Thanksgiving

 

Here is a brief report explaining Thanksgiving day

Each year on the Thursday 4th November, Americans celebrate this day. While today´s Thanksgiving celebrations would likely be unrecognizable compared to the original 1621 harvest meal, it continues to be a day for Americans to come together around the table. In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared and autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. It wasn’t until 1863, during the Civil War, that the President at the moment, who was Abraham Lincoln, declared Thanksgiving Day a national day.

In many American households, the Thanksgiving celebration has lost all its original religious significance; instead, nowadays people concentrate on cooking and sharing a meal with family and friends. The Pilgrims' days of thanksgiving were always spent in church, singing psalms, listening to sermons and praying. Work and playful pastimes done nowadays were forbidden. When God provided good things, the Pilgrims were serious about gratitude.

Turkey is eaten nowadays in Thanksgiving, actually around 280 million turkeys are consumed on Thanksgiving in the United States, moreover, nearly 90% of Americans eat this bird roasted, baked or deep fried on Thanksgiving, according to the National Turkey Federation. Other traditional foods include stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Volunteering in ONG or any other kind of organization is a common Thanksgiving Day activity, and communities and families often offer free food for the less fortunate. Nevertheless, it is believed that at that time, they ate deer ducks, geese, oysters, lobster, eel and fish. They probably also ate pumpkins but they also didn't eat mashed potatoes like people do today.

The football game edition in Thanksgiving Classic games started in 1920 and since then the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys have played games on Turkey Day. However, in 2006, a third dame wins added with different teams playing. Moreover, historians believe that no turkey was served or eaten at the first Thanksgiving.

Other countries that celebrate Thanksgiving are: Germany, they celebrate the Harvest Thanksgiving Festival in early October; Korea in late September; Japan they celebrate it on November 23rd ; Liberia on November among many others.