Thanksgiving Day  (TGD)


TGD is a harvest festival celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. While it may have been religious in origin, Thanksgiving is now primarily identified as a secular holiday.
In the United States, Thanksgiving Day falls on the fourth Thursday of November. 
In Canada it is celebrated on the second Monday in October.
The precise historical origin of the holiday is disputed. Although Americans commonly believe that the first Thanksgiving happened in 1621, at Plymouth Plantation, in Massachusetts, there is strong evidence for earlier celebrations in Canada (1578) and by Spanish explorers in Florida (1565).
Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, currently celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, has been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863. 
Thanksgiving was historically a religious observation to give thanks to God.
It is thought that the first Thanksgiving was celebrated to give thanks to God for helping the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony survive their first brutal winter in New England. 
The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three days providing enough food for 53 pilgrims and 90 Native Americans. The feast consisted of fowl, venison, fish, lobster, clams, berries, fruit, pumpkin, and squash. William Bradford's note that, "besides waterfowl, there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, probably gave rise to the American tradition of eating turkey at Thanksgiving.
Note:

It is thought that the first Thanksgivings were held as celebrations to thank god and enjoy the wonderful bounty of food. The Pilgrims were also thankful to the Native American Indians that taught them how to cook and survive in the New World.
While I think it is important to honor the Native Americans for their contributions to the survival of the immigrants, we should not turn our whole focus of Thanksgiving to a study of Pilgrims and Indians. Nor should the only mention of Native Americans, or Indians occur during Thanksgiving.