Thanksgiving Day

A traditional family feast, celebrated in the United States annually on the fourth Thursday in November.

Thanksgiving was first celebrated in New England, America, during early colonial times. In 1621, Governor William Bradford of the Plymouth, Massachusetts colonies, proclaimed a day of thanksgiving after the first harvest. It was shared by the colonists and Native Americans.

During the American Revolution a yearly day of national thanksgiving was suggested by the Continental Congress.

New York State adopted Thanksgiving as an annual holiday in 1817.

President Abraham Lincoln was the first President to appoint a day in Thanksgiving in 1863, and every President since then has done the same.