About The Oldest Holiday In America
President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November
A holiday is a day set aside for special observance, typically involving a break from work or regular activities. It is often intended to commemorate or celebrate an event, tradition, religious festival, or cultural observance.
Holidays can be national, religious, or personal in nature, and they are typically marked by special activities, traditions, and gatherings that distinguish them from regular days. Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated in America on the fourth Thursday of November. It is a day set aside for giving thanks for the blessings of the harvest and the preceding year.
Thanksgiving is the first and oldest American holiday. The holiday is traditionally associated with a festive meal, often featuring turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie.
On September 8, 1565, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and 800 Spanish settlers founded the city of St. Augustine in Spanish La Florida. As soon as they were ashore, the landing party celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving. This event predates the famous Pilgrim's Thanksgiving in Plymouth, which took place in 1621.
Afterward, Menéndez laid out a meal to which he invited as guests the native Seloy tribe who occupied the site. The celebrant of the Mass was St. Augustine’s first pastor, Father Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales, and the feast day in the church calendar was that of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The U.S. National Park Services recognizes St. Augustine as the site of the first Thanksgiving. National Catholic Register also acknowledges it as the site of America’s first Thanksgiving. The Florida Historical Society defines it as the ‘real first’ American Thanksgiving.
Despite its earlier date, the St. Augustine Thanksgiving is often overlooked in favor of the Plymouth celebration, which has become more deeply ingrained in American tradition and national mythology.
The "First National Thanksgiving" was proclaimed from York, PA by the Continental Congress on November 1, 1777 to be celebrated on Thursday, December 18. It was written by Sam Adams of Massachusetts.
"The Father of the Revolution," who advocated for the first time "one day of public thanksgiving" for all of the states after the battle of Saratoga. "That with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts."
For more than two centuries, individual colonies and states celebrated days of thanksgiving. However, it wasn't until 1863, during the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November.
President Lincoln declared Thanksgiving Day be held on the last Thursday of November in 1863, "hoping to reconcile a country in the throes of the Civil War." That's why it's national holiday.
Presidents Washington, Adams, and Madison all issued proclamations for national days of thanks. In 1941, Congress passed a law declaring Thanksgiving a national holiday, officially setting it as the fourth Thursday in November.
According to several sources, Thanksgiving is the most popular and well-known holiday in the country, topping Christmas and other festive days on the popularity list.
Almost every U.S. adult (98%) says they have heard of Thanksgiving, and 80% say they like the holiday. Today, Thanksgiving remains a major holiday in the U.S., characterized by family gatherings, traditional foods, and expressions of gratitude.