Why is Thanksgiving in November?
Some facts regarding Thanksgiving. Did you know that on August 6, 1863, Abraham Lincoln declared a day of thanksgiving after Union victories in Gettysburg and Vicksburg. After receiving a letter from Sarah Hale, he declared the last Thursday of November as the national holiday.
Sarah Hale (the author of Mary Had a Little Lamb) was the driving force for a unified day of thanksgiving. The holiday was primarily celebrated in New England, but each state had a different day for its celebration ranging from October to January. She started campaigning for a national holiday in 1846. Sarah wrote letters to several presidents, Zachary Taylor, Millard Filmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln.
President Lincoln felt that a unified national holiday would bring the country together after the stress of the Civil War. Therefore, he declared the last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day. Lincoln stated in a proclamation entreating all Americans to ask God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.
Thanksgiving was held on this date until 1939 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving up one week to extend the retail period during the Great Depression. However, due to massive public outrage, Thanksgiving was moved back to its original time period, the fourth Thursday in November.
However you celebrate Thanksgiving, either with traditional turkey dishes, other meats, vegetarian, vegan, etc., all of us at ParkSleepFly.com wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.
