November 27: Thanksgiving

Unlike the popular myth of Thanksgiving, the first ever Thanksgiving was not between the pilgrims and the native people, but instead between settlers just north of the Jamestown colony (called Berkeley Hundred) in 1619. See photo for the American myth version that, while glamorous, is inaccurate. It has been celebrated in the US every year as a federal and national holiday since 1863, when Abraham Lincoln declared a national day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who hath dwelleth in the Heavens."Lincoln originally declared Thanksgiving to be on the final Thursday of November, instead of the fourth Thursday that is observed today.

Franklin D. Roosevelt is to thank for that change, when in 1939 he declared that Thanksgiving would be on the 4th Thursday. There is debate to the reasoning behind this, but many attribute it to his acknowledgment that having more time between Thanksgiving and Christmas would allow merchants to sell more goods than they would had the "season" not begun yet. That particular year, because there were to be 5 Thursdays in the month instead of the normal 4, made FDR nervous because the nation was still caught up in the Great Depression. Today, Thanksgiving is generally celebrated by the consumption of fall harvest foods, like sweet potatoes and cranberries, and turkey is cooked. The day is marked by parades (like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade) and football, and is considered to be a distinctly American holiday.