AmCham Celebrates Thanksgiving Day

AmCham Celebrates Thanksgiving Day

• 25.11.2015

AmCham would like to wish you and your family a happy Thanksgiving Day!

Thanksgiving is perceived by Americans to be one of the most significant holidays of the year. It is a celebration of the blessing of the harvest. Celebrated in Canada in the second Monday of October, in the United States it takes place at this time of the year, the fourth Thursday of November.

Historically, Thanksgiving reflects one of the most significant turn points in the development of the United States as we know it today. In short, in 1620 when one of the first waves of pilgrims arrived on American soil after a treacherous 66-day voyage from Great Britain, they settled in Cape Cod on the Eastern Coast. After a year of difficulty of adapting, the pilgrims decided to set up a feast in celebration of the first successful corn harvest. Joined by 90 local Wampanoag tribe members, whom contributed to the feast by supplying meat, it was considered to be the first step in the pilgrims’ integration to life in the America that was known at the time.

Ever since then, Americans have celebrated the feast annually and President Abraham Lincoln declared it to become an official holiday in 1863. Since then the typical thanksgiving dinner has brought families together to celebrate with an entire turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie for dessert. To celebrate the more commercial (and the more modern element) of the festivity, families watch the annual thanksgiving football game, and indulge in heavy shopping on Black Friday (the day following Thanksgiving) when most retailers open their holiday season promotional activities. It has been routinely the busiest shopping day of the year for the past decade.