Thanksgiving Day 2025: History, significance, and why America celebrates it on the fourth Thursday of November?

Every year, on the fourth Thursday of November, Thanksgiving Day is celebrated. The day is marked to celebrate love, respect, and gratitude toward family, friends, and loved ones. Here, take a look at the history, significance, and the reason behind the Thanksgiving celebration on the fourth Thursday of November.

Thanksgiving Day 2025- History behind the celebration

The celebration of Thanksgiving started back in 1621. When the Pilgrims, who arrived on the Mayflower, held a feast of harvest in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in America. After surviving their first harsh winter days with the help of the Wampanoag Native Americans, the pilgrims celebrate a successful harvest together. The feast for the festival is often remembered as a prominent day of gratitude and harmony within a community or group of people.

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Thanksgiving Day 2025- Importance of the day

Thanksgiving is celebrated to honour family togetherness and to express the gratefulness for the harvest, after years of historical struggles. The festival holds significance as in the US, every individual dedicates precious time while seeking blessings from both elders and younger members of the family, as well as from friends. On this day, people have a get-together with a traditional meal to give thanks to one another and take the blessing for the year ahead.

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Family get-togethers often centre around a table full of festive meals, including traditional dishes like turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and other favourites that fill the table. Some people celebrate the holiday by doing charitable activities and food drives for those in need, such as orphans or abandoned people.

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Thanksgiving Day 2025- Why does America celebrate it on the fourth Thursday of November?

Why does America particularly celebrate the festival on the fourth Thursday of November? For many years, Thanksgiving Day varied from state to state. But later, in the 1863 proclamation, President Abraham Lincoln was the first who set the festival date celebration each year on the last and fourth Thursday of November.

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However, in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt shifted the celebration for Thanksgiving one week earlier, which was on the second-to-last Thursday, to boost the economy, but the decision caused great confusion and controversy nationwide.

In 1941, finally, the US Congress passed a law while declaring the Thanksgiving festival to be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. Since then, the tradition continues to date, marking a significance day and a run up to the Christmas season a month later.