Thanksgiving Day History by Thanksgiving-Party.com

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Thanksgiving Day History

The History of Thanksgiving starts with the first English settlers in the North Eastern part of present day United States. These settlers were called pilgrims. The Pilgrims were planning to settle in Virginia as part of the Virginia Company. A English trading company, which had the rights to most of the eastern seaboard of the U.S. The Virginia Company also established a settlement around the Chesapeake Bay in the Carolinas. The pilgrims had intended to go to the Hudson River region in New York State, instead they landed in Cape Cod. Treacherous seas prevented their ships from venturing further south. The colony struggled to survive. During their first year The pilgrims were critically low on food. Supplies from England was slow in coming. The soil was rocky and hard to farm and the winter was brutal. Their survival looked bleak. After that first hard winter in 1621, the Pilgrims began to produce a surplus of food, their live stock thrived. They had established trade and peaceful relations with the local Indian Tribe. Long before the Pilgrims landed in New England and settled in Plymouth, the area was home to the Wampanoag, called "people of the dawn" because they lived in the east. The Wampanoag taught the pilgrims about tilling the rocky soil, traded essential items like furs, fruits, and game. Without the help of The Wampanoag, the pilgrims might not have survived the cold New England climate.

After a successful autumn harvest, their Governor, William Bradford, proclaimed a day of thanksgiving that was to be shared by all the colonists and the neighboring Native American Indians. Unlike our modern holiday, this celebration lasted several days. The event was based on English harvest festivals. This celebration was a time to reflect on life's blessings. It marked a good harvest with a large feast before crops were gathered and stored for the winter.

The custom of an annually celebrated thanksgiving, held after the harvest, continued through the years. During the American Revolution (late 1770's) a day of national thanksgiving was suggested by the Continental Congress. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln appointed a national day of thanksgiving. Since then President Franklin D. Roosevelt set the date for Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday of November in 1939 (approved by Congress in 1941). On this day, family and friends get together for a feast to celebrate their good fortune, relax and enjoy one another's company. It is also the unofficial beginning of the winter holiday season.

There are no rules for your Thanksgiving menu You don't have to eat turkey or make your grandmas favorite casserole. Mix it up, take risks, customize, and add a flavor you know everyone will love. Also, there's nothing worse than being on a diet on turkey day with no healthy options in sight. So make sure you take the dieters in your group into account. This year make everyone feel comfortable and thought of and only hold onto those family traditions that make you happy! Try decorating your Thanksgiving Day dinner table with some simple food garnishing. For assigned seating try these free printable place name cards.

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Here's one of the most unbelievable Thanksgiving facts: The Guinness Book of Records states that the greatest dressed weight recorded for a turkey is 39.09 kg (86 lbs), at the annual "heaviest turkey" competition held in London, England on December 12, 1989.