Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving it is one of the most popular celebrations in the United States; so much so that it is known throughout the world and in fact it has been exported to some countries that adapt this festival to their own history or simply dedicate a special dinner to one of the most outstanding moments in American history. Next, we give you all the information about this party with the special, when is thanksgiving 2022 and why is thanksgiving celebrated.
Thanksgiving Day
A large table laden with food, topped with a turkey, and a family sitting down to dinner to give thanks is the image many of us have of Thanksgiving and marks for many the advance to the celebration of Christmas.
The origin of Thanksgiving
Considered one of the originally American holidays, to understand its celebration we have to travel back in history to 1620 with the first pilgrims who traveled from England to the Americas on the ship Mayflower and landed at Plymouth.
These pilgrims were escaping the constrictions of the Church of England as well as poverty, and are regarded as the first immigrants from North America.
The arrival of the pilgrims
Upon arrival, they are greeted in a friendly manner by native Massachusetts Indians and they share with the newcomers their knowledge about the crops in this land, as well as teaching them how to hunt and cure the meat of the animals in the area.
Because of this, when the fall of 1621 arrived, the settlers decided to invite the natives to celebrate the harvest and to thank them for everything they had been taught.
The relationship between both parties seemed cordial. or at least this is what we can read in the history books that recount the origin of what is perhaps the most deeply rooted tradition in the popular culture of the United States.
The first Thanksgiving celebration
After survive the passage of a very harsh winter and the fact of having obtained a bountiful harvestthe pilgrims organized a great dinner to which they invited the Indians natives who wished they could thank them for their help.
This first celebration of Thanksgiving lasted several days in which Indians and pilgrims shared food, drinks and fun.
The party gave way to a tradition and although originally it was something to give thanks for the harvest achieved, it soon became almost religious, with family gatherings around the table giving thanks to God for what has been achieved in life. or throughout the year.
Currently that is the way or the way to celebrate Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving. A party that is celebrated at the end of November (the fourth Thursday) with a special dinner with loved ones and in which thanks are given not only for the harvests but for everything one has in life.
How Thanksgiving is established in the United States
After that first Thanksgiving dinner in 1621, it was several years before Thanksgiving was established as the holiday known today.
Thanksgiving and its religious connection
The holiday itself was not well seen at all in its origin due to the religious practices of Puritan New England, in which the strict Calvinist doctrine sanctioned not only the Sabbath, the fast days as well as the thanksgiving celebrations. as if it were a religious festival or “holy days” festival.
For the Puritans, a true “thanksgiving” was a day of prayer and pious humiliation, giving thanks to God for his special providence. auspicious events, such as the sudden end of war, drought or plague.
The idea was like having an extra day off during the week. Thus the party headed for fasts and thanksgivings that never fell on a Sunday. In the early 1600s, they were not annual events. Simultaneously instituted in Plymouth, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, Thanksgiving became in a regular event in the mid-17th century and was proclaimed each fall by the individual colonies.
The first Thanksgiving celebrations
The holiday was changed when the dogmatic Puritans of the 17th century made it more cosmopolitan by spreading it across the country beginning in the 18th century.
During the 1700s, the emotional significance of the New England family gathered around a dinner table overshadowed the civil and religious significance of Thanksgiving.
And so, carried by immigrants from the country, the holiday moves west and the popular press also spread New England Christmas traditions along with Thanksgiving to the rest of the nation.
Thanksgiving becomes a national holiday
The Continental Congress proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving in 1777. Presidents Washington, Adams, and Monroe proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday. but the custom fell into disuse in 1815, after which the celebration of the holiday was limited to the celebrations of each state.
There By the 1850s, nearly every state and territory celebrated Thanksgiving.
Many people felt that this family holiday was meant to be a national celebration, especially Sarah Josepha Haleinfluential editor of a very popular women’s magazine.
the figure of Sarah Josepha Hale
She was the one who, in 1827, began a campaign to restore vacations after the model of the first presidents.
