Current:Home > MarketsIndexbit-Why is Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November? It wasn't always this way. -EverVision Finance
Indexbit-Why is Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November? It wasn't always this way.
Surpassing View
Date:2025-04-09 00:15:33
Once a year,Indexbit Americans gather around table to celebrate Thanksgiving, the holiday meant to show gratitude, spend time with loved ones and of course, eat delicious food.
But the day which Thanksgiving is celebrated can vary year to year, as the holiday is nationally recognized to fall on the fourth Thursday of November.
It hasn't always been this way: Thanksgiving has moved around multiple times, from a set month and day, to different days in both October and November. It was even celebrated on two different dates in the same year before it finally settled on the fourth Thursday of November we now celebrate.
Here's what to know about why our holiday meant to give thanks is always celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.
No more food fights:How to talk politics – or not – with relatives on Thanksgiving
When was the first Thanksgiving?
We don't know the date of the first-ever Thanksgiving where the colonists shared a meal with the indigenous Wampanoag people, but the History Chanel reports it is said to have taken place in 1621.
For a time, Thanksgiving was celebrated on Nov. 25 beginning in 1668, but that lasted only five years, according to the Farmer's Almanac.
Why is Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November?
President George Washington declared Thursday, Nov. 26, 1789 as a "Day of Publick Thanksgivin," after he was asked by the first Federal Congress, according to the National Archives. It was the first time Thanksgiving was celebrated under the country's new Constitution.
Presidents after Washington would also issue a proclamation for Thanksgiving, but the months and days Thanksgiving was celebrated varied. With President Abraham Lincoln's 1863 proclamation, Thanksgiving became regularly celebrated on the last Thursday in November.
According to the National Archives, the last Thursday in November fell on the last day of the month in 1939, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved that year's Thanksgiving to the second-to-last Thursday of November to allow for a longer Christmas shopping season. But not all states followed suit: 32 issued similar proclamations, which 16 kept Thanksgiving as the last Thursday in November.
By 1941, the House of Representatives passed a joint resolution, declaring Thanksgiving Day to be the last Thursday in November each year. The Senate amended the resolution making the holiday the fourth Thursday in November, and Roosevelt signed it in December 1941.
Today, Thanksgiving is recognized by the federal government to fall on the fourth Thursday of November.
Want to save money for Thanksgiving?Here are some ideas for a cheaper holiday dinner
veryGood! (23521)
Related
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- States Begged EPA to Stop Cross-State Coal Plant Pollution. Wheeler Just Refused.
- Drought Fears Take Hold in a Four Corners Region Already Beset by the Coronavirus Pandemic
- New Study Shows Global Warming Increasing Frequency of the Most-Destructive Tropical Storms
- 2025 'Doomsday Clock': This is how close we are to self
- California Farm Bureau Fears Improvements Like Barns, and Even Trees, Will Be Taxed Under Prop. 15
- Montana bridge collapse sends train cars into Yellowstone River, prompting federal response
- 3 dead, 5 wounded in Kansas City, Missouri, shooting
- Krispy Kreme offers a free dozen Grinch green doughnuts: When to get the deal
- Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS Only Has Sales Twice a Year: Don't Miss These Memorial Day Deals
Ranking
- Sonya Massey's father decries possible release of former deputy charged with her death
- Could Climate Change Be the End of the ‘Third World’?
- 4 volunteers just entered a virtual Mars made by NASA. They won't come back for one year.
- Battered by Matthew and Florence, North Carolina Must Brace for More Intense Hurricanes
- NFL Week 15 picks straight up and against spread: Bills, Lions put No. 1 seed hopes on line
- Al Pacino Expecting Baby No. 4, His First With Girlfriend Noor Alfallah
- Endometriosis, a painful and often overlooked disease, gets attention in a new film
- Battered by Matthew and Florence, North Carolina Must Brace for More Intense Hurricanes
Recommendation
'Squid Game' without subtitles? Duolingo, Netflix encourage fans to learn Korean
Battered by Matthew and Florence, North Carolina Must Brace for More Intense Hurricanes
U.S. Wind Energy Installations Surge: A New Turbine Rises Every 2.4 Hours
7 States Urge Pipeline Regulators to Pay Attention to Climate Change
Average rate on 30
Katrina Sparks a Revolution in Green Modular Housing
Energizing People Who Play Outside to Exercise Their Civic Muscles at the Ballot Box
The Surprising List of States Leading U.S. on Renewable Energy