Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving, celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, traces its roots to the Pilgrims' 1621 harvest feast. Today, it remains a time for Americans to come together for food, family and football.
Featured Overview
Featured Overview
Although Thanksgiving celebrations dated back to the first European settlements in America, it was not until the 1860s that Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday of November to be a national holiday.
3:15m watch
Bettmann Archive
Featured Overview
Featured Overview
Although Thanksgiving celebrations dated back to the first European settlements in America, it was not until the 1860s that Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday of November to be a national holiday.
3:15m watch
Start Here
Start Here
What did they eat at the first Thanksgiving? Which president made Thanksgiving a federal holiday? Get Thanksgiving trivia to share around the table.
Without Squanto, a.k.a. Tisquantum, to interpret and guide them to food sources, the Plymouth Colony Pilgrims may have never have survived.
The answer is more complicated than you might think.
In 1876, Yale beat Princeton before a sparse crowd. By the mid-1880s, their annual contest was a major social event that attracted thousands of fans in New York.
Thanksgiving Becomes a Holiday
Thanksgiving Becomes a Holiday
Thanksgiving Becomes a Holiday
Early Puritans observed Thanksgiving days of prayer, but Sarah Josepha Hale's crusade for a national day of thanks is what ultimately gave us Thanksgiving.
2:01 watch
Explore All Related Topics
Explore All Related Topics
The answer is more complicated than you might think.
Without Squanto, a.k.a. Tisquantum, to interpret and guide them to food sources, the Plymouth Colony Pilgrims may have never have survived.
In 1876, Yale beat Princeton before a sparse crowd. By the mid-1880s, their annual contest was a major social event that attracted thousands of fans in New York.
From the earliest fall feasts to the first Thanksgiving football game to the Macy's Day parade, here's the full background on how the U.S. holiday evolved to the tradition it is today.
Black Friday hasn't always been about shopping for sales at obscenely early hours the day after Thanksgiving.
The three-day feast was about giving thanks, but it wasn't much like today's holiday.
What did they eat at the first Thanksgiving? Which president made Thanksgiving a federal holiday? Get Thanksgiving trivia to share around the table.
Snapshots of the iconic parade over the last eight decades.
The third president declined to participate in the tradition.
People were once ridiculed for eating leftovers.
The United States isn’t the only nation with a holiday dedicated to gratitude—here are eight different variations of the Thanksgiving tradition from around the world.
In November 1926, President Calvin Coolidge pardoned a live animal intended for his Thanksgiving dinner and adopted it as a pet. This was no turkey, however, but a raccoon.
The retail bonanza known as Black Friday is now an integral part of many Thanksgiving celebrations, but this holiday tradition has darker roots than you might imagine.
More than 50 years before the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Spanish colonists in Florida feasted with Native Americans in what some call the first Thanksgiving.
Look back at the humble origins of an American holiday tradition—the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The annual Thanksgiving ritual of granting presidential pardons to White House turkeys is not as hallowed as you may think.
It’s hard to imagine an American Thanksgiving table without the ubiquitous orange-crusted custard made from strained, spiced and twice-cooked squash.
The author of the children's poem "Mary Had a Little Lamb" was persistent in arguing that establishing the national November holiday could help heal wounds from the Civil War.
Deep frying turkeys is a southern trend that is now spreading across the United States.
3:30m watch
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has been marching since 1924.
2:51m watch
At the Macy's Studio in Hoboken, NJ, technicians work year round to construct floats and balloons for the Thanksgiving Day Parade.
3:15m watch
Although Thanksgiving celebrations dated back to the first European settlements in America, it was not until the 1860s that Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday of November to be a national holiday.
3:15m watch
The Thanksgiving Day Parade is a 48-hour whirlwind of activity.
2:35m watch
Early Puritans observed Thanksgiving days of prayer, but Sarah Josepha Hale's crusade for a national day of thanks is what ultimately gave us Thanksgiving.
2:01m watch
At the Jennie-O turkey store, getting hens from the farm to your table is a highly specialized process.
1:14m watch
Hebert's Meats in Lousiana claims to be the original creator of this 18-pound combination of duck, chicken and turkey.
1:24m watch
Learn about the history of the first Thanksgiving meal in 1621.
Find out the backstory to these common Thanksgiving facts—or if they're more fiction than fact.
Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in the United States, and Thanksgiving 2025 occurs on Thursday, November 27. In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies.
