Happy Thanksgiving to our readers in or from the USA
While harvest festivals have been celebrated around the world since time immemorial, the modern holiday we call Thanksgiving is generally considered to date back to 1621. Following a long and brutal winter, the Pilgrims celebrated their first successful harvest in the New World with a Thanksgiving feast.
This feast was attended by 90 members of the Wampanoag tribe, including their chief Massasoit. The Native Americans initially went to investigate the sounds of gunfire, which turned out to be the Pilgrims’ celebration. Upon this discovery, Massasoit sent his hunters out and they returned with five deer and numerous fowl to share with the Pilgrims over the course of their three day Thanksgiving celebration. Thus the tradition was born!
This year’s thanksgiving is celebrated on 25 November 2010. Many people look forward to this particular holiday simply because the majority, if not all, of their family members will be together for the first time this year.
The Thanksgiving holiday means different things to people who celebrate it. As it usually provides a four day weekend, for a lot of people it is a holiday that is highly anticipated as a small holiday from work or school. This has thrilled children for years to know that they not only get a huge meal with all their family members but they also get four days of cartoons, sleeping late, and playing. So it is easy to see why the children enjoy this special holiday.
For many older people, this is a holiday of simply being grateful and giving thanks for what they have received during the year. This is the true meaning of Thanksgiving especially if the current year has been so much better than ones past. When everyone is gathered around the table for the holiday meal, they may each be asked to share what they are most thankful for that year. This is actually a tradition in many families that is repeated each year.
It is a time of happiness and catching up on the lives of the others. This is a true Thanksgiving tradition that never goes out of style.
