Each year on the last Thursday of Nov. there is a holiday celebrated by people all over the world. Northern America was the first to have this holiday celebrated due to the successful first harvest and survival of their first and harsh winter. The very first Thanksgiving lasted three days full of mixed foods and a mutual understanding of community between the Pilgrims and Wampanoag tribe. 

Many people today do not celebrate this holiday directly because of the first harvest. Instead, it symbolizes gratitude, family, generosity, and community in spirit of why it was first celebrated. Friends and family get together to have a feast, a tradition that has stayed the same since the first Thanksgiving. Every family has their own ways of showing their gratitude on this day, whether it’s through the activities planned, food they bring, or words they share. 

Kiki O’Hearn shares that Thanksgiving, to her and her family, is “a time to get together with family and eat a meal with the people you love.” This is a meaning that many other families can relate to as well. She also says that knowing why Thanksgiving was made a holiday is important because it’s a great example of how “different people from different backgrounds came together to share something.” 

Thanksgiving was established as a federal holiday on the fourth Thursday of Nov. which is now when this holiday is celebrated each year. Overall, it is a time to show gratitude and spend time with the people you love no matter who that may be. Thanksgiving is not only celebrated by the United States, it’s also celebrated by other countries for similar reasons. 

This year when celebrating, share what you’re grateful for and tell the people you celebrate with and for that you’re grateful for them and what they do.