The origins of this great family celebration date back more than 400 years, when the Mayflower Pilgrims, having survived a difficult winter, shared the fruits of their first harvest with the Native Americans.
Americans are expected to set a new Thanksgiving travel record again this year, as nearly 80 million people prepare to hit the road, fly or board cruises during the holiday season. Thanksgiving is a public holiday in the United States, celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. In 2024, it falls on Thursday the 28th. The traditional Thanksgiving meal typically includes turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cornmeal bread, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. This holiday season is often the busiest of the year in the United States, as family members, often scattered across the country, come together.
The national celebration in its modern form dates back to 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, when President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving to be held every November. But its origins date back to 1621: it commemorates the first harvest of surviving pilgrims from Mayflower. The ship left Plymouth, England, in September 1620, with 30 crew members and 102 passengers on board: some in search of a new home where they could freely practice their faith, others attracted by the promise of prosperity and land ownership of the “New World”.
The opportunity to express gratitude
They arrived off the coast of what was then Massachusetts on November 11, 1620, where they landed at Plymouth Rock. Half of them did not survive the rigor of the first winter, carried away by diseases, difficult living conditions and scurvy. The survivors were helped to survive by the Native Americans, who taught them how to cultivate corn, extract sap from maple trees, catch fish in rivers and avoid poisonous plants. They established the first prosperous colony in New England and in 1621 celebrated the fruits of their first harvest, which they shared with their Native American neighbors: what came to be called the First Thanksgiving. The tradition continued and spread to other colonies before being made official by Abraham Lincoln.
Beyond the feasts and the opportunity to get together with family, Thanksgiving, as its name suggests, is still today an opportunity to express gratitude.
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