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What is Thanksgiving? Meaning behind the US holiday – and how it’s celebrated

In 1621, Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Native Americans shared an autumn harvest feast that they had laboured together to produce, marking what would become the first ever Thanksgiving celebration

America is still reeling from a tightly fought and divisive general election that saw incumbent President Donald Trump voted out, but refusing to concede.

It was historical for more than one reason, too: Kamala Harris became the first woman vice president-elect and Joe Biden the oldest ever president-elect.

There have been celebrations, demonstrations and counter-protests on the streets of the United States for weeks. The public are crying out for a reason to put animosity aside and look forward to a more hopeful future.

Luckily for them, there’s a national holiday around the corner: Thanksgiving will be held on Thursday 26 November. For those of us less versed in American tradition, what does Thanksgiving mean, and why is it such a big deal across the pond?

Here’s everything you need to know.

The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth, 1914. Private Collection. Artist Brownscombe, Jennie Augusta (1850-1936). (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)
The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth, 1914 by artist Jennie Augusta (Photo: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

What is the story of Thanksgiving?

 In 1621, Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Native Americans shared an autumn harvest feast that they had laboured together to produce, marking what would become the first ever Thanksgiving celebration.

The journey to that day started in September 1620, when a small ship called the Mayflower left the dock in England carrying 102 pilgrims who were seeking a new home where they could freely practice their faith. They were drawn to America, then billed as the New World, by the promise of prosperity and the opportunity to own their own land.

The crossing was fraught, and 66 days later, they dropped anchor far north of where they intended to land at the tip of Cape Cod. A month later, the Mayflower crossed over to Massachusetts Bay, where the pilgrims began building a new village called Plymouth.

The winter was far from the idyllic life they had in mind. Most of the pilgrims were forced to stay on the ship, where they suffered from outbreaks of disease, exposure to the elements and scurvy. Only half of them lived to see the spring. Those that survived moved ashore in March, where they were visited by an Abenaki Native American who greeted them in English. He returned a number of days later with another Native American called Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe who had been kidnapped by an English captain and sold into slavery. Squanto had managed to escape to London, before boarding a ship back to his homeland.

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Squanto was integral to the survival of the Pilgrims. He showed them how to grow corn, catch fish, avoid poisonous plants and to extract sap from maple trees. Furthermore, he helped them broker an alliance with the Wampanoag, a local tribe.

In November, following a successful first corn harvest, the new governor of Plymouth, William Bradford, held a big feast and invited a group of Native American allies to join – including the Wampanoag chief Massasoit. The exact menu at the first ever Thanksgiving is unknown, but historians suggest much of it would have been cooked using Native American spices and preparation methods.

Sadly, the alliance between the pilgrims and the Wampanoag tribe was the only successful joining together of natives and colonists during this period. It lasted for just 50 years. Today, many Native Americans feel the narrative of Thanksgiving paints a rose-tinted view of a period of long and bloody conflict between colonists and natives that led to the deaths of tens of thousands of people.

Volunteers pack turkey for senior citizens ahead of Thanksgiving mid-Covid-19 pandemic in the US. Volunteer work has become a traditional activity for the day (Photo: AP)
Volunteers pack turkey for senior citizens ahead of Thanksgiving mid-Covid-19 pandemic in the US. Volunteer work has become a traditional activity for the day (Photo: AP)

When did it become a national holiday?

The second ever Thanksgiving was held in 1623 to mark the end of a drought that had threatened the yearly harvest and resulted in Governor Bradford to call for a religious fast.

However, it didn’t become a holiday until George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation by the national government of the United States in 1789 following the American Revolution.

During the proclamation, he called on Americans to express their thanks and gratitude for the end of the country’s war of independence and for the ratification of the US Constitution. John Adams and James Madison, who were presidents after Washington, also designated national days to give thanks during their terms in office.

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New York was the first of several states to adopt Thanksgiving is an official annual holiday in 1817. The southern states didn’t take on the tradition until much later. Magazine editor and writer Sarah Josepha Hale launched a campaign to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday in 1827, and kept up momentum for it for 36 years, lobbying senators, governors and presidents. Abraham Lincoln finally gave in and granted her request in 1863, in the midst of the Civil War.

During his proclamation, he asked all Americans to look to God to “heal the wounds of the nation” and scheduled Thanksgiving for the final Thursday in November for years to come. It was held on that day every year until 1939, when Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday forward by a week to boost retail sales during the Great Depression. However, the move was met with much resistance, and in 1941, he u-turned and signed a bill to make Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November again.

The Thanksgiving Turkey float during the 85th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York November 24, 2011. The parade, which has been an annual event since 1924, is expected to draw an estimated 3 million spectators and 50 million television viewers, according the retail store. AFP PHOTO / TIMOTHY A. CLARY (Photo credit should read TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
Thanksgiving will be slightly different for American families this year with the traditional Macy’s parade replaced by a virtual event and households urged to take precautions to curb the spread of Covid-19 (Photo: Timothy A. Clary/Getty)

What are the traditions around Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving in American households today is mainly focused around cooking and sharing food with friends and family.

Many Americans eat turkey as the main part of their meal, which tends to be roasted or deep fried. Other traditional dishes include mashed potato, pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce. Many Americans volunteer during Thanksgiving as part of the celebration, giving back to those less fortunate in their communities.

Parades have become a big part of the holiday across the US. Among the largest in the country is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in New York City, which is held by the department store and attracts more than two million spectators every year as well as a large audience tuning in to watch it broadcast on television.

Another tradition is the President “pardoning” a live Thanksgiving turkey every year by sending them to a farm to live out the rest of their days instead of being sent to the slaughter. This was thought to have started in the mid-20th century.

Conversely, since the 1970s, many Native Americans and protesters mark the holiday as a “National Day of Mourning” to commemorate those who lost their lives at the hands of the foreign settlers when America was colonised by congregating at the top of Cole’s Hill, which overlooks Plymouth Rock. Several similar events like this are held across the country.

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