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Thanksgiving Day is an annual, national holiday, which takes place on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States. It was originally a holiday to give thanks to God for the harvest. Nowadays, it’s a time for all families to get together and to reflect on and show gratitude for the blessings of the past year. 🙏��🦃🥧
The origins of Thanksgiving in the USA can be traced back to Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621. The Pilgrims/English colonists, who had settled there, organised a feast to celebrate their harvest and invited the local Wampanoag Indians to join them. The two groups socialised together over the next three days. This marked the start of a peaceful period between the two groups which continued until the war in 1675 when hundreds of colonists and thousands of Native Americans lost their lives.
Thanksgiving Day didn’t become a regular holiday until 1836 when Abraham Lincoln declared that it should fall on the last Thursday of November. In 1941, Franklin Roosevelt made it an official federal holiday and moved it to the fourth Thursday of November. It has continued to be celebrated thus to this day.
Thanksgiving decorations often include pumpkins, squash, dried corncobs and wheat crops. Another traditional decoration is the cornucopia, also known as a horn of plenty. These are filled with harvest vegetables and crops, symbolizing abundance and bounty. In addition, fall/autumn floral and leaf arrangements and wreaths are also popular.
The traditional food for the Thanksgiving meal typically includes a turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, potatoes, sweet potato casserole, vegetables and a pumpkin pie. It is common to say grace before the meal, giving thanks for the food on the table and the blessings of the past year. (Adapted from TEFL) ✨✨
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