Thanksgiving 2017: Date, Meaning of Holiday Explained
Majority of Americans are looking forward to the annual Thanksgiving celebration every November, but the world has little understanding about one of the best-loved holidays in the US.
Traditionally, Thanksgiving Day is always celebrated every fourth Thursday of November. This year, the public holiday falls on Nov. 23. This will bring friends and families together to share a bounty feast as a sign of gratitude for the blessings that they received in the previous year.
Mirror UK explained that a usual Thanksgiving meal is normally composed of a huge turkey paired with various fall vegetables and other stuffing. It also comes with sweet potatoes or yam, gravy, cranberry sauce, as well as pumpkin pie for dessert.
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Loved ones usually gather around the dinner table to partake the sumptuous feast while looking back on all the good things that they want to be thankful for.
According to another report, the Americans started the annual Thanksgiving Day celebration since 1863. But some information claimed that the very first Thanksgiving event was celebrated in El Paso, Texas back in 1598. On the other hand, other accounts claimed that Americans began celebrating the event in the Virginia Colony back in 1619.
However, the report also mentioned that the celebration of modern-day Thanksgiving that was conducted to celebrate the bounty harvest of the Pilgrims began in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621. The feast that lasted for three days was reportedly celebrated by a total of 53 Pilgrims and 90 Native Americans.
The Thanksgiving celebration has been going on and off since 1789 based on the proclamation of the first US president George Washington, but it was Abraham Lincoln who described the occasion as the national day to express the citizens' gratitude every last Thursday of November.
Aside from the feast, the modern-day celebration of Thanksgiving also signals the beginning of the highly anticipated shopping event called the Black Friday sale, which offers major discounts in various retail shops nationwide.
