History Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival, give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. The first recorded Thanksgiving ceremony took place on September 8, 1565, when 600 Spanish settlers, under the leadership of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, landed at what is now St. Augustine, Florida, and immediately held a Mass of Thanksgiving for their safe delivery to the New World; there followed a feast and celebration. As the La Florida colony did become part of the United States, this can be classified as the first Thanksgiving.

Date

While perhaps religious in origin, Thanksgiving is now primarily identified as a secular holiday, celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States.

Future Thanksgiving date in U.S.

• November 26, 2009

• November 25, 2010

• November 24, 2011

• November 22, 2012

• November 28, 2013

• November 27, 2014

Celebration

Most people celebrate by gathering at home with family or friends for a holiday feast. First and foremost, baked or roasted turkey is usually the featured item on any Thanksgiving feast table (so much so that Thanksgiving is sometimes referred to as “Turkey Day” ). Stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet corn, other fall vegetables, and pumpkin pie are commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner. All of these primary dishes are actually native to the Americas or were introduced as a new food source to the Europeans when they arrived. As an alternative to turkey, many vegetarians or vegans eat tofurky, a meatless turkey made of tofu.

In celebrations at home, it is a holiday tradition in many families to begin the Thanksgiving dinner by saying grace. Found in diverse religious traditions, grace is a prayer before or after a meal to express appreciation to God, to ask for God’s blessing, or in some philosophies, to express an altruistic wish or dedication.

Vacation and travel

On Thanksgiving Day, families and friends usually gather for a large meal or dinner, the result being that the Thanksgiving holiday weekend is one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

Shopping

The American winter holiday season, traditionally begins the day after Thanksgiving, known as “Black Friday” so-called because of the heavy shopping traffic for Christmas on that day, make the company financial records from red to black.