I’m sure you’ve all heard of this famous holiday celebrated by Americans, but do you know how it came about? We want to tell you a little about the origin of this holiday and how it is celebrated in the USA.
Thanksgivingdates back to 1621, when a group of Wampanoag Indians and English settlers met in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The winter that the colonists spent on American soil was very hard and only a few survived. The natives took care to teach them to fish and grow corn. It was then that after the first successful harvest the settlers organized a thanksgiving celebration where they shared food with the Wampanoag Indians and it would be what became the first Thanksgiving Day in history, a celebration that lasted for 3 days.
Officially, it was declared a national holiday in 1863 under President Abraham Lincoln. From then on, “Thanksgiving” would be celebrated annually on the fourth Thursday of the month of November.
There are a number of traditions that are carried out on this day, we compile for you the 10 most curious facts about “thanksgiving”.:
1.The USA is not the only country that celebrates it. Canada is another country that celebrates it in a big way, but they do it on the second Monday of October.
2. Normally, almost all Americans have “bridge” from Wednesday to Sunday. There are universities that even give a party all week long.
3. Many people take advantage of this day to make charitable actions and help the most disadvantaged.
4.
The main dish is a stuffed turkey. Inside there is a mixture we call “stuffing” which is made with bread crumbs, fried onion, bacon and all mixed with poultry stock.
5.
About 280 million turkeys are cooked on this day.
6. The “pardon the turkeyPardon the turkey” is the tradition whereby the president pardons a turkey. It arose with Abraham Lincoln’s decision to ‘save’ the turkey his family was having for dinner in 1863, at the request of his son Tad.
“Corn” and “Cob,” that’s what this year’s pardoned turkeys are called, were brought to a Washington DC hotel room last Monday, November 23. Housing the birds in comfortable lodging before the ‘pardon’ is part of the peculiar presidential custom on Thanksgiving eve, and this did not change because of the coronavirus pandemic.
7. The dessert par excellence is the pumpkin pie, although many families make delicious apple pies.
8. Families usually participate and do other activities on this day such as going to the watch a paraderun a 5k in costume o watch the NFL.
9. Over the years, the “friendsgiving” has become more and more famous.friendsgiving“. This is the same celebration but among friends instead of family members, which is the most common Thanksgiving celebration.
10.
This is considered to be the time of the year with the highest traffic congestion, both at airports and on highways.
For many people, Thanksgiving is also like the beginning of a season full of festivities, as they will soon be celebrating Christmas. In addition, with the “black friday” just around the corner, the atmosphere in the streets and shopping centers increases at this time.
This year, like all celebrations since March 2020, will be different, but we are sure to keep the spirit and enjoy in a different way these holidays so marked for many Americans.
Normally most international university students enjoy this holiday there, but this year marked by Covid19, many of them return home at this time and will continue their university studies until Christmas online. Students who catch their flight after this holiday will be able to experience what it’s like to live Thanksgiving in the USA. Let’s hope that after eating so much they will have the strength to catch their flight on time.
