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.

Thanksgiving with Large Family

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A group of friends or family members hold hands around a Thanksgiving

What did they eat at the first Thanksgiving? Which president made Thanksgiving a federal holiday? Get Thanksgiving trivia to share around the table.

Detail of illustration depicting Native American Squanto (a.k.a. Tisquantum), of the Patuxet tribe, serving as guide and interpreter for the Pilgrims at the Plymouth Colony, circa 1621.

Without Squanto, a.k.a. Tisquantum, to interpret and guide them to food sources, the Plymouth Colony Pilgrims may have never have survived.

A Thanksgiving turkey on a table with pie.

The answer is more complicated than you might think.

Wood engraving from Harper's Weekly magazine depicts onfield action during a football match between Yale and Princeton on Thanksgiving Day, November 1879. The match was a draw

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 for a national day of thanks is what ultimately gave us Thanksgiving.

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Thanksgiving
A Thanksgiving turkey on a table with pie.

The answer is more complicated than you might think.

Detail of illustration depicting Native American Squanto (a.k.a. Tisquantum), of the Patuxet tribe, serving as guide and interpreter for the Pilgrims at the Plymouth Colony, circa 1621.

Without Squanto, a.k.a. Tisquantum, to interpret and guide them to food sources, the Plymouth Colony Pilgrims may have never have survived.

Wood engraving from Harper's Weekly magazine depicts onfield action during a football match between Yale and Princeton on Thanksgiving Day, November 1879. The match was a draw

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 First Thanksgiving

The three-day feast was about giving thanks, but it wasn't much like today's holiday.

A group of friends or family members hold hands around a Thanksgiving

What did they eat at the first Thanksgiving? Which president made Thanksgiving a federal holiday? Get Thanksgiving trivia to share around the table.

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Snapshots of the iconic parade over the last eight decades.

Thomas Jefferson. (Credit: VCG Wilson/Corbis via Getty Images)

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.

Mrs. Coolidge and Rebecca the raccoon, Easter egg rolling, 1927.

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.

Celebration of mass in 1565

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.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Look back at the humble origins of an American holiday tradition—the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

President George H.W. Bush (center) bending to admire a Thanksgiving bird, November 1989.  (Photo by Diana Walker/Getty Images)

The annual Thanksgiving ritual of granting presidential pardons to White House turkeys is not as hallowed as you may think.

Traditional homemade autumn pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving or Halloween dinner served in ceramic dish with yellow autumn leaves over grey texture background. Flat lay, space. (Photo by: Natasha Breen/REDA&CO/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

It’s hard to imagine an American Thanksgiving table without the ubiquitous orange-crusted custard made from strained, spiced and twice-cooked squash.

Sarah Josepha Hale

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.

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The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has been marching since 1924.

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At the Macy's Studio in Hoboken, NJ, technicians work year round to construct floats and balloons for the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

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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.

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The Thanksgiving Day Parade is a 48-hour whirlwind of activity.

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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.

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At the Jennie-O turkey store, getting hens from the farm to your table is a highly specialized process.

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Hebert's Meats in Lousiana claims to be the original creator of this 18-pound combination of duck, chicken and turkey.

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HISTORY: Thanksgiving

Learn about the history of the first Thanksgiving meal in 1621.

HISTORY: Thanksgiving Fact or Fiction

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.