leiden entered the Maas (or Meuse, a river flowing into the North Sea) at Delfshaven, and sailed for Southampton, England.

After misadventures and more farewells, these 102 brave souls departed on the Mayflower on September 6, 1620.

The Mayflower arrived at what is now Provincetown, Massachusetts, at the tip of a curved peninsula later named Cape Cod, on November 21 and, on that day, drew up one of the most significant documents of American history, the Mayflower Compact. The Compact was a constitution formed by the people—the beginning of popular government.

They then explored the lands along the bay formed by the peninsula. On December 22, after holding the first town meeting in America to decide where to build their homes, the Pilgrims went onshore at a site now called Plymouth Rock. There, on the shore above the rock, they settled. After 400 years, their descendants and those of the Puritans are still sailing along.

What Ever Happened to the Pilgrims?

So, whatever happened to the Pilgrims? The following highlights reveal what has transpired for the Pilgrims, their Puritan contemporaries, and the descendants of both.

• 1621: Over dinner with some of their Native American guests, they gave thanks for their welfare
• 1621: Built a meetinghouse
• 1634: Forbade wearing gold and silver lace
• 1639: Started a college (Harvard)
• 1640: Set up a printing press
• 1647: Hanged a “witch” (Alse Young—the first person to be executed for witchcraft in the Thirteen Colonies) 
• 1704: Printed the first newspaper in Boston
• 1721: Were inoculated against smallpox
• 1776: Again declared themselves to be free and independent
• 1792: No doubt purchased the 1793 first edition of Robert B. Thomas’s Farmer’s Almanac. Today known as The Old Farmer’s Almanac, this book is North America’s oldest continuously published periodical.

The First National Thanksgiving Proclamation

The first national Thanksgiving celebration was observed in honor of the creation of the new United States Constitution! In 1789, President George Washington issued a proclamation designating November 26 of that year as a “Day of Publick Thanksgivin” to recognize the role of providence in creating the new United States and the new federal Constitution.

Washington was in his first term as president, and a young nation had just emerged successfully from the Revolution. Washington called upon the people of the United States to acknowledge God for affording them “an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.” This was the first time Thanksgiving was celebrated under the new Constitution.

Thanksgiving’s Path to a Federal Holiday

While Thanksgiving became a yearly tradition in many communities—celebrated on different months and days that suited them—it was not yet a federal government holiday. 

John Adams (second U.S. president) and James Madison (fourth U.S. president) issued proclamations recommending such observances as a “National Day of Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer” or a “Day of Public Thanksgiving for Peace.” Thomas Jefferson (third U.S. president), however, believed in the separation of church and state and that the federal government should not have the power to dictate when the public should observe a religious demonstration of piety, such as a national day of thanksgiving. 

In a private letter written to Rev. Samuel Miller in 1808, Jefferson wrote: “I do not believe it is for the interest of religion to invite the civil magistrate to direct its exercises, its discipline or its doctrines: nor of the religious societies that the General government should be invested with the power of effecting any uniformity of time or matter among them. Fasting & prayer are religious exercises. The enjoining them is an act of discipline. Every religious society has a right to determine for itself the times for these exercises & the objects proper for them according to their own particular tenets; and this right can never be safer than in their own hands, where the constitution has deposited it.” 

While religious Thanksgiving services continued at a local or state level, after Madison no further presidential proclamations marked Thanksgiving until the Civil War of the 1860s. 

Thanksgiving Becomes a Federal Holiday

It wasn’t until 1863, during the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November.

In addition, President Lincoln proclaimed Thursday, November 26, 1863, as Thanksgiving. Lincoln’s proclamation harkened back to Washington’s, as he also thanked God following a bloody military confrontation.

Lincoln expressed gratitude to God and thanks to the Army for emerging successfully from the Battle of Gettysburg. He enumerated the blessings of the American people and called upon his countrymen to “set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise.” As of that year, Thanksgiving was celebrated on the last Thursday in November.

Thanksgiving is briefly moved to the third Thursday in November.

In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt changed Thanksgiving from the last Thursday in November to the second to the last Thursday. It was the tail end of the Depression, and Roosevelt’s goal was to create more shopping days before Christmas and boost the economy. However, many people continued to celebrate Thanksgiving on the last Thursday in November, unhappy that the holiday’s date had been meddled with. You could argue, however, that this helped create the shopping craze known as Black Friday.

In 1941, to end any confusion, the president and Congress established Thanksgiving as a United States federal holiday to be celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, which is how it stands today!

Of course, Thanksgiving was not born of presidential proclamations. Read about Sarah Josepha Hale, the “Godmother of Thanksgiving,” who helped turn this historic feast into a national holiday.

How Is Thanksgiving Different in Canada?

