Origin of The First Thanksgiving

What is Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving is a time when everything is put on hold and a few days are spent in gratitude and celebration. This day is filled with Thanksgiving activities. To understand the origin and history of Thanksgiving we would need to go back almost 400 hundred years to the year 1620. This abstract would brief you on the origin and history as well as the meaning of the first Thanksgiving Day.

I believe you are eager and curious to know about the Thanksgiving history. Over hundred Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the 17th century to reach America. They had to bear a lot of hardships because of the violent storm that was raging in the high seas. When the ship anchored in Plymouth it was winter. Due to extreme cold around half the Pilgrims died. However, the Native Americans taught these Pilgrims to grow and harvest crops to survive.

The next year, owing to severe drought Pilgrims called for a day of prayer and fasting. They did this to please God and ask for a good harvest in the coming season. It is said god answered their payers and they had a good harvest of crops. The Pilgrims hosted a feast and invited the Native Americans as a "token of gratitude", the origin of first Thanksgiving, thus starting the tradition of Thanksgiving celebrations.

John Hanson, the first President of the United States, declared Thanksgiving as a national holiday to commemorate the victory of the thirteen colonies over the British Rule. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the US, "proclaimed" the last Thursday of November to be celebrated as "Thanksgiving" Day.

Did you know Thanksgiving Day is not complete without a turkey recipe?