Thanksgiving is a unique holiday in its simplicity and meaning. There are no trees to decorate, no candy to give out, no presents to buy, and no eggs to color. However, this holiday carries an almost four hundred year legacy stemming back to the first colonists who traveled thousands of miles to start new lives. It is one of a very few holidays celebrated by every American despite their social, political or religious beliefs.

Today, Thanksgiving has become synonymous with food, football and a parade in New York. Some children are unaware of the history behind the fourth Thursday of November. The legal holiday of Thanksgiving is only 67 years old.  It’s story, however, covers centuries.

     In 1620, the Pilgrims fled their home in England to escape religious persecution and set out on the Mayflower to find a more religiously tolerant country. They sailed to Holland with the hopes of calling it their new home, but became unhappy with the Dutch way of life. So, the Pilgrims negotiated with a stock company to finance a trip to America, setting forth on their epic journey to start their new lives.

     On December 11, 1620, the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in the future state of Massachusetts. Their first winter was brutal, claiming 46 lives out of the 102 who arrived. Those who survived went on to experience a great harvest in 1621, leading them to celebrate with a feast of thanks.  Their “guests” at the three-day feast were the Indians who helped the colonists survive their rough first year in their new home. 

     The initial “thanksgiving” feast was not celebrated again until June 1676. A meeting held on June 20 in Charleston, Massachusetts determined how the colonists should celebrate the good fortune their community had been having.  Their vote concluded that a day of thanksgiving be held on June 29. The Indians were probably not involved in this celebration due to the colonists’ good fortune including victory over the “heathens.”

     The next recognized thanksgiving occurred over a hundred years later in 1777.  All thirteen colonies joined together to celebrate their victory at the Battle of Saratoga. This event had no connection with to the Pilgrims, but was recognized as a day of thanks.

     In 1789, George Washington decided that a National Day of Thanksgiving be declared in honor of the pilgrims.  The colonies opposed this idea, many feeling the pilgrims did not deserve their own national holiday.  Thomas Jefferson, upon becoming president in 1801, opposed this as well, and the holiday remained undeclared.

     A nineteenth century magazine editor, Sarah Josepha Hale, took painstaking efforts for over forty years pushing the country to recognize a day of thanks.  Her editorials were sent to everyone, from the everyday citizen to the president.  Finally, in 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed that Thanksgiving would be a national holiday celebrated on the last Thursday of November.

     Every president following Lincoln allowed his proclamation to stand. Thanksgiving remained a national observance every year on the last Thursday until Franklin Roosevelt took office. He moved the date to the third Thursday of November in an attempt to create a longer shipping season for Christmas. However, public uproar quickly caused Roosevelt to move the date back to its original location two years later. In 1941, Congress sanctioned Thanksgiving as a legal national holiday, occurring on the fourth Thursday in November.

     Today, most Americans celebrate Thanksgiving with a feast featuring the turkey as its centerpiece, even though it is unknown if the pilgrims served the plucky gobbler at its table. Still, the turkey remains the unofficial mascot for the day, so much so that the White House has adopted its own annual tradition of pardoning a turkey every Thanksgiving. This tradition has been performed for decades, and believed to be traced back all the way to the official initiator of the Thanksgiving holiday, Abraham Lincoln, when he pardoned a turkey for his son to keep as a pet.