Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November each year. And this year, Thanksgiving Day falls on Thursday, November 23rd. For those who don’t know, Thanksgiving is a national holiday in the US. And for them, it is a time for families and friends to come together to enjoy a traditional meal and to count on their blessings. Thanksgiving Day will be celebrated in many other countries including America. Thanksgiving Day is celebrated as a festival in America. On this day people thank each other and pray to God for the coming year.
In Canada, Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the second Monday of October. Apart from this, this festival is also celebrated with special enthusiasm in the Caribbean islands and Liberia. It is believed that people across the country give thanks for a good harvest on this day. Also thank God for a happy life.
Importance of Thanksgiving Day
It is said that on this day everyone thanks God and also thanks each other. They spend time together with each other and invite family members for dinner. Eating together and giving gifts is part of this festival. Making each other feel special and showing the importance of their presence in your life is the true importance of this festival. The trend of celebrating Thanksgiving Day has started in India also. People celebrated Thanksgiving Day in Western India. They thank each other give gifts and also spend time with each other while having a mass dinner together.
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History of Thanksgiving Day
In 1863, it was President Abraham Lincoln who declared the last Thursday of November would be celebrated as a national day of thanksgiving. His aim behind this move was to help unite the country during the Civil War. Moreover, President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939 moved Thanksgiving to the second-to-last Thursday of November. This was done to give retailers more time for holiday shopping. However, it was unpopular with many Americans till 1941, when Congress passed a law and made Thanksgiving Day the fourth Thursday of November and a national holiday.