Why Do We Celebrate Thanksgiving Day?

Without a doubt, second only to Christmas, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. That wonderful aroma of chopped celery mingled with baking turkey and the sweet savory smell of apple and pumpkin pie bring joy and happiness to many of us at this time of the year. Some only know it as another reason to pack up and visit the relatives. Others see it as a time to gorge themselves on a "once in a year" meal and still there is the relentless calendar reminding us of the dwindling shopping days left until Christmas. But what is the true history of Thanksgiving? Beyond the Pilgrims and Indians, what significance did this day hold in our history that has carried it through the years?

A pilgrim is a person who makes a journey for religious reasons and in 1608 a group of people in search of their own church left England and moved to the Netherlands. Unfortunately, their years in the Netherlands didn't produce the freedom they had hoped to find. Although the people were kind to them, they wished to remain English and saw their children becoming more and more like the people of the Netherlands. Wanting to keep their heritage intact, they decided to move again. They looked for a place where they could have their own church and live as English men and women.

The London Company was looking for settlers for the New World of North America. They were willing to pay the cost of starting a settlement. In exchange, the Pilgrims would repay them for seven years with food, furs, and other goods from the new land. With their plans made, one hundred people crowded onto a tiny ship called the Mayflower and set sail to America, hoping to land in Virginia. After enduring more than 60 days at sea and because of storms and high winds, the Mayflower did not land in Virginia as planned. They had been blown about 100 miles off course, landing on the sandy beaches of Cape Cod on November 9, 1620.