Thanksgiving Day in Canada is celebrated on the second Monday in October and has origins different from the American version of the holiday. The first Thanksgiving meal observed in what is now Canada occurred in 1578 when English explorer Martin Frobisher and his crew held a meal to thank God for granting them safe passage through the wilds of the New World. Read more about the differences between Canadian and American Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Traditions and Rituals

Today, folks celebrate Thanksgiving for a multitude of reasons. For some, it remains a way to express gratitude for the harvest, for family, or to a higher power; for others, it’s a holiday built upon being united as a family (in person or virtually!) and sharing in a special meal.

A bountiful feast featuring turkey has become the traditional Thanksgiving fare, with over 90% of Americans eating the bird on this holiday. But did you know that turkey was a rare treat at one time? During the 1830s, an 8- to 10-pound bird cost a day’s wages!

Other common Thanksgiving traditions in the United States include volunteering for those less fortunate by donating food or time to homeless shelters or those in need. Sometimes, communities hold “turkey trot” runs or parades. And the president of the United States and some U.S. governors will often “pardon” one or two Thanksgiving turkeys each year.

What Did the Pilgrims Eat?

Today, the “Big Bird” is very common as the centerpiece for the Thanksgiving meal. How did this come about? And was turkey served when the Pilgrims hosted the inaugural feast in 1621? Read why we eat turkey and what the Pilgrims ate.

See more Thanksgiving trivia and fun facts:

• Turkey Trivia
• The Great Yam Scam
• Cranberry Trivia
• Historic Thanksgiving Storms
• Why We Can Feel Good Eating Thanksgiving Food

Thanksgiving Controversy

Based on historical records, the shared feast between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people was bountiful and peaceful. It was a celebratory feast hosted by Pilgrims who invited their Native American allies in sincere gratitude for a successful harvest after much starvation. It’s also a story of cooperation, trust, and peace. Giving thanks was a longstanding and central tradition among both parties.

However, history doesn’t exist in isolation. If we pull back, this was not just about a friendly harvest festival but had much to do with political alliances, diplomacy, and the pursuit of peace. If we pull back even further, this is also the story of foreign settlers coming to immigrate to territories widely inhabited by native peoples—a long history of bloody conflict, strife, death, and wartime between Native Americans and European settlers seeking to colonize lands.

History is a rich, interwoven, never-ending book about which we can all learn more. To gain a complete understanding of events, it is important to research the context. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian has some excellent resources about the meaning of the Thanksgiving holiday for American Indians.

Thanksgiving Weather Folklore

• Turkeys perched on trees and refusing to descend indicates snow.
• If the first snow sticks to the trees, it foretells a bountiful harvest in the coming year.
• If sheep feed facing downhill, watch for a snowstorm.
• Thunder in November indicates a fertile year to come.
• If there be ice in November that will bear a duck, there will be nothing thereafter but sleet and muck.
• As November 21st, so the winter.
• When the winter is early, it will not be late.

The term “Indian summer” refers to warm weather between November 11 and 20. Read more about Indian summers.

Thanksgiving Food: Dinner, Sides, Desserts

Is it your turn to prepare the Thanksgiving meal? Here are a few of our favorite Thanksgiving dinner recipes to give you some inspiration:

• Classic Thanksgiving Recipes—including some historically inspired dishes.
• Thanksgiving Side Dishes—our favorite sides to accompany that turkey!
• Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Recipes—to save you some time on the day of!
• How to Cook a Turkey—the basics of cooking the perfect Thanksgiving turkey.
• Thanksgiving Dessert Recipes—are absolutely mouthwatering.
• Thanksgiving Leftovers—because the leftovers are the best part!

Thanksgiving Crafts for Kids & Adults

Perfect for kids and great for decorating the home, these holiday crafts are easy and fun!

• How to Make a Glove Turkey
• How to Make a Nut Wreath
• How to Make a Cornhusk Doll

Thanksgiving Poems and Quotes

Perhaps these poems and quotes will come in handy for your Thanksgiving card!  

Ah! On Thanksgiving Day, when from East and from West,
From North and from South, come the pilgrim and guest,
What moistens the lip, and what brightens the eye?
What calls back the past like the rich pumpkin pie? 
–J. G. Whittier  

Over the river and through the wood—   
Now grandmother’s cap I spy!        
Hurrah for the fun!        
Is the pudding done?   
Hurrah for the pumpkin-pie!
–Lydia Maria Child

Orchards have shared their treasures,
The fields, their yellow grain,
So open wide the doorway—
Thanksgiving comes again!
–Unknown

“An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day.” –Irv Kupcinet, American columnist (1912–2003)

“Radical historians now tell the story of Thanksgiving from the point of view of the turkey.” –Mason Cooley, U.S. aphorist 

Happy Thanksgiving!

We give thanks to you and our Almanac community and wish you a Thanksgiving feast that is both filling and full of grace this year!

What Thanksgiving traditions do you follow in your family? Let us know in the comments!