Thanksgiving (United States)
Thanksgiving is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. It is sometimes called American Thanksgiving to distinguish it from the Canadian holiday of the same name and related celebrations in other regions. It originated as a day of thanksgiving and harvest festival, with the theme of the holiday revolving around giving thanks and the centerpiece of celebrations remaining a Thanksgiving dinner. The dinner traditionally consists of foods indigenous to the Americas: turkey, potatoes, squash, corn (maize), green beans, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. Other Thanksgiving customs include charitable organizations offering thanksgiving dinner for the poor, attending religious services, and watching television events such as Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and America's Thanksgiving Parade as well as NFL football games. Thanksgiving is regarded as the beginning of the holiday season, with the day following it, Black Friday, said to be the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States.
The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth, oil on canvas, by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe, 1914
Thanksgiving (United States)
Thanksgiving at Plymouth, oil on canvas by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe, 1925 National Museum of Women in the Arts
Shrine of the first U.S. Thanksgiving in 1619 at Berkeley Plantation in Charles City County, Virginia
Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, is an annual Canadian holiday held on the second Monday in October. Outside of the country, it may be referred to as Canadian Thanksgiving to distinguish it from the American holiday of the same name and related celebrations in other regions.
Shopping for pumpkins for Thanksgiving in Ottawa's ByWard Market in 1991
Scarecrows on display at the Markham Fair. Several communities host fairs the week before Thanksgiving.
Canadian troops attend a Thanksgiving Mass in the bombed-out Cambrai Cathedral, France, in October 1918.