Education : Traditions : Family & friends : Happy Thanksgiving !

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via CountryLiving

Beloved in the United States, Thanksgiving is a holiday celebrated typically on the fourth Thursday of November. It’s a time to reflect on the year, be thankful, and celebrate with friends and family by enjoying a delicious meal together.

It's downright historic. Over the centuries, Thanksgiving evolved into a national holiday, officially recognized by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 as a day of national thanksgiving and praise. 

In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday to the fourth Thursday of November, where it remains today. Thanksgiving has become a time to contemplate the blessings in our lives, be thankful for the bounty of food and the love of family and friends.

In the US Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November while in Canada nearly one month and a half earlier. The second Monday of October. 

In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an Autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. 


For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. It wasn’t until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November.

In 1817, New York became the first of several states to officially adopt an annual Thanksgiving holiday.

credits: Amazon.com
https://www.amazon.com/

Thanksgiving or Turkey Day:

In many American households, the Thanksgiving celebration has lost much of its original religious significance; instead, it now centers on cooking and sharing a bountiful meal with family and friends.

credits: Etsy.com

https://www.etsy.com/

Turkey has become the traditional Thanksgiving fare because at one time it was a rare treat. During the 1830s, an eight- to ten-pound bird cost a day’s wages. Even though turkeys are affordable today, they still remain a celebratory symbol of bounty. 

Nearly 90 percent of Americans eat turke, whether roasted, baked or deep-fried. Poor turkeys! Thanks God! I'm a vegetarian.

Education:

Thanksgiving is a great time to be thankful and appreciate who you have and what you have. 

It's a time for families to meet, socialize and enjoy each other's company, sometimes the only opportunity in a year. 

Curricula:

Languages; History; Geography; Civics; Multimedia.


Resources:

• History: video

• Videos for kids:

Activities:

• Thanksgiving : Thanksgiving Vocabulary Quiz & other activities here

credits: English Portal 

Children's Thanksgiving Books

https://www.amazon.com/

• Children's books:

Kids love stories. So here some books to share with the youngest...

Thanksgiving Rules

Laurie Friedman

Teresa Murfin (illustration) 

Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/

Turkey Trouble

Wendi Silvano

Lee Harper (illustration)

https://www.amazon.com/

Whether you celebrate the #Thanksgiving holiday or not, it's always nice to say thank you.

• Thanksgiving Doodles 2023 & 2025

Google Doodle Thanksgiving 2025

https://doodles.google/doodle/

Google Doodle Thanksgiving 2025

https://doodles.google/doodle/

This Doodle was made with a very special collaborator, Tiny Chef! "Cheffy," the lovable herbivore chef who lives in a tree stump and makes the world's smallest (and cutest) dishes, is sharing his favorite holiday things with us this Thanksgiving.

Cheffy shows us that cooking isn't about size or perfection—it's about sharing with heart and making something to share with your friends and family.

Google Doodle Thanksgiving 2023

https://doodles.google/doodle/

Thanksgiving day is stuffed with activities. Across the US, people and families spend the day preparing and eating delicious dishes, watching parades, or participating in fun runs. Many people also lean into the spirit of giving through volunteering with local organizations to prepare and serve free dinners to their communities.

Thanksgiving is a great time to be thankful and appreciate who you are and what you have.

It's a time for families to meet, socialize and enjoy each other's company, sometimes the only opportunity in a year. We know.

Today, the 23 November 2023, Americans will recognize the spirit of the special holiday in other way: a time for everyone to reflect on their blessings, appreciate loved ones both near and far, and embrace new traditions. Wherever they are.

“Be present in all things and thankful for all things.”

Maya Angelou

Be thankful ! Stay safe !

G-Souto

28.11.2019

update: 27.11.2025

Copyright © 2023G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

Education : Traditions : Family & friends : Happy Thanksgiving ! by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. 

References:

History.com/ CountryLiving.com/ Google Doodles

Schools : Thanksgiving ! A traditional holiday in US : Resources

Thanksgiving

illustration : credits Peter H. Reynolds

https://www.facebook.com/peter.h.reynolds

Thanksgiving is celebrated in USA on the last Thursday of November. Families and friends gather around tables to feast and give thanks. 

Thanksgiving Day is an annual national holiday in the United States and Canada celebrating the harvest and other blessings of the past year. 

In the US Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November while in Canada nearly one month and a half earlier (second Monday of October). 

Thanksgiving has deep roots in religious tradition, but nowadays it is primarily celebrated as a secular holiday.

This holiday has origins dating back nearly 400 years when early American settlers met the Native American Wampanoag people.

Google doodle: Happy Thanksgiving 2016

https://www.google.com/doodles/

"Evocative of American folk art, with quilt-like patterning and simple shapes, today’s Doodle, rendered in a rich harvest-colored palette, is an ode to this season of togetherness."

Thanksgiving Day traditionally kicks off the 'holiday season' in the United States. The day was set in stone by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939 and approved by Congress in 1941. FDR changed it from Abraham Lincoln's designation as the last Thursday in November (because there are sometimes five Thursdays in the month).

• The traditional history:

It was 1620 in Plymouth, Massachusetts when Mayflower colonists and the Wampanoag forged a partnership of necessity. Decimated by an epidemic and wary of the mightier Narragansett, their nearby enemies, the Wampanoag and the newcomers become allies. 

Thanksgiving

illustration of the mythological first Thanksgiving of 1621

Universal History Archive / Getty Images

http://time.com/

The pilgrims were unfamiliar with Massachusetts’ natural resources and ill-equipped for survival - but Tisquantum, an English-speaking Patuxet Wampanoag, taught them how to hunt, gather shellfish, and plant corn, beans, and squash. 

Tisquantum helped the Plymouth colonists learn to cultivate corn

https://en.wikipedia.org/

Following harvest in the fall of 1621, the settlers and the Wampanoag, celebrated what’s considered the “First Thanksgiving,” a three-day feast with wild duck, goose, turkey, deer, and barley ale.

Greetings card

https://www.thanksgiving.quotesms.com/

• Thanksgiving or Turkey Day:

Turkey has become the traditional Thanksgiving fare because at one time it was a rare treat. During the 1830s, an eight- to ten-pound bird cost a day’s wages. Even though turkeys are affordable today, they still remain a celebratory symbol of bounty. 

In fact, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin ate roast turkey in foil packets for their first meal on the Moon.  

Thanksgiving vocabulary

http://00.edu-cdn.com/

Education:

Thanksgiving is a great time to be thankful and appreciate who you have and what you have. 

It is a time for families to meet, socialize and enjoy each other's company, sometimes the only opportunity in a year. 

Some prefer it to Christmas because of less emphasis on consumerism. Thanksgiving, for most, is also a start of a four day weekend which is great, too.

Typical Thanksgiving food includes: pumpkins, yams (sweet potatoes), cranberries and of course an enormous turkey. Scientists recently discovered that Turkey contains a chemical called tryptophan, which causes sleepiness, which explains some, but not all of the napping that Americans do on Thanksgiving day. 

Thanksgiving meals famously include leftovers for the days or weeks after the meal, so you may be eating Turkey for a while. 

Most importantly, the president of the United States, officially pardons a live turkey every year in a televised ceremony, meaning that he or she will not be eaten this year.

So, to my usual readers from the United States, and they are in a great number - thank you! - Happy Thanksgiving to all!

G-Souto

24.11.2016

update 27.11.2025

Copyright © 2016G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

Schools : Happy Thanksgiving ! A traditional holiday in US . Resources ! by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. 

sources:

credits: video CNN

Google Doodles

Almanach.com