The Origins of Thanksgiving

    As a popular American holiday that millions across our nation celebrate annually, Thanksgiving is a time for hearty meals, joyful times with family, and a much-needed opportunity to take some time off of our busy lives in order to celebrate positivity. As pleasant and popular as this holiday may be, not a large percentage of its participants know much about it aside from its food-related components and do not take the time to enrich their palate of knowledge with its origins, purpose, and history.

    With its first documented celebrations dating back to 1621, Thanksgiving has been present in American culture for nearly 400 years, quickly establishing itself as a trademark American holiday symbolizing peace, appreciation, and care for family. It originated at Plymouth, an early American colony in present-day Massachusetts, when Puritan pilgrims brought European traditions of fasting followed by celebrations and thanksgiving to the colonies. After periods of eating sparsely and putting much of their time to praying, working, and living humbly, the pilgrims would hold large ceremonial dinners where they would eat great sums of food, drink alcohol, and generally encourage positive thoughts and ambiance around the colony. These kinds of celebrations were immensely important mentally to the pilgrims as the harsh living conditions and isolation of living in early American colonies made it incredibly difficult for them to remain optimistic. However, a time of thanksgiving would allow pilgrims to unite with their families as well as with one another in order alleviate some of the stress that constantly flooded their minds, very similarly to what the holiday does for many in contemporary society as a way to help them get through the stress of daily life. Some documented cases seem to suggest that the pilgrims who migrated to the New World even celebrated their days of thanksgiving with surrounding Native American tribes with whom they had established peaceful relations, illustrating the desire for friendship with said tribes that many pilgrims had in contrast to some of the more ruthless explorers and conquistadors of the time. With passing decades, such days of thanksgiving would spread to other colonies, eventually giving way to a nationally celebrated singular holiday by the 18th century.

    While its history in the modern-day United States is a rich topic of discussion on its own, not many realize that Thanksgiving is actually a widely celebrated holiday in Canada as well. Celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada rather than the fourth Thursday of November as is done in the United States, Thanksgiving is cherished just as fondly and held up with the same level positivity in Canada as it is stateside. While its exact narratives of origin are not precisely as well documented as they were for American colonies, many historians guess that the Canadian holiday of Thanksgiving came into existence when French settlers who had colonized the area held large feats to celebrate years of good harvest and to advocate the ideals of gratitude and friendship. Similarly to the American colonists, the central themes of the holiday seem to surround the appreciation of the good things in life and the flushing out of stress and tension that back them came from survival and exploring the unknown and that today comes from a wide variety of activities that make up our various lifestyles in modern day society. While Thanksgiving isn't celebrated by as many people as more global holidays such as Easter or Christmas are, it carries a beautiful message about ignoring negativity and staying happy through adversity that has stayed alive through countless generations spanning from the founding of our nation until today. The significance of its purpose has been strong enough to survive as long as it has and will surely continue to touch the hearts and families of countless of Americans for centuries to come. 

Sources:
http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving

https://www.plimoth.org/learn/just-kids/homework-help/thanksgiving/thanksgiving-history

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/11/23/what-really-happened-first-thanksgiving-wampanoag-side-tale-and-whats-done-today-145807