The fourth Thursday in November, Thanksgiving Day, is a national holiday in the United States. The origin of Thanksgiving Day is said to have been in 1621 when the Plymouth Colony settlers and the Wampanoag native Americans shared a meal celebrating the harvest.
While George Washington, the first president of the United States, said in 1789 that there should be “a day of public thanksgiving and thanks,” it wasn’t until 1863 in the midst of the Civil War that Abraham Lincoln made it a national holiday. He said the day should be, “A day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and union.”
While Thanksgiving Day is celebrated once a year, it is good for us to always be thankful as when we are thankful, complaining, dissatisfaction and unhappiness disappear. It is good for our souls. So, what are you thankful for? Erik