sign in sign up
<<
Home , Berkeley Hundred, Buffalo Turkey Trot, Clark Island (Nunavut), Cyber Black Friday, Dallas Turkey Trot, Franksgiving

Thanksgiving in America and

PDF generated using the open source mwlib toolkit. See http://code.pediapress.com/ for more information. PDF generated at: Sat, 05 Nov 2011 00:49:59 UTC Contents

Articles Pilgrims () 1 Plymouth, 12 Thanksgiving 29 Thanksgiving () 34 Thanksgiving (Canada) 50 Thanksgiving 53 (shopping) 57 References Article Sources and Contributors 63 Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 65 Article Licenses License 67 Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) 1 Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony)

Pilgrims (US), or Pilgrim Fathers (UK), is a name commonly applied to early settlers of the Plymouth Colony in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States. Their leadership came from the religious congregations of who had fled the volatile political environment in the East Midlands of for the relative calm and tolerance of Holland in the . Concerned with losing their cultural identity, the group later arranged with English investors to establish a new colony in . The colony, established in 1620, became the second successful English settlement (after the founding of Jamestown, , in 1607) and later the oldest continuously inhabited British settlement in what was to become the United States of America. The Pilgrims' story of seeking religious freedom has become a central theme of the history and culture of the United States.

History

Separatists in Scrooby The core of the group that would come to be known as the Pilgrims were brought together by a common belief in the ideas promoted by Richard Clyfton, a Brownist parson at All Saints' Parish Church in Babworth, Nottinghamshire, between 1586 and 1605. This congregation held Separatist beliefs comparable to nonconforming movements (i.e., groups not in communion with the Church of England) led by , John Greenwood and . Unlike the Puritan group who maintained their membership in and allegiance to the Church of England, Separatists held that their differences with the Church of England were irreconcilable and that their worship should be organized independently of the trappings, traditions and organization of a central church.[1] William Brewster, a former diplomatic assistant to the Netherlands, was living in the Scrooby manor house, serving as postmaster for the village and bailiff to the Archbishop of York. Having been favorably impressed by Clyfton's services, he had begun participating in Separatist services led by John Smyth in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.[2] The Separatists had long been controversial. Under the 1559 Act of Uniformity, it was illegal not to attend official Church of England services, with a fine of 12d (£0.05; 2005 equivalent: about £5)[3] for each missed Sunday and holy day. The penalties for conducting unofficial services included imprisonment and larger fines. Under the policy of this time, Barrowe and Greenwood were executed for sedition in 1593. During much of Brewster's tenure (1595–1606), the Archbishop was Matthew Hutton. He displayed some sympathy to the Puritan (but not to the Separatist) cause, writing to Robert Cecil, Secretary of State to James I in 1604: The (whose phantasticall zeale I mislike) though they differ in Ceremonies and accidentes, yet they agree with us in substance of religion, and I thinke all or the moste parte of them love his Majestie, and the presente state, and I hope will yield to conformitie. But the Papistes are opposite and contrarie in very many substantiall pointes of religion, and cannot but wishe the Popes authoritie and popish religion to be established.[4] It had been hoped that when James came to power, a reconciliation allowing independence would be possible, but the Hampton Court Conference of 1604 denied substantially all the concessions requested by Puritans, save for an English translation of the Bible. Following the Conference, in 1605, Clyfton was declared a nonconformist and stripped of his position at Babworth. Brewster invited Clyfton to live at his home. Upon Hutton's 1606 death, Tobias Matthew was elected as his replacement. Matthew, one of James' chief supporters at the 1604 conference,[5] promptly began a campaign to purge the archdiocese of nonconforming influences, both Separatists and papists. Disobedient clergy were replaced, and prominent Separatists were confronted, fined, and imprisoned. He is credited with driving recusants out of the country.[6] [7] At about the same time, Brewster arranged for a congregation to meet privately at the Scrooby manor house. Beginning in 1606, services were held with Clyfton as pastor, as teacher and Brewster as the Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) 2

presiding elder. Shortly thereafter, Smyth and members of the Gainsborough group moved on to Amsterdam.[8] Brewster is known to have been fined £20 (2005 equivalent: about £2000) in absentia for his non-compliance with the church.[9] This followed his September 1607 resignation from the postmaster position,[10] about the time that the congregation had decided to follow the Smyth to Amsterdam.[1] [11] Scrooby member William Bradford, of Austerfield, kept a journal of the congregation's events that would later be published as . Of this time, he wrote: But after these things they could not long continue in any peaceable condition, but were hunted & persecuted on every side, so as their former afflictions were but as flea-bitings in comparison of these which now came upon them. For some were taken & clapt up in prison, others had their houses besett & watcht night and day, & hardly escaped their hands; and ye most were faine to flie & leave their howses & habitations, and the means of their livelehood.[1] In the Columbia Encyclopedia, it is stated that "Although not actively persecuted, the group was subjected to ecclesiastical investigation and to the mockery, criticism, and disfavor of their neighbors.".[12]

Migration to Amsterdam Unable to obtain the papers necessary to leave England, members of the congregation agreed to leave surreptitiously, resorting to bribery to obtain passage. One documented attempt was in 1607, following Brewster's resignation, when members of the congregation chartered a boat in , Lincolnshire. This turned out to be a sting operation, with all arrested upon boarding. The entire party was jailed for one month awaiting arraignment, at which time all but seven were released. Missing from the record is for how long the remainder were held, but it is known that the leaders made it to Amsterdam about a year later. In a second departure attempt in the spring of 1608, arrangements were made with a Dutch merchant to pick up church members along the Humber estuary at Immingham near Grimsby, Lincolnshire. The men had boarded the ship, at which time the sailors spotted an armed contingent approaching. The ship quickly departed before the women and children could board; the stranded members were rounded up but then released without charges. Ultimately, at least 150 of the congregation did make their way to Amsterdam, meeting up with the Smyth party, who had joined with the Exiled English Church led by Francis Johnson (1562–1617), Barrowe's successor. The Scrooby party remained there for about one year, citing growing tensions between Smyth and Johnson.[11] Smyth had embraced the idea of believer's baptism, which Clyfton and Johnson opposed. Robinson decided that it would be best to remove his congregation from the fray, and permission to settle in was secured in 1609. With the congregation reconstituted as the English Exiled Church in Leyden, Robinson now became pastor; Clyfton, advanced in age, chose to stay behind in Amsterdam.[13] Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) 3

Leiden

In Leiden they lived in small houses behind the "Kloksteeg", opposite the Pieterskerk. The success of the congregation in Leiden was mixed. Leiden was a thriving industrial center,[14] and many members were well able to support themselves working at Leiden University or in the textile, printing and brewing trades. Others were less able to bring in sufficient income, hampered by their rural backgrounds and the language barrier; for those, accommodations were made on an estate bought by Robinson and three partners.[15]

Of their years in Leiden, Bradford wrote: "For these & other reasons they removed to Leyden, a & bewtifull citie, and of a sweete situation, but made more famous by ye universitie wherwith it is adorned, in which of late had been so many learned man. But wanting that traffike by sea which Amerstdam injoyes, it was not so beneficiall for their outward means of living & estats. But being now hear pitchet they fell to such trads & Title page of a pamphlet published by William imployments as they best could; valewing peace & their Brewster in Leiden spirituall comforte above any other riches whatsoever. And at length they came to raise a competente & comforteable living, but with hard and continuall labor.[16]

Brewster had been teaching English at the university, and in 1615, Robinson enrolled to pursue his doctorate. There, he participated in a series of debates, particularly regarding the contentious issue of versus Arminianism (siding with the Calvinists against the Remonstrants). See the Synod of Dort. Brewster, in a venture financed by Thomas Brewer, acquired typesetting equipment about 1616 and began publishing the debates through a local press.[17] The Netherlands was, however, a land whose culture and language were strange and difficult for the English congregation to understand or learn. They found the Dutch morals much too libertine. Their children were becoming more and more Dutch as the years passed by. The congregation came to believe that they faced eventual extinction if they remained there.

