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Thanksgiving Day or Thanksgiving

 

What's the first thing that comes to mind when NRI think of Thanksgiving?

Los Angles, Nov. 21, 006
Gary Singh

What's the first thing that comes to mind when NRI think of Thanksgiving? to see family

What's the first thing that comes to mind when American think of Thanksgiving? Turkey, shopping and meet friends or family

More than 46 million of the birds (turkyes) were to be eaten during Thanksgiving day on Thursday. At the White House, US President George W Bush granted a traditional Thanksgiving "pardon" to two turkeys who were spared slaughter and given a caged life at Disneyland instead.

Millions of travellers clogged US airports, highways and trains on Wednesday nationwide to attend a family turkey dinner of Black Friday is a day after Thanksgiving day- a day of sales when merchants move into the black, or start making a profit for the year. Major retailers trumpeted Thanksgiving discounts and planned to open early Friday.

 

To close of the harvest season, this is an annual one day holiday to give thanks all people

  • Thanksgiving Day or Thanksgiving, is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in USA
  • Thanksgiving Day or Thanksgiving, is celebrated on the second Monday in October in Canada
  • In UK, it is not thought of as a major event as compared to Christmas or Easter


USA

Thanksgiving Day or Thanksgiving is major event in USA, brought to North America by early settlers. Thanksgiving meals for dinner includes sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, Indian corn vegetables, pumpkin pie stuffing and turkey. Some times it is also called "Turkey Day". Families and friends usually gather for a dinner.

Thanksgiving is almost a long week-end and one of the busiest travel time of the year. Thanksgiving parades also occur in many cities of the country- Houston, Philadelphia , Plymouth, and Detroit . The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is held annually every Thanksgiving Day in Midtown Manhattan, New York. It includes large balloons of cartoon characters and TV personalities.

  • The biggest day of shopping of the year in the U.S., as measured by customer traffic, is still the Friday after Thanksgiving
  • It is one of the busiest travel time of the year
  • The American winter holiday season traditionally begins when Thanksgiving ends
  • American football is often a major part of Thanksgiving celebrations in the U.S. and likewise Canadian football in Canada
  • In America, the tradition is referred to as the Thanksgiving Classic. The Detroit Lions of the American National Football League have hosted a game every Thanksgiving Day since 1934. The Dallas Cowboys have hosted every Thanksgiving Day since 1966. Many college and high school football games are played over Thanksgiving weekend, often between regional or historic rivals.

In 1621, the Wampanoag and the Pilgrims who settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts, held holiday meal as U.S. tradition. Turkey play a large role in the celebration of Thanksgiving. In 1890- 1900, it also became more popular for new immigrants after the end of Civil War. The first official Thanksgiving was held in the Virginia Colony on December 4, 1619 near the current site of Berkeley Plantation, where celebrations are still held each year in November. The Pilgrims set apart a day to celebrate at Plymouth immediately after their first harvest, in 1621

President Abraham Lincoln, proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated on the final Thursday in November. The U.S. Congress in 1941 split the difference and established that the Thanksgiving would occur annually on the fourth Thursday of November, which was sometimes the last Thursday and sometimes the next to last. On November 26 that year President Roosevelt signed this bill into U.S. law. 1863:

CANADA:

Friday–Monday, four day weekend, Canadians eat their Thanksgiving meal on any day of that weekend. The only major parade on that day in Canada is the Oktoberfest parade in Kitchener-Waterloo. They celebrate a meal with one group of relatives on one day, and another meal with a different group of relatives on another day.

On January 31st, 1957, the Canadian Parliament proclaimed: "A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed--->to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October. The roots of the Canadian holiday are different than those of the United States of America:

  • It goes back to an English explorer, Martin Frobisher, who had been trying to find a northern passage to the Orient.In the year 1578, he held a formal ceremony, in what is now the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, to give thanks for surviving the long journey.
  • Frobisher was later knighted and had an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean in northern Canada named after him - Frobisher Bay.
  • French settlers, having crossed the ocean and arrived in Canada with explorer Samuel de Champlain, also held huge feasts of thanks
  • War ended in 1763 handing over New France to the British, the citizens of Halifax held a special day of Thanksgiving.
  • American who remained loyal to Great Britain were exiled from the United States and brought the customs and practices of the American Thanksgiving to Canada

In 1879, the Canadian Parliament declared November 6th a day of Thanksgiving and a national holiday in Canada.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 


President Bush gives a Presidential pardon to "Flyer" the national Thanksgiving turkey Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2006, in Washington. Holding the turkey is Lynn Nutt of Springfield, Mo. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)