Why is American Thanksgiving on a Thursday?
Thanksgiving is one of the most well-liked holidays in the United States, but officially deciding which day of the year it should be celebrated was a challenging and contentious endeavor. Since 1942, the United States of America has been required to celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November, but the holiday has been observed…
Thanksgiving is one of the most well-liked holidays in the United States, but officially deciding which day of the year it should be celebrated was a challenging and contentious endeavor. Since 1942, the United States of America has been required to celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November, but the holiday has been observed on a wide variety of other days in the past.
Why is American Thanksgiving on a Thursday?
Thursday became national legislation after becoming a custom. We don’t know when the Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving happened. Thanksgiving was in October, not November. Beginning in 1668, November 25 was the “legal” yearly Thanksgiving day for five years.
Puritan colonists may have moved the celebration to Thursday to avoid the Sabbath. Ministers gave religious talks every Thursday afternoon in New England. This may have led to Thursday’s Thanksgiving. Since George Washington’s time, Thursday has been the day, and Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation made it official. Later, November’s fourth Thursday was added. Lincoln never declared the Friday after Thanksgiving a national shopping day.