Decision to leave By 1617, although the congregation was stable and relatively secure, there were ongoing issues that needed to be resolved. Bradford noted that the congregation was aging, compounding the difficulties some had in supporting themselves. Some, having spent through their savings, gave up and returned to England. It was feared that more would follow and that the congregation would become unsustainable. The employment issues made it unattractive for others to come to Leiden, and younger members had begun leaving to find employment and adventure elsewhere. Also compelling was the possibility of missionary work, an opportunity that rarely arose in a Protestant stronghold.[18] Reasons for departure are suggested by Bradford, when he notes the "discouragements" of the hard life they had in the Netherlands, and the hope of attracting others by finding "a better, and easier place of living"; the "children" of the group being "drawn away by evil examples into extravagance and dangerous courses"; the "great hope, for the propagating and advancing the gospell of the kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the world."[18] 's list was similar. In addition to the economic worries and missionary possibilities, he stressed that it was important for the people to retain their English identity, culture and language. They also believed that the Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) 4

English Church in Leiden could do little to benefit the larger community there.[19] At the same time, there were many uncertainties about moving to such a place as America. Stories had come back from there about failed colonies. There were fears that the native people would be violent, that there would be no source of food or water, that exposure to unknown diseases was possible, and that travel by sea was always hazardous. Balancing all this was a local political situation that was in danger of becoming unstable: the truce in what would be known as the Eighty Years' War was faltering, and there was fear over what the attitudes of toward them might be.[18] Candidate destinations included Guiana, where the Dutch had already established Essequibo, or somewhere near the existing Virginia settlements. Virginia was an attractive destination because the presence of the older colony might offer better security and trade opportunities. It was thought, however, that they should not settle too near since that might too closely duplicate the political environment back in England. The administered a territory of considerable size in the region. The intended settlement location was at the mouth of the Hudson River. This made it possible to settle at a distance that allayed concerns of social conflict, but still provided the military and economic benefits of relative closeness to an established colony.

Negotiations and John Carver were sent to England to solicit a land patent. Their negotiations were delayed because of conflicts internal to the London Company, but ultimately a patent was secured in the name of John Wincob on June 9 (Old Style)/June 19 (New Style), 1619.[20] The charter was granted with the king's condition that the Leiden group's religion would not receive official recognition.[21] Because of the continued problems within the London Company, preparations stalled. The congregation was approached by competing Dutch companies, and the possibility of settling in the Hudson River area was discussed with them.[21] These negotiations were broken off at the encouragement of another English merchant, Thomas Weston, who assured them that he could resolve the London Company delays.[22] Weston did come with a substantial change, telling the Leiden group that in England had obtained a land grant north of the existing Virginia territory, to be called . This was only partially true; the new grant would come to pass, but not until late in 1620 when the Plymouth Council for New England received its charter. It was expected that this area could be fished profitably, and it was not under the control of the existing Virginia government.[22] [23] A second change was known only to parties in England who chose not to inform the larger group. New investors who had been brought into the venture wanted the terms altered so that at the end of the seven year contract, half of the settled land and property would revert to them; and that the provision for each settler to have two days per week to work on personal business was dropped.[22]

Brewster's diversion Amid these negotiations, William Brewster found himself involved with religious unrest emerging in Scotland. In 1618, James had promulgated the Five Articles of Perth, which were seen in Scotland as an attempt to encroach on their Presbyterian tradition. Pamphlets critical of this law were published by Brewster and smuggled into Scotland by April 1619. These pamphlets were traced back to Leiden, and a failed attempt to apprehend Brewster was made in July when his presence in England became known. Also in July in Leiden, English ambassador Dudley Carleton became aware of the situation and began leaning on the Dutch government to extradite Brewster. An arrest was made in September, but only Thomas Brewer, the financier, was in custody. Brewster's whereabouts between then and the colonists' departure remain unknown. Brewster's type was seized. After several months of delay, Brewer was sent to England for questioning, where he stonewalled government officials until well into 1620. One resulting concession that England did obtain from the Netherlands was a restriction on the press that would make such publications illegal to produce. Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) 5

Thomas Brewer was ultimately convicted in England for his continued religious publication activities and sentenced in 1626 to a fourteen year prison term.[24]

Preparations Not all of the congregation would be able to depart on the first trip. Many members would not be able to settle their affairs within the time constraints, and the budget for travel and supplies was limited. It was decided that the initial settlement should be undertaken primarily by younger and stronger members. The remainder agreed to follow if and when they could. Robinson would remain in Leiden with the larger portion of the congregation, and Brewster was to lead the American congregation. While the church in America would be run independently, it was agreed that membership would automatically be granted in either congregation to members who moved between the continents. With personal and business matters agreed upon, supplies and a small ship were procured. was to bring some passengers from the Netherlands to England, then on to America where it would be kept for the fishing business, with a crew hired for support services during the first year. A second, larger, ship, , was leased for transport and exploration services.[22] [25]

Voyage

In July 1620, Speedwell departed Delfshaven with the Leiden colonists. Reaching Southampton, Hampshire, they met with Mayflower and the additional colonists hired by the investors. With final arrangements made, the two vessels set out on August 5 (Old Style)/August 15 (New Style).[25]

Soon thereafter, the Speedwell crew reported that their ship was taking Model of a typical merchantman of the period, in water, so both were diverted to Dartmouth, Devon. There it was showing the cramped conditions that had to be inspected for leaks and sealed, but a second attempt to depart also endured. failed, bringing them only so far as Plymouth, Devon. It was decided that Speedwell was untrustworthy, and it was sold. It would later be learned that crew members had deliberately caused the ship to leak, allowing them to abandon their year-long commitments. The ship's master and some of the crew transferred to Mayflower for the trip.

Atlantic crossing

Of the 121 combined passengers, 102 were chosen to travel on Mayflower with the supplies consolidated. Of these, about half had The Pilgrims on the Speedwell come by way of Leiden, and about 28 of the adults were members of the congregation.[26] The reduced party finally sailed successfully on September 6/September 16, 1620. Initially the trip went smoothly, but under way they were met with strong winds and storms. One of these caused a main beam to crack, and although they were more than half the way to their destination, the possibility of turning back was considered. Using a "great iron screw" (probably a jack to be used for house construction)[27] brought along by the colonists, they repaired the ship sufficiently to continue. One passenger, , was washed overboard in the storm but caught a rope and was rescued. One crew member and one passenger died before they reached land. A child was born at sea and named "Oceanus".[28] [29] Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) 6

Arrival in America

Land was sighted on 9,1620. The passangers who had endured miserable conditions for about sixty-five days were lead by William Bruster in Psalm 100 as a of thanksgiving. It was confirmed that the area was Cape Cod, within the New England territory recommended by Weston. An attempt was made to sail the ship around the cape towards the Hudson River, also within the New England grant area, but they encountered shoals and difficult currents around Malabar (a land mass that formerly existed in the vicinity of present-day Monomoy). It was decided to turn around, and by Landing of the Pilgrims by Cornè, Michele Felice November 11/November 21 the ship was anchored in what is today circa 1805. Displayed in the White House known as Provincetown Harbor.[28] [30]

Mayflower Compact

With the charter for the Plymouth Council for New England incomplete by the time the colonists departed England (it would be granted while they were in transit, on November 3/November 13),[23] they arrived without a patent; the older Wincob patent was from their abandoned dealings with the London Company. Some of the passengers, aware of the situation, suggested that without a patent in place, they were free to do as they chose upon landing and ignore the contract with the investors.[31] [32]

To address this issue, a brief contract, later to be known as the , was drafted promising cooperation among the settlers "for the general good of the Colony unto which we promise all 1620 place names mentioned by Bradford due submission and obedience." It organized them into what was called a "civil Body Politick," in which issues would be decided by that key ingredient of democracy, voting. It was ratified by majority rule, with 41 adult male passengers signing.[33] At this time, John Carver was chosen as the colony's first governor. It was Carver who had chartered the Mayflower, and being the most respected and affluent member of the group, his is the first signature on the Mayflower Compact. The Mayflower Compact was the seed of American democracy and has been called the world's first written constitution.[34] [35]

