Wednesday, November 22, 2006

On Thanksgiving


The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1691 as a three day "thank you" to the Wampanoag tribe for helping the new colony survive. From there the Thanksgiving tradition spread to the other colonies, but didn't have a specific day where everyone gave thanks until 1789 when George Washington Proclaimed November 26 as a day of Thanksgiving. This date didn't really catch on, and Thanksgiving continued to be celebrated on various days through out the different states. In 1863, President Lincoln issued a proclamation calling on all Americans to give thanks on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving had another change in 1939 when FDR moved if forward by two weeks, but this didn't stick. Because some states celebrated the original date (Lincoln's date) and some celebrated the new, it was decided to change Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday of each year.

These are some facts about how Americans ended up with Thanksgiving. Here are some other facts to think about as we sit down to our Thanksgiving meals, whether they be with the traditional turkey, tofurky, or even better special K loaf.

1) Tomorrow over 1,000 people will be killed in Darfur
2) Tomorrow 16,000 children will die from hunger related causes
3) Tomorrow 13.9 million children in the United States will go hungry

So tomorrow enjoy your turkey, tofurky, special K loaf etc. and give thanks for what you have.

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