Thanksgiving Day

This Thursday is Thanksgiving Day—one of America's most popular holidays. Thanksgiving is the day when Americans express thanks for all the good that has happened during the past year. Many Americans attend special church services to offer prayers of Thanksgiving to God.

Others watch large parades in such cities as New York or Philadelphia. And many others watch football games on television or at sports stadiums.

But the most common way Americans celebrate the day is by having a Thanksgiving dinner. Friends and family gather together to spend the day enjoying a long dinner and conversation. For many families, it is the only time of year when all family members can get together. So, Thanksgiving has come to mean a time of family reunion, as well as a time to give thanks for the richness of the past year.

Thanksgiving is held every year, on the fourth Thursday of November. The month of November is autumn in the United States and other countries of the northern hemisphere, a season when crops are gathered, or harvested. The Thanksgiving celebration began as a harvest festival by the first European settlers in America.

Harvest festivals are an ancient custom. The ancient Greeks and Romans held festivals to give thanks to their gods for the crops they had harvested. The custom continued in Europe. So—when the first European settlers came to America—they brought with them the custom of giving thanks for a rich harvest.

Tradition tells us that the first Thanksgiving in America was celebrated in 1621 by early Pilgrim settlers from England.