Good question.....Um has to do with Pilgrams and Indians? I know I get a 4 day weekend...Lets see what Google says about it.........
Thanksgiving is a holiday in the USA when people give thanks. It is
celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. Americans usually eat turkey on this day.
Legend of the First Thanksgiving
The Pilgrims were early settlers on the east coast of North America. They had to work hard to find or grow their own food. At harvest time in autumn, the Pilgrims were very thankful that they had a good crop of food to eat during the coming winter. They thanked God and they also thanked the native Americans for helping them learn how to grow food. So they invited their two key Native American helpers, Squanto, Samoset, plus Chief Massasoit, to share in their Thanksgiving feast. The Native Americans brought their families, numbering over 90 people. The Pilgrims were overwhelmed, and didn´t have enough food, so the Native Americans brought along their own supplies for the feast. The Wampanoags brought turkey, deer, berries, squash, cornbread, and beans--things that they'd farmed and that they'd shown the Pilgrims how to care for.
The first official Thanksgiving had nothing to do with Pilgrims or Native Americans sharing meals. In fact, the food that was eaten did not include a lot of what we eat today. The menu was venison, wild turkey, wild nuts, and fruit. Please see: https://pilgrims.net/plymouth/thanksgiving.htm Much of the credit for the adoption of a later ANNUAL national Thanksgiving Day may be attributed to Mrs. Sarah Joseph Hale, the editor of Godey's Lady's Book. For thirty years, she promoted the idea of a national Thanksgiving Day, contacting President after President, until President Abraham Lincoln responded in 1863 by setting aside the last Thursday of November as a national Day of Thanksgiving. Over the next seventy-five years, Presidents followed Lincoln's precedent, annually declaring a national Thanksgiving Day. Then in 1941, Congress permanently established the fourth Thursday of each November as a national holiday.
