Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. This year, the holiday will be on Nov. 23. Historically, Thanksgiving has been celebrated since the early days of Europeans occupying the American continent as a feast to give thanks for a fruitful harvest.
Today's Thanksgiving brings forth images of huge turkeys and plentiful feasts, which are not unlike how it was when the tradition first started. In centuries past, people would celebrate the end of the harvest season with an abundant feast.
However, the tradition that was observed by the European pilgrims actually began with fasting, before going on to partake in a feast. Yet nowadays, fasting during half of the tradition has long been forgotten in favor of the more joyous activity of a feast.
The tradition was first recognized politically by the first president of the U.S., George Washington, who proclaimed that the day should be observed as a national holiday. In his 1789 proclamation, he declared that Thanksgiving should be "devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be."
Although Thanksgiving has been around for centuries, there are still people who have a painful disdain for the cultural implications of the tradition. The indulgent feast leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of many, as some people claim that celebrating the holiday shows that America has forgotten the plight of the Native Americans in the hands of the European pilgrims.
A professor from the University of Texas, Robert Jensen, suggested to replace Thanksgiving with a National Day of Atonement, accompanied by collective fasting and self-reflection.
Some Native American communities observe an "Unthanksgiving Day" to protest the national holiday. On this day, they mourn the deaths of their ancestors with prayer and fasting.
Many modern-minded Americans also celebrate "Friendsgiving," wherein they drop the traditional, family-oriented nature of the holiday to celebrate with friends instead.
