From the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to the turkey and other food and from football spending time with your family, Thanksgiving is a holiday full of traditions.
The first Thanksgiving took place in 1621 after the Pilgrims settled on Plymouth Rock. The Pilgrims and the Wampanoag spent Thanksgiving dinner together to celebrate the successful growing season by enjoying what they had grown. Thanksgiving has been a national holiday since 1863. Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November a national holiday.
Over the years Thanksgiving has been celebrated to give thanks for the three F’s in life: family, food and football.
“My favorite part of Thanksgiving is spending time with my family,” said Anthony Davis. “It has been the one time each year where we can all get together and spend time as a family.”
Food was the main reason for the first Thanksgiving and things haven’t changed. While every family has their own different traditions, it’s the food that every family enjoys on Thanksgiving Day.
The food has changed a bit over the years. The first Thanksgiving’s celebration lasted three days and everything from turkey and deer to birds and many other foods popular in those times were eaten.
Football has been played on Thanksgiving Day ever since 1920. The game has been played every year except during World War II. When the games were resumed in 1945, the league played one game on Thanksgiving with the Detroit Lions hosting. The Lions playing on Thanksgiving has become an annual tradition, one that will continue this year when they host the Green Bay Packers. In 1966 the Dallas Cowboys adopted the practice of hosting a Thanksgiving Day game every year. That tradition is alive and well as this year the Cowboys will host the Miami Dolphins.
From family to food to football, Thanksgiving 2011 promises to deliver on all things that have made this holiday so great throughout the years.