First landings Thorough exploration of the area was delayed for over two weeks because the shallop or pinnace (a smaller sailing vessel) they brought had been partially dismantled to fit aboard the Mayflower and was further damaged in transit. Small parties, however, waded to the beach to fetch firewood and attend to long-deferred personal hygiene. While awaiting the shallop, exploratory parties led by —an English soldier the colonists had met while in Leiden—and Christopher Jones were undertaken. They encountered several old buildings, both European-built and Native-built, and a few recently cultivated fields. An artificial mound was found near the dunes, which they partially uncovered and found to be a Native grave. Further along, a similar mound, more recently made, was found, and as the colonists feared they might otherwise starve, they ventured to remove some of the provisions which had been placed in the grave. Baskets of were found inside, some of which the colonists took and placed into an iron kettle they also found nearby, while they reburied the rest, intending to use the corn as seed for planting. William Bradford later recorded in his book, "Of Plymouth Plantation", that after the shallop had been repaired, Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) 7

"They also found two of the Indian's houses covered with mats, and some of their implements in them; but the people had run away and could not be seen. They also found more corn, and beans of various colours. These they brought away, intending to give them full satisfaction (repayment) when they should meet with any of them, - as about six months afterwards they did. "And it is to be noted as a special providence of , and a great mercy to this poor people, that they thus got seed to plant corn the next year, or they might have starved; for they had none, nor any likelihood of getting any, till too late for the planting ." By December, most of the passengers and crew had become ill, coughing violently. Many were also suffering from the effects of scurvy. There had already been ice and snowfall, hampering exploration efforts. During the first winter, 47% of them died.

Contact Explorations resumed on December 6/December 16. The shallop party—seven colonists from Leiden, three from London, and seven crew—headed south along the cape and chose to land at the area inhabited by the Nauset people (roughly, present-day Brewster, Chatham, Eastham, Harwich and Orleans), where they saw some native people on the shore, who fled when the colonists approached. Inland they found more mounds, one containing acorns, which they exhumed and left, and more graves, which they decided not to dig. Remaining ashore overnight, they heard cries near the encampment. The following morning, they were met by native people who proceeded to shoot at them with arrows. The colonists retrieved their firearms and shot back, then chased the native people into the woods but did not find them. There was no more contact with native people for several months.[36] The local people were already familiar with the English, who had intermittently visited the area for fishing and trade before Mayflower arrived. In the Cape Cod area, relations were poor following a visit several years earlier by Thomas Hunt. Hunt kidnapped twenty people from (the place that would become New Plymouth) and another seven from Nausett, and he attempted to sell them as slaves in . One of the Patuxet abductees was , who would become an ally of the Plymouth colony. The , who also lived nearby, had developed a particular dislike for the English after one group came in, captured numerous people, and shot them aboard their ship. There had by this time already been reciprocal killings at Martha's Vineyard and Cape Cod.[32] [37] Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) 8

Settlement

Continuing westward, the shallop's mast and rudder were broken by storms, and their sail was lost. Rowing for safety, they encountered the harbor formed by the current Duxbury and Plymouth barrier beaches and stumbled on land in the darkness. They remained at this spot—Clark's Island—for two days to recuperate and repair equipment.

Resuming exploration on Monday, December 11/December 21, 1620, the party crossed over to the mainland and surveyed the area that ultimately became the 's 1605 map of , showing settlement. The anniversary of this survey is village Patuxet, with some modern place names added for reference. The star is the observed in Massachusetts as Forefathers' approximate location of the 1620 English settlement. Day and is traditionally associated with the landing legend. This land was especially suited to winter building because the land had already been cleared, and the tall hills provided a good defensive position.

The cleared village, known as Patuxet to the Wampanoag people, was abandoned about three years earlier following a plague that killed all of its residents. Because the disease involved hemorrhaging,[38] the "Indian fever" is assumed to have been fulminating introduced by European traders. The outbreak had been severe enough that the colonists discovered unburied skeletons in abandoned dwellings.[39] With the local population in such a weakened state, the colonists faced no resistance to settling there. The exploratory party returned to Mayflower, which was then brought to the harbor on December 16/December 26. Only nearby sites were evaluated, with a hill in Plymouth (so named on earlier charts)[40] chosen on December 19/December 29. Construction commenced immediately, with the first common house nearly completed by January 9/January 19. At this point, single men were ordered to join with families. Each extended family was assigned a plot and built its own dwelling. Supplies were brought ashore, and the settlement was mostly complete by early February.[36] [41] Between the landing and March, only 47 colonists had survived the diseases they contracted on the ship. During the worst of the sickness, only six or seven of the group were able and willing to feed and care for the rest. In this time, half the Mayflower crew also died.[32] William Bradford became governor in 1621 upon the death of John Carver, served for eleven consecutive years, and was elected to various other terms until his death in 1657. The patent of Plymouth Colony was surrendered by Bradford to the freemen in 1640, minus a small reserve of three tracts of land. On March 22, 1621, the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony signed a peace treaty with of the . The colony contained roughly what is now Bristol County, Plymouth County, and Barnstable County, Massachusetts. When the was reorganized and issued a new charter as the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1691, Plymouth ended its history as a separate colony. Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) 9

Etymology

Bradford's history The first use of the word pilgrims for the Mayflower passengers appeared in William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation. As he finished recounting his group's July 1620 departure from Leiden, Bradford used the imagery of Hebrews 11:13–16 [42], about Old Testament "strangers and pilgrims" who had opportunity to return to their old country but instead longed for a better, heavenly country. Bradford wrote: So they lefte [that] goodly & pleasante citie, which had been ther resting place, nere 12 years; but they knew they were pilgrimes, & looked not much on these things; but lift up their eyes to ye heavens, their dearest cuntrie, and quieted their spirits.[25] For over a century and a half after Bradford wrote this passage, there is no record of Pilgrims being used to describe Plymouth’s founders, except when quoting Bradford. When the Mayflower's story was retold by historians Nathaniel Morton (in 1669) and Cotton Mather (in 1702), both paraphrased Bradford's passage, and used Bradford's word pilgrims. At Plymouth's Forefathers' Day observance in 1793, Rev. Chandler Robbins recited this passage from Bradford.[43]

Popular use The name Pilgrims was probably not in popular use before about 1798. Even though Plymouth celebrated Forefathers' Day several times between 1769 and 1798, and used a variety of terms to honor Plymouth's founders, Pilgrims was not mentioned, other than in Robbins' 1793 recitation.[44] The first documented use of Pilgrims (that was not simply quoting Bradford) was at a December 22, 1798 celebration of Forefathers' Day, in Boston. A song composed for the occasion used the word Pilgrims, and the participants drank a toast to "The Pilgrims of Leyden."[45] [46] The term was used prominently during Plymouth's next Forefather's Day celebration in 1800, and was used in Forefathers' Day observances thereafter.[47] By the 1820s, the term Pilgrims was becoming more common. Daniel Webster repeatedly referred to "the Pilgrims" in his December 22, 1820 address for Plymouth's bicentennial, which was widely read.[48] Harriet Vaughan Cheney used it in her 1824 novel A Peep at the Pilgrims in Sixteen Thirty-Six, and the term also gained popularity with the 1825 publication of Felicia Hemans' classic poem, "The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers."[49]

References • Bradford, William; Edward Winslow, , ed. (1865) [1622]. Mourt's Relation, or Journal of the Plantation at Plymouth [50]. Boston: John Kimball Wiggin. OCLC 8978744. Retrieved 2008-11-28. • Bradford, William (1898) [1651]. Hildebrandt, Ted. ed (PDF). Bradford's History "Of " [51]. Boston: Wright & Potter Printing Co.. Retrieved 2008-11-28. • Brown, Cornelius (1891). A History of Nottinghamshire [52]. London: Elliot Stock. OCLC 4624771. Retrieved 2008-11-28. • Griffis, William. "The Pilgrim Press in Leyden" [53]. New England Magazine (Boston: Warren F. Kellogg) 19/25 (January 1899): 559–575. Retrieved 2008-11-28. • Matthews, Albert (1915). "The Term Pilgrim Fathers and Early Celebrations of Forefathers' Day" [54]. Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts (Boston: The Society) 17: 293–391. Retrieved 2008-11-28. • Winslow, Edward; Caleb Johnson, ed. (2003). "Hypocrisy Unmasked" [55] (PDF). MayflowerHistory.com. Retrieved 2008-11-28. Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) 10

Notes [1] Bradford (1898), Book 1, Chapter 1.