She publicly petitioned several presidents to make Thanksgiving an annual event. The Sarah Josepha Hale’s efforts finally succeeded in 1863, when she was able to convince President Lincoln that a national thanksgiving it could serve to unite a country torn apart by war.
The President declared two national days of thanks a year, one for August 6 celebrating the victory at Gettysburg and a second for the last Thursday of November.
Neither Lincoln nor his successors, however, made Thanksgiving a fixed annual event, but the last Thursday in November was retained as a regular date for Thanksgiving.
In a somewhat controversial move, Franklin Delano Roosevelt decides to extend the Christmas shopping season so that Thanksgiving is declared for the last Thursday in November. Two years later, in 1941, Congress decided to permanently establish the holiday as the fourth Thursday of the month.
This is how it comes to our days and so we can already know when it is celebrated in 2022.
What day is Thanksgiving 2022? Thanksgiving
In addition to the history of the origin of Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving, as I have already said that he was the first president of the United States, George Washington who officially declared the first Thanksgiving on February 19 of 1795. Later, Abraham Lincoln chose October 3, 1863 as a day of reflection and thanksgiving.
President Theodore Roosevelt changed the date again in 1941 by designating Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November.which is still the day on which this holiday is celebrated.
In this way, if we do the math, we can tell you that Thanksgiving 2022 will be celebrated next Thursday, November 25. Also the following day, Friday (which is a public holiday in the United States) is set as Black Friday, day in which there are special sales in stores, as a preview of the coming gift season. This “Black Friday” also currently occurs in online stores so that everyone can take advantage of the discounts that are offered for one day.
How Thanksgiving is celebrated in the United States
Thanksgiving is a very family holiday. Everyone leaves their jobs and chores to go home to their families and be together.
It is a holiday that also means that the following Friday, people can celebrate a bridge and start doing their Christmas shopping (Black Friday) so that for many it is a “mini-vacation” that gives way to the well-known season. like “holidays”.
Family gatherings on Thanksgiving
Given that the United States is a country full of immigrants and that many inhabitants move from one state to another for work, personal or study reasons, Thanksgiving means that everyone, for one day a year, can get together with their entire family.
Dinner is the most important part of the celebration. There is no skimping on food and turkey is the star dish of all kitchens.
In addition, Thanksgiving marks the start of the Christmas shopping season.
Although it is still a typical American holiday, the fact that many Americans who live outside the country have maintained the custom of celebrating Thanksgiving where they live, it has been possible to “export” the holiday in a certain way, so also in Spain we can find people who celebrate Thanksgiving with friends or who adapts the party to give thanks to what they have in life, and they invite American friends.
Curiosities about Thanksgiving
Another curious fact about this celebration is that turkey farmers in the United States always give turkeys to the president of the government during Thanksgiving.
It is a tradition that has been going on since the time when Harry Truman was president, so this year will be the 68th time that the occupant of the Oval Office will receive such a succulent award.
The Turkey Pardon
It should be noted that, since 1989, when George Bush Sr. was in power, of all the turkeys that are sent to the president of the government, there are one or two turkeys that are pardoned and sent to Mount Vernon, a small city in Washington County.
black friday
We’ve already mentioned it before, but Thanksgiving It happens on the fourth Thursday of November and precedes Black Friday.
This Friday is a holiday in which all the stores open and offer their best discounts. Normally there are real avalanches of customers.
Black Friday is named like this because it is said that before Friday business accounts are in the red but after Friday they all have positive numbers.
And it is that, like almost everything that comes from the US, it can be said that, despite the fact that it is sold as a party in which family values and reunions predominate, in reality it has become another celebration with consumerism by flag.
The Great Thanksgiving Day Parade
Another of the most typical celebrations of this day is the great parade organized every year in New York by the chain of stores Macy’s, in which the little ones (and also the older ones) can enjoy a spectacular display in which they will see many of their favorite characters from the cinema or television.
TV series and movie specials are also broadcast and there is even a soccer game that families get together to watch together before Thanksgiving dinner.
Surely the only thing that does not enjoy this day are the poor turkeys, the traditional food of these…