Thanksgiving (US)

Culture of origin: National · National holiday

Holiday sources: United States (federal)

Thanksgiving grew out of the days of thanksgiving of 17th-century New England; the 1621 harvest celebration at Plymouth is popularly called the "first Thanksgiving". Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving in 1863, and the fourth Thursday of November became the uniform date in 1941. The dinner centres on turkey, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie, and the day after, Black Friday, opens the holiday shopping season.