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Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a traditional North American holiday, which is a form of harvest festival. The date and whereabouts of the first Thanksgiving celebration is a topic of modest contention, though the earliest attested Thanksgiving celebration was on September 8, 1565 in what is now Saint Augustine, Florida. Despite any scholarly research to the contrary, however, the traditional "first Thanksgiving" presented by Chief Massasoit is venerated as having occurred at the site of Plymouth Plantation, in 1621.

Today, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States.

Canada

As a liturgical festival, Thanksgiving corresponds to the English and continental European Harvest festival, with churches decorated with cornucopias, pumpkins, corn, wheat sheaves, and other harvest bounty, English and European harvest hymns sung on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend and scriptural lections drawn from the biblical stories relating to the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot.

While the actual Thanksgiving holiday is on a Monday, Canadians might eat their Thanksgiving meal on any day of the three day weekend. Thanksgiving is often celebrated with family, it is also often a time for weekend getaways for couples to observe the autumn leaves, spend one last weekend at the cottage, or participate in various outdoor activities such as hiking, fishing, and hunting.

United States

In the United States, Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day is an annual one-day legal holiday to express gratitude for the things one has at the end of the harvest season. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. The period from Thanksgiving Day to New Year's Day is often collectively referred to as the "holiday season." Thanksgiving is generally considered a secular holiday, and is not directly based in religious canon or dogma. The holiday's origins trace to harvest festivals that have been celebrated in many cultures since ancient times, and most people celebrate by gathering at home with family or friends for a holiday feast. A tradition also exists to share the fruits of the harvest with those who are less fortunate.

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. It marks the anniversary of the US-led invasion of the island in 1983 in response to the deposition and execution of Grenadan Prime Minister Maurice Bishop.

Amerindians

Ohenton Kariwatehkwen (The Thanksgiving Address)

The Thanksgiving Address is a process that has gone on for thousands of years. It is an oral tradition that gets passed down from generation to generation which still goes on to this day. The Thanksgiving Address is called the (Ohenton Kariwatekhwen) O-Honn-Doo Ga-Re-Wa-Deh-Gwonh. In the (Kanien'Keha:ka) Ga-Kneeu'-Gay-Haa language this means the words that come before all else.

See also

• Thanksgiving dinner
• Festival
• List of Harvest Festivals

References

1. USA Today article reporting research into the purportedly first Thanksgiving in St. Augustine, FL
2. Grenada Board of Tourism official website

External links

• Thanksgiving: The Jewish Perspective on Chabad.org
• Deconstructing the Myths of “The First Thanksgiving”
• Thanksgiving Traditions, Recipes, Crafts, and Activities on Kaboose.com
• Thoughts-giving on Thanksgiving

• Thanksgiving
• Meals
• Festivals
• Autumn holidays
• Agriculture in society
• Christian holidays