Thanksgiving Day is a day set aside in the U.S. and Canada to
give thanks to God for blessings and grace through the year.
During this day, people feast and pray, and many families have
reunions that create a huge dinner mostly of turkey, cranberry
sauce, pumpkin pie, and a few other delicacies. Churches sometimes
have a special meeting or message pronounced to the people.
Thanksgiving started very early in the history of the U.S. English
settlers along the James River in Virginia had a charter that
required them to give thanks on Dec. 4. This day was entirely
religious. Historically more famous, the first Thanksgiving Day
at New England included a large meal and prayer to give thanks
to the Lord for progress.
Our Founding Fathers such as George Washington often set days
aside to give thanks for victory after battles in the Revolutionary
War.
Thanksgiving days occured every year; however, it was not a national
day until Abraham Lincoln set aside the last Thursday of November
as "a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficient Father."
Recently Thanksgiving has been viewed as a day of gluttony and
no school instead of a day to give thanks.
