Thanksgiving Day in the USA or "harvest" thanks to the Americans

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Each nation, without a share of bragging, is proud of the huge number of its traditional holidays. Some of them were borrowed from the cultures of other peoples, some originated in the process of formation and development of the country, the rest were inoculated by local natives. The last point is especially significant for countries that were formed as a result of colonization. Thanksgiving Day in the USA can rightfully be considered such a holiday.

The origins of this popular celebration lie at the foundation on which the giant of the independence of the American continent, the United States of America, has been standing and growing stronger for quite a long time. The history of this holiday begins with the history of the development of the state, from the period when the first colonizers landed on the lands of the brave Indians. It was then, in 1620, that a harsh winter did not spare a huge number of gentlemen from the Old World.

The remaining poor fellows tried their best to survive. In this they were helped by compassionate Indians, who taught the colonialists to sow pumpkin, corn and make the popular maple syrup. Having received the first harvest, the main conqueror William Bradford proposed to celebrate thisthe event is a three-day celebration. This is how Thanksgiving came to be in the USA.

The next year turned out to be dry, and the old-world society, conquering the expanses of America, prayed to all the gods, asking them for next year's heavenly moisture - rain. And their prayers were heard. Therefore, the second celebration on the occasion of the grand harvest took place in 1622. Since then, it has become a wonderful tradition to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. The United States and its inhabitants celebrated this holiday without observing a specific date. The first president of the United States, who was George Washington (he is also depicted on the one-dollar bill), declared this celebration a national one. However, only his sixteenth heir, Abraham Lincoln, who proposed to celebrate Thanksgiving Day in the United States on the last Thursday of November, managed to establish the exact time of the holiday. It was 1863, and since then this event has never changed its traditions.

Usually this day starts with going to church. At the same time, the holiday is considered exclusively a family celebration, sometimes gathering at the same table relatives from all over the vast world. The main guest of the gala dinner is the baked turkey. The most interesting for citizens of the post-Soviet space is the question of why this bird is after all. There are several hypotheses about the origin of this tradition. According to one version, on the first festive table, organized in honor of this celebration, the invited Indians brought as a treatbaked carcasses of these birds. Nowadays, nothing has changed: as in the distant 1620, the turkey is accompanied by pumpkin pie and maple syrup.

Thanksgiving Day in the USA is not only home gatherings by the fireplace, but also grandiose costumed performances on the streets of every locality in the country. It is also worth noting that on this holiday, the President of the States symbolically releases the turkey, stored for cooking, into the wild. The beginning of this tradition dates back to the reign of John F. Kennedy.

This is probably the most national and most American holiday. Therefore, it is not surprising that Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Russia.