Thanksgiving
and Thanksgiving Day
Thanksgiving Day
is a national holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada as a
day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year.
Several other places around the world observe similar celebrations. It is celebrated
on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and on the second Monday
of October in Canada. Thanksgiving has its historical roots in religious and
cultural traditions and has long been celebrated in a secular manner as well.
Prayers of thanks and special thanksgiving ceremonies are common among almost
all religions after harvests and at other times. The Thanksgiving holiday’s history
in North America is rooted English traditions dating from the protestant
Reformation. It also has aspects of a harvest festival, even though the harvest
in New England occurs well before the late-November date on which the modern
Thanksgiving holiday is celebrated. In the English tradition, days of
thanksgiving and special thanksgiving religious services became important
during the English Reformation in the reign of Henry VII and in reaction to the
large number of religious holidays on the Catholic calendar. Before 1536 there
were 95 Church holidays, plus 52 Sundays, when people were required to attend
church and forego work and sometimes pay for expensive celebrations. The reforms
reduced the number of Church holidays, including Christmas and Easter.
