ATLANTA – The Pilgrims probably didn’t realize what they were starting when in the fall of 1621 they gathered for a three-day feast to celebrate a bountiful harvest.
Today, Americans generally consider that feast the first Thanksgiving.
There are other historical dates that some pinpoint as the holiday’s root. Regardless, it wasn't until 1863 that a national day of Thanksgiving was declared. President Abraham Lincoln set aside the last Thursday of November for the holiday. President Franklin Roosevelt later changed the date of celebration to the fourth Thursday of the month.
“When the Pilgrims celebrated their first Thanksgiving nearly four centuries ago, they had already suffered through a harsh and bitter winter,” President Bush said in a weekly radio address in November 2008. “But they were willing to endure that adversity to live in a land where they could worship the Almighty without persecution.
“When President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863, the United States was in the midst of a terrible civil war,” Bush added. “But in that hour of trial he gave thanks – because he believed America would weather the storm and emerge into a new era of liberty.”
Let’s take a moment today to give thanks.
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