Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated in Canada, the United States, and a few other countries. It began as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States, and around the same part of the year in other places.

Thanksgiving In Canada

The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving could be traced to the French settlers who came to New France in the 17th century, who celebrated their successful harvests. The French settlers in the area typically had feasts at the end of the harvest season and continued throughout the winter season, even sharing food with the indigenous peoples of the area.

As settlers arrived in Nova Scotia from New England after 1700, late autumn Thanksgiving celebrations became commonplace. New immigrants into the country—such as the Irish, Scottish, and Germans—also added their own traditions to the harvest celebrations. Most of the US aspects of Thanksgiving (such as the turkey) were incorporated when United Empire Loyalists began to flee from the United States during the American Revolution and settled in Canada.

Thanksgiving In The United States

Thanksgiving Day can be traced back to the 1621 celebration at the Plymouth Plantation, where the religious refugees from England (known popularly as the Pilgrims) invited the local Native Americans to a harvest feast after a particularly successful growing season.

The previous year's harvest had failed and in the winter of 1620, half of the pilgrims had starved to death. Luckily for the rest, members of the local Wampanoag tribe taught the Pilgrims how to grow corn, beans and squash, catch fish, and collect seafood.

The Pilgrims and the local indian tribe ended up sharing meals and enjoying each other's company, which led to them sealing a treaty of peace.

There are only two contemporary accounts of the 1621 Thanksgiving, but it's clear that turkey was not on the menu. The three-day feast included goose, lobster, cod and deer. Thanksgiving Day has been an annual holiday in the United States since 1863.

Not everyone sees Thanksgiving Day as a cause for celebration, though. Each year since 1970, a group of Native Americans and their supporters have staged a protest for a National Day of Mourning at Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts on Thanksgiving Day. American Indian Heritage Day is also observed at this time of the year. They believe that Thanksgiving was actually a celebration of the settler's victory over the Indians in the Pequot massacre, during which hundreds of Indians were killed.

Thanksgiving Traditions

Thanksgiving Day is traditionally a day for families and friends to get together for a special meal. The meal often includes a turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy, pumpkin pie, and vegetables. Thanksgiving Day is a time for many people to give thanks for what they have.

Thanksgiving Day parades are held in some cities and towns on or around Thanksgiving Day. Some parades or festivities also mark the opening of the Christmas shopping season. Some people have a four-day weekend so it is a popular time for trips and to visit family and friends.

Another peculiar Thanksgiving tradition happens at the White House every year. The President of the United States "pardons" A pardon is a government decision to allow a person who has been convicted of a crime to be free and absolved of that conviction, as if they were never convicted. a turkey, which has its life spared instead of ending up on the President's holiday table.


1. Now complete the sentences with words from the box below.



a) The main dish at a Thanksgiving dinner is             , which is filled with             and served with a side of             .

b)             were a group of English settlers who are said to have held the first Thanksgiving feast.

c) Thanksgiving began as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of a good             .

d) Every year, the President grants             to a turkey in a symbolic and traditional ceremony.