[2] Brown (1891), pp. 181–182 (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=ZEIJAAAAIAAJ& pg=PA181).

[3] Officer, Lawrence H. (2005). "What Were the UK Earnings and Prices Then?" (http:/ / eh. net/ hmit/ ukearncpi/ results?CHKcpi=on&

year1=1607& year2=2005). Economic History Services. . Retrieved 2006-05-21.

[4] "The Bawdy Court: Exhibits - Belief and Persecution" (http:/ / www. nottingham. ac. uk/ mss/ online/ online-exhibitions/ exhib_archd/ e1. phtml). University of Nottingham. . Retrieved 2008-11-23.

[5] Luckock, Herbert Mortimer (1882). Studies in the History of the Book of Common Prayer (http:/ / books. google. com/

?id=9PACAAAAQAAJ& pg=PA219). London: Rivingtons. p. 219. OCLC 1071106. . Retrieved 2008-11-23. [6] Sheils, William Joseph (2004). "Matthew, Tobie (1544?–1628)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.

[7] "English Dissenters: Barrowists" (http:/ / www. exlibris. org/ nonconform/ engdis/ barrowists. html). Ex Libris. 2008-01-01. . Retrieved 2008-11-23.

[8] Bassetlaw Museum. "Bassetlaw, Pilgrim Fathers Country" (http:/ / bassetlawmuseum. org. uk/ ?page=pilgrimfathers&

mwsquery={topic}={pilgrim}& filename=words. mdf). . Retrieved 2008-11-23.

[9] Brown (1891), p. 181 (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=ZEIJAAAAIAAJ& pg=PA181). [10] "Brewster, William". Encyclopædia Britannica (11 ed.). Cambridge University Press. 1911. [11] Bradford (1898), Book 1, Chapter 2.

[12] The Columbia Encyclopedia. "Pilgrims" (http:/ / www. bartleby. com/ 65/ pi/ Pilgrims. html). . Retrieved 2008-11-23.

[13] "English Dissenters: Barrowists" (http:/ / www. exlibris. org/ nonconform/ engdis/ barrowists. html). Ex Libris. 2008-01-01. . Retrieved 2008-11-10.

[14] Harreld, Donald. "The Dutch Economy in the Golden Age (16th – 17th Centuries)" (http:/ / eh. net/ encyclopedia/ article/ Harreld. Dutch). Economic History Services. . Retrieved 2008-11-11.

[15] "Contract of Sale, De Groene Poort" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20071013140858/ http:/ / pilgrimarchives. nl/ html/ pilgrims/

regestenen/ 152. htm). Leiden Pilgrim Archives. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. pilgrimarchives. nl/ html/ pilgrims/ regestenen/ 152. htm) on 13, 2007. . Retrieved 2008-11-11. [16] Bradford (1898), Book 1, Chapter 3.

[17] Griffis (1899), pp. 561–562 (http:/ / cdl. library. cornell. edu/ cgi-bin/ moa/ pageviewer?frames=1& root=/ moa/ newe/ newe0025/ &

tif=00569. TIF& view=50). [18] Bradford (1898), Book 1, Chapter 4.

[19] Winslow (2003), pp. 62–63 (http:/ / mayflowerhistory. com/ PrimarySources/ HypocrisyUnmasked. pdf#page=62).

[20] Kingsbury, Susan Myra, ed. (1906). The Records of the Virginia Company of London (http:/ / memory. loc. gov/ cgi-bin/

ampage?collId=mtj8& fileName=mtj8pagevc01. db& recNum=231). 1. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. p. 228. . Retrieved 2008-11-11. [21] Bradford (1898), Book 1, Chapter 5. [22] Bradford (1898), Book 1, Chapter 6.

[23] "The Charter of New England: 1620" (http:/ / avalon. law. yale. edu/ 17th_century/ mass01. asp). The Avalon Project. New Haven: Yale Law School. . Retrieved 2008-11-11.

[24] Griffis (1899), p. 575 (http:/ / cdl. library. cornell. edu/ cgi-bin/ moa/ pageviewer?frames=1& root=/ moa/ newe/ newe0025/ & tif=00583.

TIF& view=50). [25] Bradford (1898), Book 1, Chapter 7.

[26] Deetz, Patricia Scott; James F. Deetz. "Passengers on the Mayflower: Ages & Occupations, Origins & Connections" (http:/ / www. histarch.

uiuc. edu/ plymouth/ Maysource. html). The Plymouth Colony Archive Project. . Retrieved 2008-11-10. [27] Bangs, Jeremy Dupertuis (Winter 2003). "Pilgrim Life: Two Myths — Ancient and Modern". New England Ancestors (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society) 4 (1): 52–55. ISSN 1527-9405. OCLC 43146397. [28] Bradford (1898), Book 1, Chapters 8–9. [29] Fleming, Thomas (1963). One Small Candle. New York: W.W. Norton. pp. 89-90.

[30] Winslow (2003), p. 64 (http:/ / mayflowerhistory. com/ PrimarySources/ HypocrisyUnmaskedpdf#page=64).

[31] Bradford and Winslow (1865), pp. 5–6 (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=xb3coQS13NYC& pg=PA5). [32] Bradford (1898), Book 2, Anno 1620.

[33] Deetz, Patricia Scott; Christopher Fennell (2007-12-14). "Mayflower Compact, 1620" (http:/ / www. histarch. uiuc. edu/ plymouth/ compact. html). The Plymouth Colony Archive Project. . Retrieved 2008-11-11. [34] Philbrick, Nathaniel, Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War, p. 43, Viking, New York, NY, 2006. [35] "John and Catherine Carver," Web site Retrieved 28 Jan. 2011. [36] Bradford (1898), Book 1, Chapter 10.

[37] Bradford and Winslow (1865), pp. 90–91 (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=xb3coQS13NYC& pg=PA90). [38] Bradford (1898), Book 2, Anno 1622. [39] Bradford (1898), Book 2, Anno 1621. Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) 11

[40] Deetz, Patricia Scott; Christopher Fennell (2007-12-14). "Smith's Map of New England, 1614" (http:/ / www. histarch. uiuc. edu/ plymouth/

smithmap. html). The Plymouth Colony Archive Project. . Retrieved 2008-11-11.

[41] Bradford and Winslow (1865), pp. 60–65 (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=xb3coQS13NYC& pg=PA60), 71–72 (http:/ / books. google.

com/ ?id=xb3coQS13NYC& pg=PA71).

[42] http:/ / studylight. org/ desk/ ?l=en& query=Hebrews+ 11%3A13-16& translation=gen

[43] Matthews (1915), pp. 356–359 (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=47gMAAAAYAAJ& pg=PA356).

[44] Matthews (1915), pp. 297–311 (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=47gMAAAAYAAJ& pg=PA297), 351 (http:/ / books. google. com/

?id=47gMAAAAYAAJ& pg=PA351).

[45] Matthews (1915), pp. 323–327 (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=47gMAAAAYAAJ& pg=PA323).

[46] "Toasts Drank at the Celebration of Our Country's Nativity". Massachusetts Mercury (Boston): pp. 2 (http:/ / docs. newsbank. com/

openurl?ctx_ver=z39. 88-2004& rft_id=info:sid/ iw. newsbank. com:EANX& rft_val_format=info:ofi/ fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&

rft_dat=10AEDEE4944F7680& svc_dat=HistArchive:ahnpdoc& req_dat=0F418C809CE5EA70), 4 (http:/ / docs. newsbank. com/

openurl?ctx_ver=z39. 88-2004& rft_id=info:sid/ iw. newsbank. com:EANX& rft_val_format=info:ofi/ fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&

rft_dat=10AEDEE592F83B50& svc_dat=HistArchive:ahnpdoc& req_dat=0F418C809CE5EA70). December 28, 1798.

