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.
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What did they eat at the first Thanksgiving? When did Thanksgiving became a 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.
Turkey likely wasn't on the table at the first Thanksgiving, but it eventually became the featured dish, thanks in part to an 1827 novel.
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
Early Puritans observed Thanksgiving days of prayer, but Sarah Josepha Hale's crusade is what ultimately gave us the Thanksgiving holiday.
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Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in the United States, and Thanksgiving 2026 occurs on Thursday, November 26.
People were once ridiculed for eating leftovers.
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.
The three-day feast was about giving thanks, but it wasn't much like today's holiday.
Without Squanto, a.k.a. Tisquantum, to interpret and guide them to food sources, the Plymouth Colony Pilgrims may have never have survived.
These dishes were on table at the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth.
What did they eat at the first Thanksgiving? When did Thanksgiving became a holiday? Get Thanksgiving trivia to share around the table.
Turkey likely wasn't on the table at the first Thanksgiving, but it eventually became the featured dish, thanks in part to an 1827 novel.
The retail bonanza known as Black Friday has darker roots than you might imagine.
The unpopular switch fueled competing days of observance.
After a major expansion in 1924, Macy's decided to throw New York City a parade.
It’s hard to imagine an American Thanksgiving table without the ubiquitous orange-crusted custard made from spiced and twice-cooked squash.
Find out the backstory to these common Thanksgiving facts—or if they're more fiction than fact.
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.
The annual Thanksgiving ritual of granting presidential pardons to White House turkeys is not as hallowed as you may think.
