Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a festival that takes place in North America on the fourth Thursday in November each year.
It started a long time ago, when a few English people, who called themselves Pilgrims (and are now remembered as the Pilgrim Fathers), decided they had to leave England because they were not allowed to worship God in the way in which they wanted. The Pilgrims left England sailing on a ship called the Mayflower. They sailed west. The journey took 66 days and the sea was very rough. At last, they sighted land, which is now called New England, on the east coast of America. They named the place where they landed New Plymouth.
For the first winter, they used an abandoned Indian settlement as their home so at least they were able to escape the freezing winds and snow. But, life was very hard because they didn't know which of the native plants and berries they could eat and they only had a few of their own seeds left. They became thin, dispirited and sad.
Finally, spring came and along with it an Indian called Squanto. Squanto had learned some English from previous adventurers and he told the Pilgrims that he would bring his chief, Chief Massosoit, to help them with the planting and growing of food. Chief Massosoit decided the Squanto could stay to help the Pilgrims sow their seeds and grow local crops of sweetcorn, sweet potatoes and pumpkin. He also showed them how to catch and breed the wild turkey.
As winter approached that year, 1621, the Pilgrims were so grateful to the Indians for helping them with the harvest that they invited them all to a festival. The Indians brought turkeys and venison. The Pilgrims produced food of their own and they all sat down to a feast that lasted for three days. The Pilgrims thanked God for sending them the Indians, without whom they would not have survived a second winter.
This is why, on the fourth Thursday of each November, all families gather together and have a huge feast with turkey, corn, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin and pecan pies.