Thanksgiving Day

In the United States, Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. It originated as a harvest festival and was celebrated intermittently since 1789 with a proclamation by George Washington. It became a federal holiday during the Civil War on October 3, 1863 when Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens." In 1942, following a joint resolution of Congress, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a proclamation designating the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day.

For several reasons, the holiday has moved away from its religious roots and has become a day for families to gather together to renew relationships and to welcome in the gift-shopping season associated with the Christmas holiday. Football games between traditional rivals and department store sponsored parades have become the norm for the Thanksgiving Day holiday and weekend.

For many, however, the holiday is still celebrated as a day in which to give thanks to God for His bountiful blessings to us both as a nation and as individuals.

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