by Amanda Attiya and Kimberly Brown
Thanksgiving has been a tradition celebrated by many countries for many years, when people observe the fall harvest. The traditional American stories are believed to have originated from a harvest celebration in Massachusetts Plymouth, 1621. A group of pilgrims invited a few Native Americans from a nearby tribe to a feast, a rare show of peace between the settlers and the natives. George Washington proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving day on November 26th, 1789. The pilgrims themselves would have known Thanksgiving as a day for religious services, practiced in England since the Protestant Reformation of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Today, Thanksgiving has a slightly different connotation than it did back in the 1600’s. It is seen as a time to spend with family to celebrate all the good things in life. People from all over the world drive, fly, bus, you name it, to see their relatives, making Thanksgiving the busiest traveling day of the year. The entire family is usually included in preparing the food.