Thanksgiving day

The first celebration was held by the Pilgrims (the Plymouth colonists) after their first harvest in New England in 1621. Pilgrims arrived from England on the Mayflower ship in 1620. It took them 65 days to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Even a baby was born on Mayflower.

The first winter was very difficult for the Pilgrims, they did not have enough food and less that 50 survived the first winter. The next spring, Abnaki Indians named Samoset and Syuanto, visited the Pilgrims. They taught the Pilgrims how to tap the maple trees for sap[1]. They showed them plants that were poisonous or had medicinal powers. They taught them how to plant Indian corn by heaping the earth into low mounds[2] with several seeds[3] and fish in each mound. The decaying[4] fish fertilized the corn. The harvest[5] in October was very successful and the Pilgrims invited the Indians to join them in their celebration, which lasted for three days.

Thanksgiving became a national holiday many years later. It was President Abraham Lincoln who declared it a national holiday in 1863.

It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the USA. Canadians celebrate it on the second Monday of October.
On this day families meet together for the traditional Thanksgiving dinner – the turkey.
There are many sports competitions in towns, in the countryside and on TV too. Some large department stores hold their famous annual [6]parades.

[1] Vypouštět mízu z javorů

[2] Navršování země na malé kopečky

[3] Semínka

[4] Hnijící

[5] Úroda

[6] Každoroční