[47] Matthews (1915), pp. 312–350 (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=47gMAAAAYAAJ& pg=PA312).

[48] Webster, Daniel (1854). Edward Everett. ed. The Works of Daniel Webster (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=bGIOAAAAQAAJ& pg=PR1). Vol. 1 (8th ed.). Boston: Brown, Little & Co.. lxiv–lxv, 1–50. . Retrieved 2008-11-30. [49] Wolfson, Susan J., ed. (2000). Felicia Hemans. Princeton: Princeton University Press. pp. 416–417. ISBN 978-0691050294.

[50] http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=xb3coQS13NYC& printsec=titlepage

[51] http:/ / faculty. gordon. edu/ hu/ bi/ Ted_Hildebrandt/ NEReligiousHistory/ Bradford-Plimoth/ Bradford-PlymouthPlantation. pdf

[52] http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=ZEIJAAAAIAAJ& pg=PR3

[53] http:/ / cdl. library. cornell. edu/ cgi-bin/ moa/ pageviewer?frames=1& root=%2Fmoa%2Fnewe%2Fnewe0025%2F& tif=00567. TIF& view=50

[54] http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=47gMAAAAYAAJ& pg=PA293

[55] http:/ / mayflowerhistory. com/ PrimarySources/ HypocrisyUnmasked. pdf

External links

• Pilgrim Archives (http:/ / www. pilgrimarchives. nl/ en/ pilgrims-in-documents/ pilgrims-in-documents), Searchable municipal and court records from Leiden Regional Archive

• Photographs of New York (Lincs - UK) and Pilgrim Fathers monument (Lincs - UK) (http:/ / www. fenlandlincs.

com/ mayflower)

• Church of the Pilgrimage (http:/ / www. 8townsquare. org/ History. html), founded after an 1801 schism

• Pilgrim Hall Museum (http:/ / www. pilgrimhall. org/ ) Pilgrim history and artifacts

• Mayflower Steps (http:/ / www. mayflowersteps. co. uk/ ) All about the Mayflower and Pilgrim Fathers with a Plymouth (UK) focus. Lots of pictures

• Admiral MacBride Pub (http:/ / www. admiralmacbride. co. uk/ ) Built upon the original Mayflower Steps from where the pilgrim fathers set sail for America.

• Pilgrim ships from 1602 to 1638 (http:/ / www. packrat-pro. com/ ships/ shiplist. htm) Pilgrim ships searchable by ship name, sailing date and passengers. Plymouth, Massachusetts 12 Plymouth, Massachusetts

Town of Plymouth — Town —

Court Street, Plymouth Center, 2009

Flag Seal

Nickname(s): America's Hometown

Location in Plymouth County in Massachusetts

Coordinates: 41°57′30″N 70°40′04″W

Country United States

State Massachusetts

County Plymouth

Settled 1620

[1] Incorporated 1620

[2] Government Plymouth, Massachusetts 13

- Type Representative town meeting

- Town Mark Stankiewicz Manager

- Chairman of the Board of Selectmen William P. Hallisey, Jr.

Area

- Total 134.0 sq mi (347.0 km2)

- Land 96.5 sq mi (249.8 km2)

- Water 37.5 sq mi (97.2 km2)

[3] Elevation 187 ft (57 m)

[4] Population (2010)

- Total 56,468

- Density 608.1/sq mi (234.9/km2)

Time zone Eastern (UTC-5)

- Summer (DST) Eastern (UTC-4)

ZIP Codes 02360 02361 02362 02345 02381

Area code(s) 508 / 774

FIPS code 25-54310

GNIS feature ID 0618349

[5] Website www.plymouth-ma.gov

Plymouth (historically known as Plimouth and Plimoth) is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Plymouth holds a place of great prominence in American history, folklore and culture, and is known as "America's Hometown." Plymouth was the site of the colony founded in 1620 by the Pilgrims, passengers of the famous ship the Mayflower. Plymouth is where New England was first established. It is the oldest municipality in New England and one of the oldest in the United States.[6] The town has served as the location of several prominent events, the most notable being the First Thanksgiving feast.[7] Plymouth served as the capital of Plymouth Colony from its founding in 1620 until the colony's merger with the Massachusetts Bay colony in 1691.[8] Plymouth is the largest municipality in Massachusetts by area.[9] The population is 56,468 according to the 2010 U.S. Census. Plymouth is one of two county seats of Plymouth County, the other being Brockton.[10] Plymouth is located approximately 40 miles (64 km) south of Boston in a region of Massachusetts known as the South Shore. Throughout the 19th century, the town thrived as a center of ropemaking, fishing, and shipping, and once held the world's largest ropemaking company, the Plymouth Cordage Company. While it continues to be an active port, today the major industry of Plymouth is tourism.[11] Plymouth is served by Plymouth Municipal Airport, and contains Pilgrim Hall Museum, the oldest continually operating museum in the United States. As one of the country's first settlements, Plymouth is well-known in the United States for its historical value. The events surrounding the history of Plymouth have become part of the mythology of the United States, particularly those relating to Plymouth Rock, the Pilgrims and the First Thanksgiving. The town itself is a popular tourist spot during the Thanksgiving .[12] Plymouth, Massachusetts 14

History

Pre-colonial era Prior to the arrival of the Pilgrims, the location of Plymouth was a village of 2,000 Wampanoag Native Americans called Patuxet.[13] This region that would become Plymouth was visited twice by European explorers prior to the establishment of Plymouth Colony. In 1605, Samuel de Champlain sailed to Plymouth Harbor, calling it Port St. Louis.[14] Captain , a leader of the colony at Jamestown, Virginia, explored parts of Cape Cod Bay; he is credited with naming the region which would become the future Plymouth Colony as "New Plimouth."[15] After these explorations, two plagues afflicted coastal New England in 1614 and 1617. Likely transmitted from British and French fishermen to natives on the shore, it killed between 90 and 95% of the local Wampanoag inhabitants.[16] The near disappearance of the tribe from the site not only left their cornfields and other cleared areas for the soon-to-arrive Pilgrims to occupy, but also meant that the Indians were in no condition to resist the arrival of the colonists.[16]

Colonial era

Plymouth has played an important role in American colonial history. It was the final landing site of the first voyage of the Mayflower, and the location of the original settlement of the Plymouth Colony. Plymouth was established in 1620 by Anglicans and English separatists who had broken away from the Church of England, believing that the Church had not completed the work of the Protestant . Today, these settlers are much better known as "Pilgrims", a term coined by William Bradford.[17] "The Landing of the Pilgrims."(1877) by Henry A. Bacon. The Pilgrims are traditionally said to The Mayflower first anchored in what would become the harbor of have landed at Plymouth Rock. Provincetown, Massachusetts on November 11, 1620. The ship was headed for Virginia, but eventually reached New England.[18] There are varying theories as to how this happened. They include: violent storms threw the ship off course;[18] a navigation error; the Dutch bribed the captain to sail north so the Pilgrims would not settle near New Amsterdam; and the Pilgrims on the Mayflower, who comprised only 35 of the 102 settlers aboard the Mayflower, hijacked the ship to land far from Anglican control. The Pilgrim settlers, realizing that the party did not have a patent to settle in the region, subsequently signed the Mayflower Compact.[19] The Pilgrims went on to explore various parts of Cape Cod, but soon a storm and violent skirmishes with local Native Americans forced the migrants to sail westward into Cape Cod Bay. The Pilgrims eventually came across the sheltered waters of Plymouth Harbor on December 17. The appealing protected bay led to a site in the present-day Harbor District being chosen for the new settlement after three days of surveying. The settlers officially disembarked on December 21, 1620. It is traditionally said that the Pilgrims first set foot in America at the site of Plymouth Rock, though no historical evidence can prove this claim.[20] The settlers named their settlement "Plimouth" (also historically known as "Plimoth", an old English spelling of the name) after the major port city in Devon, England from which the Mayflower sailed. Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom, was named after its location at mouth of the River Plym.[21] Plymouth, Massachusetts 15

