Thanksgiving Day is a
harvest festival
celebrated primarily in the United States
and Canada
.
Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks to God for the harvest
and express
gratitude to others for our
many blessings. While historically religious in origin,
Thanksgiving is now primarily identified as a secular
holiday.
The "First" Thanksgiving?
The date and location of the first Thanksgiving celebration is a
topic of modest contention. The traditional "first Thanksgiving" is
the celebration that occurred at the site of
Plymouth Plantation, in 1621. The Plymouth
celebration occurred early in the history of what would become one
of the original thirteen colonies that became the United States.
However,
there was another, more modest Thanksgiving at Berkeley
Plantation
, Virginia on the banks of the James River in
1619. The celebration became an important part of the
American myth by the
1800s. This Thanksgiving, modeled after celebrations that were
commonplace in contemporary Europe, is generally regarded as
America's first.
Today, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the
fourth Thursday of November in the United States
and on the second Monday of October in Canada
.Thanksgiving
dinner is held on this day, usually as a gathering of family
members and friends.
Canada
United States
Grenada
In
Grenada
there is a national holiday of Thanksgiving Day on
25 October. It is unrelated to
holidays in Canada and the United States even though it bears the
same name and occurs around the same time. It marks the anniversary
of the U.S.-led
invasion of the
island in 1983 in response to the deposition and execution of
Grenadan Prime Minister
Maurice
Bishop.
Netherlands
A
Thanksgiving Day service is held in Hooglandse Kerk
to commemorate the hospitality the Pilgrims
received in Leiden on their way to the New
World.
References
External links