Thanksgiving Day is special holiday in the United States and Canada. Families and friends gather to eat and give thanks for their blessing. Thanksgiving Day is really a harvest festival. This is why it is celebrated in late fall, after the crops are in. But one of the first thanksgivings in America had nothing to do with a good harvest. On December 4, 1619, the Pilgrims from England landed near what is now Charles City, Virginia. They knelt down and thanked God for their safe journey across the Atlantic. The first New England Thanksgiving did celebrate a rich harvest. The Pilgrims landed at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. They had a difficult time and the first winter was cruel. Many of the Pilgrims died. But the next year, they had a good harvest. So Governor Bradford declared a three-day feast . The Pilgrims invited Indian friends to join them for their special feast. Everyone brought food. In time, other colonies began to celebrate a day of thanksgiving. But it took years before there was a national Thanksgiving Day. During the Civil War, Sarah Josepha Hale persuaded Abraham Lincoln to do something about it. He proclaimed the last Thursday of November 1863 as a day of thanksgiving. Today, Americans celebrate this happy harvest festival on the fourth Thursday in November. Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving Day in much the same way as their American neighbors. But the Canadian thanks-giving Day falls on the second Monday in October. Which of the following is NOT true?
Thanksgiving Day used to be a holiday to celebrate a good harvest. Abraham Lincoln was not the first to decide on thanksgiving celebrations. Thanksgiving Day is celebrated to express the American and Indian people's thanks to God. There's little difference between the American way and the Canadian way to celebrate Thanksgiving Day.