Plymouth faced many difficulties during its first winter, the most notable being the risk of starvation and the lack of suitable shelter. From the beginning, the assistance of Indians was vital. One colonist's journal reports:[22] We marched to the place we called Cornhill, where we had found the corn before. At another place we had seen before, we dug and found some more corn, two or three

baskets full, and a bag of beans....In all we had about ten The First Thanksgiving, painted by Jean Leon bushels, which will be enough for seed. It is with God's Gerome Ferris (1863–1930). The First help that we found this corn, for how else could we have Thanksgiving took place in Plymouth in 1621. done it, without meeting some Indians who might trouble us. Along with ransacking the food stores of Indians, the colonists also raided the houses of the few Indians who had survived the plague, as well as robbing Indian graves.[22] Even greater assistance came from and Tisquantum (better known as Squanto), an Indian sent by Wampanoag Tribe Chief Massasoit, as an ambassador and technical adviser. Squanto had been kidnapped in 1614 by an English slave raider and sold in Málaga, Spain. Having learned English, he escaped and returned home in 1619. Teaching the colonists how to farm corn, where and how to catch fish, and how to make other necessary items, he was instrumental in the survival of the settlement for the first two years. Squanto and another guide sent by Massasoit in 1621, Hobomok, helped the colonists set up trading posts for furs and pay off the cost of establishing the colony.[23] Chief Massasoit later formed a Peace Treaty with the Pilgrims. Upon growing a plentiful harvest in the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims gathered with Squanto, Samoset, Massasoit, and ninety other Wampanoag men in a celebration of food and feasting. This celebration is known today as the First Thanksgiving, and is still commemorated annually in downtown Plymouth with a parade and a reenactment. Since 1941, Thanksgiving has been observed as a federal holiday in the United States.[24] [25]

Plymouth served as the capital of Plymouth Colony (which consisted of modern-day Barnstable, Bristol, and Plymouth Counties) from its founding in 1620 until 1691, when the colony was annexed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony.[8] Plymouth holds the unique distinction of being the first permanent settlement in New England, and one of the oldest settlements in the United States.[6] [26]

19th century

In the 1800s, Plymouth remained a relatively isolated seacoast town whose livelihood depended on fishing and shipping.[27] The town eventually became a regional center of shipbuilding and fishing. Its principal industry was the Plymouth Cordage Company, which became the world's largest manufacturer of rope and cordage products. The company was founded in 1824.[28] At one point, the longest ropewalk in the world, a quarter-mile (0.4 km) in length, was found on the Cordage Company's site on the North Plymouth waterfront. It thrived into the 1960s, but was forced out of business in 1964 due to competition from synthetic-fiber ropes.[29] The refurbished factory, Cordage Commerce Center, North Plymouth known as Cordage Commerce Center, is home to numerous offices, restaurants and stores.[30] Plymouth, Massachusetts 16

Modern history In the last 30 years, Plymouth has experienced rapid growth and development. As in many South Shore towns, Plymouth became more accessible to Boston in the early 1970s with improved railroads, highways, and bus routes. Furthermore, the town's inexpensive land costs and low tax rates were factors in the town's significant population rise. Plymouth's population grew from 18,606 residents in 1970 to 45,608 residents in 1990, a 145% increase in 20 years.[27] The population has continued to expand in recent years. While Plymouth has already surpassed several Massachusetts cities in population, the town is still officially regarded as a town, as it has not been re-chartered as a city and continues to be governed by a board of selectmen rather than a mayor. Plymouth has emerged as a major economic and tourist center of the South Shore. One of the largest towns in Massachusetts, Plymouth spans several exits on its main highway, Route 3. Plymouth boasts several larger shopping plazas and a nearby mall in Kingston, MA, much of which has been built in just the past 5 years. As it has grown, additional access is possible via a recent extension to Plymouth's second largest highway, Route 44. Additional development was expected due to a large construction of a Movie Studio complex called Plymouth Rock Studios, which has since been discontinued.

Geography

The latitude of Plymouth is 41.95833 and its longitude is -70.66778.[31] [32] According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 134.0 sq mi (347 km2): 96.5 sq mi (250 km2) of it is land, and 37.5 sq mi (97 km2) of it (28%) is water. With the largest land area of any municipality in Massachusetts, Plymouth consists of several neighborhoods and geographical sections. Larger localities in the town include Plymouth Center, North, West and South Plymouth, Manomet, Cedarville, and Saquish Neck.

Plymouth makes up the entire western shore of Cape Cod Bay. It is A simulated-color satellite image of the Plymouth bordered on land by Bourne to the southeast, Wareham to the Bay region taken on NASA's Landsat 3 southwest, Carver to the west, and Kingston to the north. It also shares a small border with Duxbury at the land entrance of Saquish Neck.[33] Plymouth's border with Bourne makes up most of the line between Plymouth and Barnstable counties. The town is located roughly 44 miles (71 km) southeast of Boston (it is almost exactly 40 miles (64 km) from Plymouth Rock to the Massachusetts State House) and equidistantly east of Providence, .[34]

Located in the Plymouth Pinelands, the town of Plymouth has many distinct geographical features. The town's Atlantic coast is characterized by low plains, while its western sections are extremely hilly and forested. Plymouth contains several small ponds scattered throughout its western quadrant, the largest being the Great Herring Pond (which is partly in the town of Bourne).[33] A major feature of the town is the Myles Standish State Forest, which is in the southwestern Plymouth Beach, one of Plymouth's many region.[35] Cachalot Reservation, operated by the Cachalot beaches District of the of the , lies adjacent to the state forest lands. There is also a smaller town forest, as well as several parks, recreation areas and beaches.

Plymouth has nine public beaches, the largest being Plymouth Beach. Plymouth Beach guards Plymouth Harbor and mostly consists of a three-mile (5 km) long, ecologically significant barrier beach. Clark's Island, a small island in Plymouth Bay, is the only island in Plymouth. It is off the coast of Saquish Neck and has nine summer houses but no Plymouth, Massachusetts 17

year-round inhabitants.

Climate

Plymouth's climate is humid continental, which is the predominant climate for Massachusetts and New England. Due to its location on the Atlantic Ocean, humidity levels can be very high year-round. Plymouth's coastal location causes it to experience warmer temperatures than many inland locations in New England.[36] Summers are typically hot and humid, while winters are cold, windy and often snowy.

Plymouth's warmest month is July, with an average high temperature of 82 °F (28 °C) and an average low of 60.3 °F (15.7 °C). The coldest month is January, with an average high temperature of 36.8 °F (2.7 °C) and an average low of 16.2 °F (−8.8 °C).[37] Much like the rest of the Northeastern seaboard, Plymouth receives ample amounts of precipitation year-round. On average, summer The First Parish Church in Plymouth is located in months receive slightly less precipitation than winter months. Plymouth Center Plymouth averages about 49 inches (120 cm) of rainfall a year. Plymouth, like other coastal Massachusetts towns, is very vulnerable to Nor' weather systems. The town is sometimes vulnerable to Atlantic hurricanes and tropical storms, which infrequently threaten the Cape Cod region during the early months.

