Many people look forward to the big Thanksgiving feast on the fourth Thursday of every November. Original traditions, however, have changed from the harvest celebration to Thanksgiving parades, Black Friday shopping, and football.
The word “Thanksgiving” was originally an English tradition and the days of Thanksgiving were religious services that were used to give thanks to God and celebrate a bountiful harvest. Presidents ignored this tradition up until Abraham Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a national holiday during the Civil War. Loved ones gather on the last Thursday of every November to eat delicious and fulfilling food and enjoy each other’s company.
Traditional foods that are included in the big feast that families prepare are turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and a variety of pies and desserts. Many foods have been added throughout the years such as glazed ham, mac and cheese, and casserole dishes. At the first Thanksgiving harvest, the foods most likely served were roasted deer meat, various local seafood, vegetables, and some kind of pumpkin dessert according to Plimoth Patuxet Museums.
New traditions have been made by families and businesses over the years. Macy’s has a big Thanksgiving Day Parade and it is one of the most famous holiday traditions in the United States. It is located in Manhattan, New York City, and thousands of people gather to watch massive fan favorite balloons. This year was the 98th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and was the largest one yet. The parade has been around for years dating back to 1924 and it was created to promote holiday sales.
Black Friday is some people’s favorite day and one of the biggest days for retailers and stores. It’s a chance for those to score big on holiday sales. The name originated back when Philadelphia police started using the phrase “Black Friday” to describe the chaos that followed the annual Saturday Army-Navy football game. It also referred to the financial crisis and the crash of the U.S. gold market in 1869. Stores were “in the red” and would earn their profit back the day after Thanksgiving. This big shopping day allows a positive turn of profit in stores and is the biggest day of shopping in the United States. Online shopping is also a newer shopping tradition. Cyber Monday was introduced in 2005 and is another popular way for stores to earn profit following the days after Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving football began in 1876 and was originally started by college football. According to Matthew Andrews, a history professor in a CNN article, “People from the different colleges and universities would flood New York City, and there would be pregame Wednesday night dinners and Friday and Saturday night there would be post-game balls and trips to the theater. And that’s when it really takes off, in the 1880s and the 1890s.” The 2024 NFL teams that played this year on Thanksgiving were Bears against Lions, Giants against Cowboys, and Dolphins against Packers. Traditionally, the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys always play on Thanksgiving and picked up this tradition in 1934 and 1966 due to the lack of teams that wanted to play on the holiday.
Although many different traditions have been altered or added, the big, festive Thanksgiving feast has remained the same taking place on the fourth Thursday of every November.
