Understanding the History of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is just weeks away, which means you’re probably already getting your plans in order. Whether you’re finalizing travel plans and getting ready to fly across the country to see loved ones you haven’t seen since last year, or you’re hosting your annual family Thanksgiving celebration, you are probably already well into the planning process.

As is the case with many holidays, we often celebrate Thanksgiving without truly understanding its history and origins.

Sure, we know the story of the Pilgrims landing on Plymouth Rock, but the history of Thanksgiving, its status as a national holiday, and many of the celebrations that are such a vital part of our modern celebrations are all wonderful parts of the story.

Today, learn more about the history of Thanksgiving and the history of the Thanksgiving traditions that you probably take part in each year.

Origins of Thanksgiving: The Celebration of the Pilgrims

The story of Thanksgiving begins with a feast that took place more than 400 years ago. The English Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts where they joined the Wampanoag tribe to celebrate the harvest that they had gathered from their first season of farming.

Today, Thanksgiving is a one-day event, during which we gather with friends and family and enjoy a good meal. In 1621, a single day couldn’t contain the celebration. Instead, the feast lasted for three full days and was about more than just catching up with others.

The first Thanksgiving was largely about celebrating survival and cooperation. When the Pilgrims arrived, they knew nothing about farming, weather patterns in what is now the United States, and other important factors. They owed their survival in that first farming season to the Native Americans who taught them about their own methods.

The Pilgrims certainly never knew that Thanksgiving was going to become an annual celebration. Initially, it was created to be a one-time show of appreciation and gratitude for the people who taught them everything that they knew.

The celebration was built around the concept of mutual respect and appreciation for different cultures and the beauty that can be produced when differences are celebrated.

Thanksgiving Becomes a National Holiday

While the first Thanksgiving celebration took place in 1621, it would take hundreds of years for it to become a national holiday. A woman named Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor spent years petitioning the federal government to make Thanksgiving a national holiday.

For years, her pleas went unheard, but finally, in 1863, while the United States was anything but united because of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln heard her pleas and took steps to officially recognize Thanksgiving on a national level.

Hale had long believed that having a national holiday that was devoted to gratitude and unity could help heal a divided nation. After all, the first Thanksgiving was a celebration of differences and a chance for people from different backgrounds to sit down together, focusing more on what they had in common than what divided them.

In 1863, Abraham Lincoln decided to declare the last Thursday in November as a day of “Thanksgiving and Praise.” The goal was to prompt Americans to stop focusing on the things that divided the North and South so they could focus on the things that they had in common.

The vision that Lincoln had for Thanksgiving, which was prompted by the tireless work of Sarah Josepha Hale, helped turn Thanksgiving into a celebration for everyone, regardless of their background, color, or creed. His decision would create a day that continues to serve as a fixture for Americans from coast to coast.

The Formation of Modern Thanksgiving Traditions

One of the most interesting aspects of the origins of Thanksgiving, at least as we celebrate it now, is how the different ways that we celebrate the day came to be. Many of the traditions that we continue to take part in to celebrate Thanksgiving came together during the 19th and 20th centuries.

For instance, do you know why turkey is the traditional centerpiece of Thanksgiving meals? It’s because of the availability of turkey.

Many people could not go to the store and buy groceries to prepare a meal, so it was common for people, usually men, to head into the forest to hunt turkey, which are still incredibly active during the winter months. Side dishes like potatoes, cranberry sauce, and squash were grown in gardens across the United States.

While you may go to the grocery store and spend hundreds of dollars buying food for your Thanksgiving celebrations, most American households could not afford to buy enough food to feed their families.

Even if they didn’t have large-scale farms, virtually every household had a small garden. Much like the Pilgrims on the first Thanksgiving, people relied on food they could harvest to celebrate this day.

This was also a chance for regional foods to influence menus. The foods that people were growing in the Northeastern United States weren’t necessarily the same foods that were growing in the South. These different flavors are still a part of our Thanksgiving celebrations, as people often bring foods with them, creating special dishes that highlight where they call home.

Parades and Football: More Modern Thanksgiving Traditions

2024 is the 100th anniversary of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which got its start in 1924. The parade was initially created to serve as an unofficial kickoff to the Christmas season, as stores along the parade route decorated their front windows and doors.

The first parade also featured entertainment along the parade route, a far cry from the elaborate celebration that brings countless people to the streets of New York City today while millions more watch from home.

It didn’t take long for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to grow in scale, as by the 1930s, large balloons were part of the celebration. Many of the balloons were designed to look like popular characters.

Felix the Cat was the first character to appear in the parade as a float, and that took place in 1927. By the 30s, more and more characters were on display in their larger-than-life forms. One of the biggest moments came in 1934 when Walt Disney helped design a Mickey Mouse float, which became perhaps the most iconic float in the parade.

Thanksgiving Day Football is also a long-time staple in our modern celebrations, but this relationship actually predates the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. In the late 1800s, college football teams started playing on Thanksgiving, as the student-athletes were out of class for the holiday.

Eventually, high school football teams started scheduling games on Thanksgiving, usually in the early afternoon, to give families a chance to come and enjoy a game together.

When the NFL officially formed in 1920, the league immediately began playing games on Thanksgiving Day. There’s an urban legend surrounding the game that took place on Thanksgiving in 1920 between the Chicago Tigers and the Decatur Staleys.

Reportedly, the two teams agreed to a contest with the understanding that the losing team would be relegated out of the league. Many historians believe this is why the Tigers were the only team to fold after the inaugural NFL season.

Today, the Detroit Lions host one of the Thanksgiving Day games, a tradition that has been in place since 1934. By 1966, the Dallas Cowboys joined the tradition, hosting a game every year with only two exceptions in 1975 and 1977. In 2006, the NFL added a third primetime game to the schedule, but unlike the two early games, there are no teams that always take part in the late game.

Thanksgiving: A Day of Gratitude and Tradition

More than 400 years since the first Thanksgiving was observed, the day is a beautiful opportunity to take part in family traditions like backyard football games, Black Friday shopping trips, and more. It’s amazing to think that none of it would’ve been possible if a magazine editor hadn’t lobbied so hard for the day to be added to the national calendar.

Whether you spend your day eating delicious food around a table with friends and family, or the highlight of your Thanksgiving is cheering on your favorite team after watching the morning parade, Thanksgiving is a wonderful opportunity to let the people in your life know how grateful you are for their presence. Happy Thanksgiving!