Climate data for Plymouth, Massachusetts Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Average high °F (°C) 37 38 46 56 67 76 82 80 73 63 52 42 59 (2) (3) (7) (13) (19) (24) (27) (26) (22) (17) (11) (5) (15)

Average low °F (°C) 16 17 26 35 44 54 60 59 51 41 32 22 38 (1) (6) (12) (15) (15) (10) (4) (0) (3)

Precipitation inches (cm) 4.2 4 4 4.2 4 3.5 3.4 4 4.1 4.1 4.9 4.6 48.8 (10) (10) (10) (10) (10) (8) (8) (10) (10) (10) (12) (11) (123)

[38] Source: Weatherbase

Demographics Plymouth, Massachusetts 18

Historical populations Year Pop. ±%

1790 2995 —

1800 3524 +17.7%

1810 4228 +20.0%

1820 4348 +2.8%

1830 4758 +9.4%

1840 5281 +11.0%

1850 6024 +14.1%

1860 6272 +4.1%

1870 6238 −0.5%

1880 7093 +13.7%

1890 7314 +3.1%

1900 9592 +31.1%

1910 12141 +26.6%

1920 13045 +7.4%

1930 13042 −0.0%

1940 13100 +0.4%

1950 13608 +3.9%

1960 14445 +6.2%

1970 18606 +28.8%

1980 35913 +93.0%

1990 45608 +27.0%

2000 51701 +13.4%

2001* 52701 +1.9%

2002* 53525 +1.6%

2003* 54401 +1.6%

2004* 54990 +1.1%

2005* 55709 +1.3%

2006* 55828 +0.2%

2007* 55980 +0.3%

2008* 56250 +0.5%

2009* 56842 +1.1%

2010 56468 −0.7%

* = population estimate. [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [44] [45] [46] Source: United States Census records and Population Estimates Program data. [47] [48]

Plymouth, Massachusetts 19

As of the census[49] of 2000, there were 51,701 people, 18,423 households, and 13,264 families residing in the town; by population it is the second–largest town in Massachusetts, after Framingham. It is also the 21st–largest municipality in the state. The population density was 536.0 inhabitants per square mile (207.0 /km2).[50] There are 21,250 housing units, at an average density of 85.1 /km2 (220 /sq mi). The racial makeup of the town was 94.82% White, 1.91% Black or African American, 0.25% Native American, 0.57% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.93% from other races, and 1.48% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.68% of the population.[51]

There are 18,423 households out of which 36.0% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.4% were married couples living together, 10.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.0% were non-families. 21.7% of all households are made up of individuals, and 8.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.67

The National Monument to the Forefathers and the average family size is 3.16. In the town the population is spread out with 25.8% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 32.0% from 25 to 44, 23.9% from 45 to 64, and 11.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 98.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.4 males. The median income for a household in the town was $54,677 as of the 2000 census, and the median income for a family was $63,266.[52] Males had a median income of $44,983 versus $31,565 for females. The per capita income for the town was $23,732. About 4.4% of families and 5.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.1% of those under age 18 and 6.9% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Plymouth is represented in the Massachusetts House of Representatives as a part of the First and Twelfth Plymouth Districts. The town is represented in the Massachusetts Senate as a part of the Plymouth and Barnstable district, which also includes Bourne, Falmouth, Kingston, Pembroke, Plympton, Sandwich, and part of Barnstable.[53] On the state level, primary but shared patrolling The Plymouth County Courthouse, located in responsibility of the town's limited access highways falls upon the Plymouth Seventh (Bourne) Barracks of Troop D of the Massachusetts State Police.[54]

On the national level, Plymouth is a part of Massachusetts's 10th congressional district, and is currently represented by William R. Keating. The state's senior (Class II) member of the United States Senate, re-elected in 2008, is John Kerry. The state's current junior (Class I) Senator is Scott Brown. On the local level, the town uses the representative town meeting form of government, led by a town manager and a board of selectmen.[55] The current town manager of Plymouth is Mark Stankiewicz.[56] Plymouth has a centralized municipal police force, the Plymouth Police Department.[57] The town also has a professional fire department, with seven firehouses spread around the town.[58] There are also seven post offices for the town's five ZIP codes, with one in the downtown area, one in North Plymouth, one in Manomet, one in White Plymouth, Massachusetts 20

Horse Beach, one near the Plymouth Municipal Airport, one in the South Pond neighborhood, and one near the town forest in "The Village Green" shopping area of The Pinehills.[59] [60] The town has a public library, with a branch location in Manomet.[61] Both libraries are a part of the Old Colony Library Network, which services 28 libraries throughout the South Shore.[62] Additionally, as a seat of Plymouth County, there are several county facilities located in Plymouth. These include a County farm, the Registry of Deeds, two jails (the Massachusetts Correctional Institution - Plymouth and the Plymouth County Correctional Facility) and the County Courthouse..

Economy

Plymouth is an economic and tourism center of the South Shore. The major industry is tourism, with healthcare, technical and scientific research, real estate, and telecommunications also being primary industries.[11] The largest employer in the town is Jordan Hospital.[11] Plymouth has experienced commercial and industrial success, with the downtown area and North Plymouth each becoming commercial The Pinehills, New England's largest new centers and an industrial park opening outside of the town center. A residential development. large commercial project titled Colony Place located near the Industrial Park was completed in late 2007. It consists of several large retail stores, various chain restaurants, and contains one of the largest outdoor designer outlet malls in the South Shore.[63] Another large retail development that has recently finished construction off Route 3's exit 5 is The Shops at 5.[64] The only nuclear power plant in Massachusetts, Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station, is located in Plymouth.

Plymouth has also recently seen the development of several residential projects, among them The Pinehills, which consists of over 1,000 residential units, two golf courses, a country club, and a shopping village.[65] When completed in 2010, it is expected to contain 2,877 homes.[66]

Education

Plymouth operates a large school system, with an enrollment over 8,000 students. The Plymouth School District is one of the largest in the state, operating fourteen schools. This is larger than the Massachusetts average of eight schools.[67] The school district operates 86 school buses under contract with First Student bus company. The schools of Plymouth include the Mount Pleasant Preschool, eight elementary schools (Cold Spring, Federal Furnace, Hedge, Indian Brook, Manomet, Nathanial Morton, South and West Elementaries) which generally serve students from kindergarten to fifth grade, two middle schools that serve grades 5–8, Plymouth Community Intermediate School (PCIS) and Plymouth South Middle School, and two high schools, Plymouth North and Plymouth South.[68] Both high The Nathaniel Morton Elementary School in schools play in the Atlantic Coast League, and the two schools share a Plymouth Center rivalry with each other. Students who decide to receive a technical education have the option of attending Plymouth South Technical School.

There is also a charter school in the town, Rising Tide Charter School,[69] which serves middle school-aged children. Two special education schools, the Baird School and the Radius Pediatric School, are located in the town. Plymouth, Massachusetts 21

The town has two institutions of higher learning. Quincy College has a campus located in Cordage Park. The Plymouth campus opened in 1991, and the college's main campus is in Quincy.[70] Curry College has a campus at the northern edge of Plymouth Center in the Citizens Bank building. The campus opened in 1994, and the main campus is located in Milton.[71] While the University of Massachusetts Boston does not have a campus in Plymouth, it offers some courses at another location in Cordage Park.[72]

Healthcare

Plymouth is home to Jordan Hospital, the largest hospital in the southern region of the South Shore. It is the only major healthcare provider in the town. The hospital is a community medical center serving twelve towns in Plymouth and Barnstable counties. It consists of more than 30 departments, with 150 patient beds.[73] The hospital also offers a rehabilitation center in The Pinehills region.

While Jordan Hospital is the only hospital in Plymouth, South Shore Hospital operates several offices and physician labs in South Pond. South Shore Hospital, in South Weymouth, is the largest hospital in southeastern Massachusetts.[74] Plymouth's Jordan Hospital Transportation

Highways Plymouth lies along the "Pilgrims Highway" portion of Route 3, which is the major route between Cape Cod and Boston. The town can be accessed from six exits on the highway, which is more than any other municipality along the Pilgrims Highway. Plymouth is also the eastern terminus of U.S. Route 44. The route has changed recently, as a new divided highway section has linked it to Route 3, before heading south and exiting at its old location before terminating at Route 3A, which more closely follows the shoreline and passes through Plymouth Center. Route 80's western terminus is at its intersection with old Route 44. Route 25 goes through a remote section of the town north of Buzzards Bay, but does not have an exit. Finally, the short Plimoth Plantation Highway allows easy access between Routes 3 and 3A, with an exit that allows direct entry to Plimoth Plantation's parking area. The highway is north of Manomet and south of Plymouth Center.

