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The question is complicated by the concept of Thanksgiving as either a holiday celebration or a religious service. James Baker maintains, "The American holiday's true origin was the New England Calvinist Thanksgiving. Never coupled with a Sabbath meeting, the Puritan observances were special days set aside during the week for thanksgiving and ...
Consequently, the Thanksgiving holiday weekend is one of the busiest travel periods of the year. [142] Thanksgiving is a four-day or five-day weekend vacation for schools and colleges. Most business and government workers (78% as of 2007) are given Thanksgiving and the day after as paid holidays. [143]
While historians have debated its humble origins, Thanksgiving is celebrated traditionally with big meals, football games and the Macy's Thanksgiving parade. Millions of Americans are estimated to ...
The story most people heard about Thanksgiving from a young age is pretty simple: A group of Pilgrims, fleeing religious persecution, sail to North American and settle on Plymouth Rock.
In one 1884 plan, Thanksgiving is said to be set apart from these holidays because "it is not a day of boisterous hilarity and celebration but a devout outpouring of thanks from a God-fearing people for blessings received during the year," specifically because of its origin in the 1621 event. [24]
Traditional "first Thanksgiving" stories taught in schools tend to erase the true history, and the Native American perspective.
Find out how Thanksgiving got its start, plus facts about the first meal.
The holiday formed around 1870, a few years after US President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday. It had its origins with Ragamuffin Day (known in some jurisdictions as Beggars Day), a celebration as part of Thanksgiving, which involved children going door-to-door seeking candy, dressed as beggars and homeless residents ...