Thanksgiving 2009: Some Basics

By David Liu

In the United States, Thanksgiving Day is observed on the fourth Thursday of November each year. The Thanksgiving day 2009 or this year is on November 26th. The thanksgiving date varies each year.

The annual thanksgiving day began in 1863 in the United States and became a federal holiday in 1941. Because of this, federal agencies are closed and their employees get paid for the day.

The First Thanksgiving was celebrated by 53 pilgrims and 90 Indians to thank God for helping the pilgrims survive the brutal winter, wikipedia says.

The traditional thanksgiving menu often features turkey, stuffing, pumpkin and sweet potatoes. But on the first thanksgiving day, people did not use these foods. They used duck, geese, venison, fish, lobster, clams, swan, berries, dried fruit, pumpkin, squash, and many more vegetables. Cranberries were not used at that time.

The common recipes for thanksgiving include pumpkin pie recipes and stuffing recipes such as bread stuffing recipes for thanksgiving and stuffing recipes for turkey among other things.

The Friday after Thanksgiving is often recognized as a holiday by many companies although it is not a federal holiday. Schools are often closed on the day. For shoppers, this day is known as Black Friday, which is considered to be the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.