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Thanksgiving is usually celebrated every last Thursday of November in the USA. It’s a holiday marked by lots and lots of turkeys. Every household who commemorates thanksgiving usually prepares a whole turkey for dinner, along with other dishes.
Where did this holiday come from anyway? Originally, Thanksgiving was held to give gratitude to the harvest of the past year. It traces its roots as far back as 1621, when the first Thanksgiving was celebrated. It lasted not just one day, but three.
But it wasn’t a national holiday back then. It was President Abraham Lincoln who first declared the last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day. Eventually, it was in 1939 that President Franklin D. Roosevelt officialized the date, and Congress approved it two years later.
Also, why the turkey? This idea was first put forth by one of the founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton. He once said that no US citizen should not eat turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Others also believe that it’s because turkeys are big enough to feed a good number of people. One extra benefit of turkeys is that they don’t serve any other purposes, such as making milk or laying eggs. Because of this tradition, about 50 million turkeys are served in America annually every Thanksgiving Day.
And it’s not just turkey that is served during Thanksgiving. There are also mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, celeries, asparagus, and corn. The Thanksgiving dinner table contains a rich combination of these different ingredients prepared in different ways. The turkey is the central thing, though; no Thanksgiving dinner is complete without it. For everything else around the turkey, it depends on each family on what their tastes are.
Although the original intent of the Thanksgiving holiday has almost faded, it still remains to be a fulfilling holiday to celebrate. Filling especially to people’s stomachs, that is.
