Happy Thanksgiving 2024: Every year, on the fourth Thursday of November, people in the United States celebrate Thanksgiving. This year it will be observed on November 28.
The day is celebrated to honour the early settlers and Native Americans who came together to have a historic harvest feast.
Long before the settlers arrived on the East Coast of the United States, the area was inhabited by many Native American tribes. The area surrounding the site of the first Thanksgiving, now known as southeastern Massachusetts and eastern Rhode Island, had been the home of the Wampanoag people for more than 12,000 years.
The people who comprised the Plymouth Colony were a group of English Protestants called Puritans who wanted to break away from the Church of England. These separatists initially moved to Holland. However, after 12 years of financial struggle, they received funds from English merchants to sail across the Atlantic Ocean in 1620 and settle in a new place.
During that time, Thanksgiving was observed in a much different manner. It brought together the people to express gratitude for the assistance given by the Wampanoag Native Americans and to celebrate the Pilgrims' having survived a harsh winter and struggle with disease and lack of food when they arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
