Congress passed an official proclamation in 1941 and declared that now onwards Thanksgiving would be observed as a legal holiday on the 4th Thursday of November every year.
Prior to that, Abraham Lincoln issued a Thanksgiving proclamation on the 3rd of October in 1863 and officially set aside the last Thursday of November as the national day for Thanksgiving.
Before that, George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving Day Proclamation in 1789.
And originally, by the autumn of 1621 only half of the pilgrims who had sailed on the Mayflower, survived from their arrival in December, 1620. They had left Europe and religious persecution in an effort to find a land where they could follow the Bible and worship God freely. During the first winter, some days the rations were as little as a few grains of corn each. So after the next harvest, the survivors, thankful to be alive, decided to give a thanksgiving feast.
The pilgrim leader, Governor William Bradford, organized the feast and invited Chief Massasoit, and the neighboring Wampanoag Indians to the feast. A good strategy as the Indians had taught the pilgrims how to cultivate the land and still had most of the food.
The first Thanksgiving celebration lasted 3 days.
The beverage that the Puritan pilgrims brought with them was beer.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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