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1541
Spanish Explorers Hold a Feast
English settlers weren’t the first to celebrate a Thanksgiving feast on American soil. 1,500 men in full armor, Coronado left Mexico City in 1540 and marched north in search of gold. As the company camped in Palo Duro Canyon in 1541, Padre Fray Juan de Padilla called for a feast of prayer and thanksgiving, beating out the Plymouth Thanksgiving by 79 years. -
May 27, 1578
The first Thanksgiving service
The First Thanksgiving service known to be held by Europeans in North America occurred on May 27, 1578, in Newfoundland, although earlier Church-type services were probably held by Spaniards in La Florida -
Thanksgiving at Plymouth
In September 1620 a small called the Mayflower left Plymouth England carrying 102 passengers an assortment of religious separatists seeking a new home where they could freely practice their faith and other individuals lured by the promise of prosperity and land ownership in the New World. -
Thanksgiving food
In many American households the Thanksgiving celebration has lost much of its original religious significance instead it now centers on cooking and sharing a bountiful meal with family and friends eating turkey. -
First thanksgiving
Thursday, November 24, 1621 Wampanoag people shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. -
Thanksgiving becomes a National Holiday
pilgrims held their second Thanksgiving celebration in 1623 to mark the end of a long drought that had threatened the year´s harvest and prompted Governor Bradford to call for a religious fast. Days of fasting and thanksgiving on an annual or occasional basis became common practice in other New England settlements as well. -
American revolution
during the American Revolution, the Continental Congress designated one or more days of Thanksgiving a year and in 1789 George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation by the national government of the United States. In it, he called upon Americans to express their gratitude for the happy conclusion to the country´s war of independence and the successful ratification of the US Constitution. -
Festivals of Thanksgiving
Festivals of Thanksgiving were observed sporadically on a local level for more than 150 years. They tended to be autumn harvest celebrations. On October 3, 1789, the President proclaimed that the people of the United States observe "a day of public thanksgiving and prayer" on Thursday, the 26th of November. They tended to be autumn harvest. In 1789, Elias Boudinot, Massachusetts, a member of the House of Representatives, moved that a day of Thanksgiving be held to thank God -
Three Presidents proclamied
The next three Presidents proclaimed, at most, two days of thanksgiving sometime during their terms of office, either on their own initiative or at the request of a joint Resolution of Congress. One exception was Thomas Jefferson, who believed it was a conflict of church and state to require the American people to hold a day of prayer and thanksgiving. President James Madison proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving to be held on April 13, 1815 -
Mary had a little lamb
In 1827 the noted magazine editor and prolific writer Sarah Josepha Hale author among countless other things of the nursery rhyme Mary Had a Little Lamb launched a campaign to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday. -
The first national thanksgiving
For more than two centuries the day of thanksgiving by individual colonies and states. It wasn't until 1863 in the midst of the Civil War that president abraham lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving day to be held each November. -
Parades have also become an important part of the holiday
Parades have also become an important part of the holiday in cities and towns across the US. Presented by Macy’s department store since 1924, New York City’s Thanksgiving Day parade is the largest and most famous, attracting 2 to 3 million spectators. along its 2.5-mile route and drawing an enormous television audience. -
Macy´s Thanksgiving day parade
Parades have also become an integral part of the holiday in cities and towns across the United States. Presented by Macy’s department store since November 27 1924, New York City’s Thanksgiving Day parade is the largest and most famous, attracting some 2 to 3 million spectators along its 2.5-mile route and drawing an enormous television audience. It typically features marching bands, performers, elaborate floats conveying various celebrities and giant balloons shaped like cartoon characters. -
Thanksgiving for the final Thursday
He scheduled Thanksgiving for the final Thursday in November, and it was celebrated on that day every year until 1939 when Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week in an attempt to spur retail sales during the Great Depression. -
president changed the day of observations.
Only twice has a president changed the day of observation. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in order to give depression-era merchants more selling days before Christmas, assigned the third Thursday to be Thanksgiving Day in 1939 and 1940. But he was met with popular resistance, largely because the change required rescheduling Thanksgiving Day events such as football games and parades. In 1941, a Congressional Joint Resolution officially set the fourth Thursday of November as a national holiday.