LET’S TALK THANKSGIVING

What is thanksgiving?

It is a national holiday celebrated in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia and Liberia. It began as a day of giving thanks for the blessings of the harvest and of the preceding year and the pivot of the celebrations remaining a thanksgiving dinner.. We will break down the most common one which is the one celebrated in the United States. It is sometimes called American Thanksgiving so as to distinguish it from the Canadian thanksgiving and the one done in other related regions.

When is it celebrated? 

It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of every November. The dinner traditionally consists of foods and dishes native to the Americans, namely turkey and potatoes usually mashed or sweet, stuffing mix  or served as a dressing (this is usually a mixture of herbs mixed together with starch usually bread filled in a cavity and served together as one), veggies, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie which is a staple. But turkey is usually served as the main dish.

Why is it celebrated?

Thanksgiving was first celebrated in 1621 then the second was held in 1623 by the Pilgrims

 to celebrate the end of a long drought.  However, the first official, designated Thanksgiving was celebrated much later in 1789. It is stated in the national archives Congress asked the President  for a national day of thanksgiving, at the time it was President George Washington. Therefore, Thursday, November 26, 1789 was , declared the “Day of Publick Thanksgivin.”

To wrap things up,

The reason behind Thanksgiving being celebrated on Thursday is because one year had five Thursdays in November and retailers asked President Franklin Roosevelt to push it a week back in order to give people time to do holiday shopping. The president agreed but many people didn’t see any difference in the move. The debate was finally settled when congress passed a law in December 1941 that made Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday of November.

   Written by Florah Njoroge