The History of Thanksgiving

First, Blue Hen Conservative wishes everyone a Blessed and Happy Thankgiving!  May you take today to express gratitude and thanks for all that you have, and what God has given you.

The Thanksgiving tradition has deep historic roots in America.  From the early Spanish settlers in Texas in 1541 to the Pilgrims in Massachusetts, Thanksgiving is every bit American as the American flag.  

• 1541 - Spanish explorer, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, led a thanksgiving Communion celebration at the Palo Duro Canyon, West Texas.

• 1565 - Pedro Menendez de Aviles and 800 settlers gathered for a meal with the Timucuan Indians in the Spanish colony of St. Augustine, Florida.

• 1621 - Pilgrims and Native Americans celebrated a harvest feast in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

• 1630 - Settlers observed the first Thanksgiving of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England on July 8, 1630.

• 1777 - George Washington and his army on the way to Valley Forge, stopped in blistering weather in open fields to observe the first Thanksgiving of the new United States of America.

• 1789 - President Washington declared November 26, 1789, as a national day of "thanksgiving and prayer."

• 1800s - The annual presidential thanksgiving proclamations ceased for 45 years in the early 1800s.

• 1863 - President Abraham Lincoln resumed the tradition of Thanksgiving proclamations in 1863. Since this date, Thanksgiving has been observed annually in the United States.

• 1941 - President Roosevelt established the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.
 

The Thanksgiving holiday has deep rooted Biblical roots as well.  Notably, in these verses:
 
Psalm 107:1 (NIV)


"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."

Psalm 95:1-6 (KJV)


"O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.

The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.

O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker."

Psalm 145:7 (NIV)


They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.