Time to celebrate Thanksgiving Day with a brief history of its tradition!

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Some have a family get-together, while some others enjoy their lone time by indulging in their own hearty meals and binge-watching their favorite shows.

Why do we celebrate Thanksgiving Day in the United States? Let us go over a brief history of this all-important American holiday.

 

In a 1789 proclamation, President George Washington called on the people of the United States to acknowledge God for affording them “an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their _______________ and happiness” by observing a day of thanksgiving. Devoting a day to “public thanksgiving and prayer,” as Washington called it, became a yearly tradition in many communities.

 

Thanksgiving became a national holiday in 1863. In that year, during the __________ War, Abraham Lincoln made his Thanksgiving Day Proclamation. He asked his fellow citizens “to set apart and observe the last ____________ (which day of the week?)  of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise……”

 

It was not until 1941 that Congress finally designated the fourth ________________ (which day of the week?) in November as Thanksgiving Day, thus creating a federal holiday.

 

Of course, Thanksgiving is not born of presidential proclamations. ____________  _____________ (who was the original tribes living/owning the American land?) harvest festivals had been celebrated for centuries, and colonial services date to the late ______th century. Thanksgiving Day, as we know, began in the early 1600s when settlers in both __________________ and Virginia came together to give thanks for their faith. The most widely known early Thanksgiving is that of the Pilgrims in Plymouth, ________________ (which State?), who feasted for 3 days with the __________________ (Which native American tribe?) people in 1621.

 

Turkey has become the Thanksgiving fare because at one time it was a rare treat. During the 1830s, an 8- to 10-pound bird cost a day’s wages. Even though turkeys are affordable today, they still remain a celebratory symbol of bounty. In fact, astronauts named _______________________ and Edwin Aldrin (who first landed on the Moon) ate roast turkey in foil packets for their first meal on the Moon.  

When did the presidential turkey pardon start? The Turkey pardon ceremony officially began with President ________________ in 1989, but the practice of pardoning a turkey may date back as far as the ________________ administration.

 

*One quick fun idiom! Know the meaning of “talk turkey”?

It means….._______________________

 

 

(*Source from the Old Farmers’ Almanac)

 

 

 

Answer Keys

    1.  safety

    2.  Civil War

    3.  Thursday

    4.  Thursday

    5.  Native American

    6.  16^th

    7.  Massachusetts

    8.  Wampanoag

    9.  Neil Armstrong

    10.  George H.W. Bush, Abraham Lincoln

    *to talk turkey means “to have a frank and honest talk”

image source: https://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/first-thanksgiving-meal