Thanksgivingin the United States of America!
Thanksgiving Vocabulary!
Pilgrims
harvest
roasted turkey
Mayflower
gravy
mashed potatoes
biscuits
corn
cranberries cranberry sauce
Native Americans
stuffing
feast
voyage
pumpkin pie
parade
float
Thanksgiving History!
This is a short history of where the celebration of Thanksgiving comes from!
In September 1620, the Mayflower left England on a voyage carrying 102 people called Pilgrims who were looking for a
place to move where they could practice their religion freely.
The voyage across the Atlantic Ocean took 66 days. Then they landed and settled in a town called Plymouth, Massachusetts
The first winter they spent there was very cold and dangerous. Only half of the pilgrims survived.
Some of the local Native Americans taught the Pilgrims how to grow corn, catch fish, avoid poisonous plants and survive in
this new land.
The next year after the first successful harvest of the Pilgrims, they held a great feast to celebrate. They invited the local
Native Americans that helped. The celebration lasted 3 days!
American president Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving an official holiday in 1863. It’s on the 4th Thursday of November
every year.
Thanksgiving Traditions Today!
Today, we celebrate Thanksgiving to give thanks for everything we have in our lives (friends, family, health)!
People travel from all over to be with their families and celebrate! It is the biggest travel holiday of the year in the
USA!
We spend the whole day cooking the Thanksgiving meal. It includes roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry
sauce, pumpkin pie and many more delicious things!
Then we all sit down to eat, but not before giving thanks for everything that we are grateful for in our lives!
It is also a tradition to take a “turkey nap” after you eat all that food! Turkey has an ingredient that makes you sleepy!
It is also a tradition among many families to watch American Football games on Thanksgiving.
There is also a big parade in New York City called the Thanksgiving Day parade. It has lots of big floats!
The End!