Today, Thursday 27 November 2025we celebrate the Thanksgiving Daya holiday that has been celebrated in America every year since 1621the year in which i Pilgrim Fathers they celebrated together with the tribe Wampanoag their brotherhood and the prosperity of the harvest obtained thanks to the collaboration of the Native Americans.
But the date of this celebration changes every year, because Thanksgiving falls the fourth Thursday of November. Also celebrated in Canada, the Caribbean, Liberia and – less officially – also in Brazil and the Philippines, Thanksgiving is deeply felt in the USA for its meaning: give thanks for what life givesgathering around a table with family and friends and eating the traditional stuffed turkey.
The history of Thanksgiving Day, a symbol of alliance between English settlers and Native Americans
The history of Thanksgiving Day begins in 1621: the previous year, in 1620 i Pilgrim Fatherswho left England aboard the Mayflower, arrived on the coast of Massachusetts and founded the Plymouth Colony.
Here, thanks to the collaboration of Wampanoag Native American tribethey learned to grow corn, fish and hunt and hunt turkeystypical animals of that region, and thus guaranteed their survival and prosperity. Just in 1621 the English settlers and the Indian tribe they celebrated thanksgiving with a lunch for the first abundant harvest and their mutual help.
In the following years this anniversary continued to be celebrated until, during the American Civil War (1861-1865), the writer and activist Sarah Josepha Hale insisted on making the day a national holiday, in order to unite souls in such bloody years – just as happened with Mother’s Day – and, in 1863Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday. In 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt definitively set the date as the fourth Thursday in November.
Why do we eat turkey on Thanksgiving Day?
Among the traditions of this day there is first and foremost the stuffed turkey: this animal is eaten because it is a symbol of the alliance between the Wampanoag tribe and the Pilgrim Fathers, as a tribute to the celebratory lunch of 1621.
This inevitable dish is based on gutted turkey and stuffed with a filling made from stale bread or rice, then seasoned with celery, carrot, onion, sweetened with cranberries and walnuts, to which bacon, sausage and aromatic herbs can be added. The turkey is cooked in the oven for at least 3 or 4 hours, and is brushed constantly to give it a perfect and crunchy browning: the recipe for preparing the turkey is, for those who take Thanksgiving seriously, a real “family secret” that is handed down from generation to generation.
Before serving it, in addition to the cranberry sauce, the turkey is added gravya hot, thick and tasty sauce obtained from juices released by the turkey during cooking it is thickened with a roux (mixture of melted butter and flour) and often flavored with broth, herbs and spices. To complete the dish there is the classic side dish of mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, a pumpkin pie that is eaten at the end of the meal.
The parade and football games: other Thanksgiving traditions
In addition to lunch, every year since 1924 – with some exceptions – on Thanksgiving Day there is lunch traditional Macy’s department store paradean advertising event that became a real show (lasting three hours) broadcast on television throughout the USA.
But not only that: since 1934, every year – also in this case, with some exceptions – a game of football in the city of Detroit, Michigan. The tradition was born from the idea of the owner of the Detroit Lionswho decided to have his team play against the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving. The idea was so successful that it made the Lions match a real anniversary to which, from the 1960s, the afternoon match of the Lions was also added. Dallas Cowboys.
The Thanksgiving holiday in Italy
Although Thanksgiving Day is not a traditional holiday in our culture, it is celebrated in some places that are contacts with American culturesuch as universities, restaurants and associations. The concept of “giving thanks” is obviously very dear in our country too, which is why this holiday is taken as a starting point to celebrate and celebrate at home too.
Given the depth of the values of Thanksgiving, its essence is also shared in Italy: although there is no direct connection, since 1974, the Italian Episcopal Conference has invited the “Thanksgiving Day”, as a moment to thank God for the good received and value the gifts of the earth.
