When Was the First Thanksgiving?
Learn more about Thanksgiving.
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Transcript
Did You Know? Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States and the second Monday in October in Canada.
The American holiday is modeled after a 1621 harvest feast shared between English colonists of Plymouth and the Wampanoag people.
But Thanksgiving wasn’t celebrated nationally in the United States until President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving on November 26, 1863.
Every president after him also proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving, and in 1942 Thanksgiving officially became the fourth Thursday of November.
Today, American and Canadian Thanksgiving celebrations both involve feasting with family and friends.
Plus, in the U.S. there are football games and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to watch on TV.