Thanksgiving

1
Thanksgiving
2
History of Thanksgiving
3
History of Thanksgiving

• We often think of Thanksgiving as a uniquely
  American holiday, but there is actually a long
  tradition of harvest-time celebrations and
  thanksgiving celebrations
• the ancient Greeks
• the Romans
• the ancient Chinese
• the Jews
• the ancient Egyptians

4
History of Thanksgiving

• In the British Isles, the major Thanksgiving
  forerunner was a harvest festival called Lammas
  Day, named for the Old English words for loaf and
  mass.
• On Lammas Day, everyone would come to church with
  a loaf of bread made from the first wheat
  harvest. The church would bless the bread, in
  thanks for that year's harvest.

5
History of Thanksgiving

• The city of El Paso, Texas claims the first
  thanksgiving held in what is now the United
  States, but it was not a harvest celebration.
  Spaniard Don Juan de Oñate ordered his expedition
  party to rest and announced North America's first
  thanksgiving mass celebration on April 30, 1598.
• Source www.wikipedia.com

6
History of Thanksgiving

• The modern American thanksgiving has its origins
  in the history of the Pilgrim Fathers
• In 1609, a group of 35 Puritans, fleeing
  religious persecution in England moved to Holland
  and settled at Leyden
• They lived in Holland for a number of years until
  a group of English investors - the Merchant
  Adventurers - financed a trip to the New World.
• A little bit more than one-hundred Puritans (the
  Pilgrims) left England, Southampton in September
  1620 on a ship called the Mayflower

7
The Mayflower and Speedwell in Dartmouth Harbor.
8
The Mayflower on Her Arrival in Plymouth Harbor.
9
History of Thanksgiving

• They arrived in the New World after a couple of
  months and settled in a town called Plymouth in
  what is now Massachusetts.
• December was a bad time to start a settlement,
  especially when so many of them were too sick to
  do the hard work which founding the settlement
  required.
• The Pilgrims' first winter was so harsh that
  fewer than fifty of the group survived the
  season.

10
The Landing of the Pilgrims.
11
The Landing of the Pilgrims.
12
History of Thanksgiving

• Had it not been for the friendly native Americans
  who taught them their skills, the Pilgrims might
  never have survived.
• The following year, the survivors showed they had
  learned their lessons well, The October harvest
  was very successful
• An it was due to the help they got from the
  Native Americans the Pilgrims had enough food for
  the next winter
• The natives also introduced the colonists to the
  turkey, which was native to North America

13
History of Thanksgiving

• The Pilgrim governor, William Bradford, decided
  to have a celebratory feast, and invited the
  Native American neighbours to take part.
• The Native Americans brought food as well, and
  the celebration lasted for three days. Historians
  believe that this celebration took place sometime
  in October 1621.

14
The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth.
15
History of Thanksgiving

• Two years later, the Pilgrims more clearly
  established the Thanksgiving tradition. Following
  a period of long drought, the Pilgrims were
  observing a day of fasting and prayer, when it
  began to rain. In appreciation of the drought's
  end, the Pilgrims celebrated a real day of
  thanksgiving.

16
(No Transcript)
17
History of Thanksgiving

• In the middle of the American Civil War,
  President Abraham Lincoln, prompted by a series
  of editorials written by Sarah Josepha Hale,
  proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day, to be
  celebrated on the final Thursday in November 1863

18
History of Thanksgiving

• Since 1863, Thanksgiving has been observed
  annually in the United States, with the turkey as
  a centrepiece of the festivities.
• In 1941, Roosevelt signed a bill to officially
  make Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in
  November. This means Thanksgiving is the last

19
Thanksgiving inBritain
20
Britain

• In Britain, thanks have been given for successful
  harvests since pagan times.
• The festival is known as Harvest Festival or
  Harvest Home or Harvest Thanksgiving or
  Thanksgiving.
• In British churches, chapels and schools, people
  bring in food from the garden or the farm.
• In Britain Thanksgiving remains as a Church
  festival giving thanks to God for the harvest.

21
Britain

• Anglo-Saxon word "haerfest" which meant 'Autumn.
• On the Sunday of the Harvest Moon
• Nowadays the festival is held at the end of
  harvest which varies in different parts of
  Britain.
• Farmers celebrated the end of the harvest with a
  big meal called a harvest supper.

22
Britain

• The modern British tradition of celebrating
  Harvest Festival in churches began in 1843, when
  the Reverend Robert Hawker invited worshippers to
  a special thanksgiving service at his church at
  Morwenstow in Cornwall.
• In the early days, there were ceremonies and
  rituals at the beginning as well as at the end of
  the harvest.

23
Britain

• Church bells could be heard on each day of the
  harvest.
• A corn dolly was made from the last pile of corn
  harvested. The corn dolly often had a place of
  honour at the banquet table, and was kept until
  the following spring.
• The horse, bringing the last cart load, was
  decorated with garlands of flowers and colourful
  ribbons.
• A magnificent Harvest feast was held at the
  farmer's house and games played to celebrate the
  end of the harvest

24
(No Transcript)
25
(No Transcript)
26
Canada

• In Canada, Thanksgiving is a three-day weekend.
• They also sing English and European harvest hymns
  on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend and
  biblical stories are drawn relating to the Jewish
  harvest festival of Sukkot.
• While the actual Thanksgiving holiday is on a
  Monday, Canadians might eat their Thanksgiving
  meal on any day of that three day weekend.

27
History of Thanksgiving in Canada

• English explorer, Martin Frobisher, had been
  trying to find a northern passage to the Orient
• Established a settlement in Canada
• In 1578, he held a ceremony, in what is now the
  province of Newfoundland and Labrador, to give
  thanks for surviving the long journey

28

• At the same time, French settlers, having crossed
  the ocean and arrived in Canada with explorer
  Samuel de Champlain, also held big feasts of
  thanks
• After the Seven Years' War ended in 1763 handing
  over New France to the British, the citizens of
  Halifax held a special day of Thanksgiving.
• American refugees brought the customs and
  practices of the American Thanksgiving to Canada

29

• Starting in 1879 Thanksgiving Day was observed
  every year but the date was proclaimed annually
  and changed year to year. The theme of the
  Thanksgiving holiday also changed year to year to
  reflect an important event to be thankful for.

30
(No Transcript)
31
Thanksgiving in America
32
Thanksgiving in America

• Thanksgiving Day is the fourth Thursday in
  November
• is an annual one-day holiday to give thanks

33
FOOD

• certain kinds of food are traditionally served at
  Thanksgiving meals. First and foremost turkey.
• Stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet
  potatoes, cranberry sauce, Indian corn, other
  fall vegetables, and pumpkin pie

34

• A perfect Thanksgiving menu generally includes
  the dishes that represent the idea of giving
  thanks for a good fortune, a good harvesting
  season, and the sharing of the bounty of
  happiness with friends and family.

35
HAPPENINGS

• In the Northeastern United States, busiest nights
  of the year for bars and pubs
• the busiest travel periods of the year.

36

• In New York City, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day
  Parade

37

• American football

38
Sources

• www.thanksgivingnovember.com
• www.usinfo.pl/aboutusa/holidays/thanksgiving.htm
• www.wikipedia.org
• www.pilgrimhall.org
• http//www.howstuffworks.com
• http//www.britannia.com/history/pilgrim.html