Rail

Plymouth is one of two termini of the Kingston/Plymouth Old Colony Line of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's commuter rail, providing non-peak service to Braintree and as far north as Boston's South Station.[75] The Plymouth MBTA station is near Cordage Park in North Plymouth, along Route 3A.[76] (The other terminus is in Kingston and has more frequent train arrivals and departures. Its station is behind the Independence Mall.) No other railroad lines pass through the town. The Plymouth MBTA station, located in Cordage Park

Ferry Plymouth, Massachusetts 22

There is a seasonal ferry to Provincetown and several other excursion lines that offer cruises of Plymouth Bay and Cape Cod Bay. The ferry is operated by Capt. John Boats and offers one round trip daily from June to September. The ferry leaves from the State Wharf in Plymouth Center.[77] In addition to the ferry, Plymouth Harbor offers service for harbor excursions, whale watching tours, and deep sea fishing.

Bus The Plymouth & Brockton Street Railway Company offers scheduled service to Logan Airport, downtown Boston, Hyannis, and Provincetown. Buses can be boarded at the commuter parking lot at exit 5 off Route 3, behind the McDonald's rest stop.[78] The Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority (GATRA) operates public transportation buses known as the Plymouth Area Link (PAL) throughout much of Plymouth and Kingston.[79]

Air

The town is home to the Plymouth Municipal Airport, which lies on the border between Plymouth and Carver. Founded in 1931, it offers scheduled service to the Nantucket, as well as private service. The airport features a local restaurant and gift shop, but does not have an on-site traffic control tower.[80]

Barnstable Municipal Airport, in Hyannis, offers additional scheduled The Plymouth Municipal Airport carrier service.[81] The airport offers scheduled flight services to Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, Boston and .[82] It is approximately 30 miles (48 km) from Plymouth. The nearest national and international airport is Logan International Airport in Boston, roughly 43 miles (69 km) away. T.F. Green Airport, a state airport located in Warwick, Rhode Island, is about 63 miles (101 km) away.

Points of interest Promoted as America's Hometown, Plymouth is a tourist destination noted for its heritage. The town is home to several notable sites.

Plymouth Rock

Plymouth Rock is one of Plymouth's most famous attractions. Traditionally, the rock is said to be the disembarkation site of the Pilgrims. However, there is no historical evidence to support this theory. The first identification of Plymouth Rock as the actual landing site was made in 1741 by 94-year-old Thomas Faunce, whose father had arrived in Plymouth in 1623, three years after the arrival of the Mayflower.[83] The rock is located roughly 650 feet (200 m) from where the initial settlement was thought to be built.

The Plymouth Rock Monument Plymouth Rock became very famous after its identification as the supposed landing site of the Pilgrims, and was subsequently moved to a location in Plymouth Center. During the process, the rock split in two. It was later moved to Pilgrim Hall and then to a location under a granite Victorian Canopy, where it was easily accessible and subject to souvenir hunters. The rock was finally moved back to its original location along the town's waterfront in 1921. "Plymouth Rock", a large boulder, now sits under a granite canopy designed by famed astronomical illustrator Chesley Bonestell, who also designed the Chrysler Building gargoyles and contributed to the design of the Golden Gate Bridge. The rock is the Plymouth, Massachusetts 23

centerpiece of Pilgrim Memorial State Park. The park is the smallest park in the Massachusetts state forest and park system, but is also the most heavily visited.[84]

Plimoth Plantation

Plimoth Plantation is a living history museum located south of Plymouth Center. It consists of a re-creation of the Plymouth settlement in 1627, as well as a replica of a 17th century Wampanoag homesite. The museum features role playing tour guides, as well as a large crafts center. The Nye Barn, a replica of a 1627 faming homestead in Plymouth, is also part of the museum. The farm features several animals that would have been found in Plymouth Colony, but are very rare in modern times.[85]

The museum opened in 1947 under the guidance of Henry Hornblower Plimoth Plantation II, a wealthy Boston stockbroker who grew up in Plymouth.[86] The museum originally consisted of the Mayflower II and a "First House" exhibit in Plymouth Center, but was expanded into a large fortified town and a Native American village by 1960.

Mayflower II

The Mayflower II is a full-size replica of the Mayflower, the ship which brought the Pilgrims to Plymouth in 1620. It is located at the State Pier in Plymouth Center. The ship is open as a museum about the Pilgrims' historic voyage from Plymouth, England, and is considered a faithful replica of the original Mayflower.[87] It is officially a part of Plimoth Plantation.

The ship was built in Brixham, England in 1956, and sailed to Plymouth across the Atlantic Ocean in 1957 by famous mariner Alan Villiers.[88] The ship is still seaworthy, and routinely takes voyages around Plymouth Harbor. In the year 2007, the Mayflower II celebrated [89] the 50th anniversary of its arrival in Plymouth. The Mayflower II, located in Plymouth Harbor, is considered to be a faithful replica of the original Other sites Mayflower.

Historic interest

In addition to the Plymouth Rock Memorial, several other monuments were constructed in celebration of Plymouth's tricentennial. These include statues of Massasoit and William Bradford, and a sarcophagus containing the bones of the 51 Pilgrims who died in the winter of 1620, which rests atop Cole's Hill. Pilgrim Hall Museum, founded in 1824, is the oldest public museum in the `.[90] It is located in Plymouth Center. Plymouth also features the National Monument to the Forefathers, which was dedicated in 1889.[91] Standing at 81 feet (25 m) tall, it is the tallest free-standing solid granite monument in the United States.[92] Other notable historical sites include the Jenney Grist Mill, a working replica of an original mill built in 1636, as well as the 1640 Richard Sparrow House, the oldest house still standing in Plymouth. At the edge of the town on Route 80 is Parting Ways, a 94-acre ( m2) site that is notable for containing the remains of four former slaves who fought in the Revolutionary War and their families.[93] Plymouth, Massachusetts 24

There are 21 locations in Plymouth that appear on the National Register of Historic Places, including Plymouth Rock, Cole's Hill, and Pilgrim Hall.

Parks and recreation Myles Standish State Forest, the Commonwealth's second largest state forest, is located in Plymouth. It is a camping and hiking destination, and contains 16 freshwater lakes and ponds.[35] Ellisville Harbor State Park, located in the extreme southern portion of the town, contains a natural beach inside Cape Cod Bay.[94] Plymouth is also home to 11 public and private golf courses, which include Squirrel Run, Pinehills, Plymouth Country Club, and Southers Marsh, a course that runs through a series of actively maintained bogs.

Entertainment Plymouth is also home to a vibrant music and arts community, including the Plymouth Center for the Arts,[95] the Driftwood Folk Cafe,[96] and three free summer concert series: The Project Arts Wednesday night series,[97] the L. Knife and Son Thursday night series,[98] and the School's Out Summer Concert Series.[99]

Notable residents

• Chris Alberghini, television producer-writer, born in Plymouth[100] • Oliver Ames, Jr. (1807–1877), railroad official, former resident of Plymouth[101] • John Bartlett, publisher of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, born in Plymouth[102] • Amy Lynn Baxter, adult film star, born in Plymouth[103] • David Chokachi, actor, born in Plymouth[104] • Ken Coleman, sportscaster, died in Plymouth[105] • Thomas Davee, United States Representative from , born in Plymouth[106] • Dave Farrell, bassist with Linkin Park, born in Plymouth[107] • Peter J. Gomes, preacher and theologian at Harvard Divinity School, resident of Plymouth[108] Comedian Dick Gregory has resided in Plymouth since 1973. • Glen Gray, saxophonist, leader of the Casa Loma Orchestra, born in Plymouth[109] • Dick Gregory, comedian, activist and nutritionist, current resident of Plymouth[110] • Pee Wee Hunt, trombonist and co-founder of the Casa Loma Orchestra, died in Plymouth[111] • Frederic Augustus Lucas (1852–1929), Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences museum director, author of many scientific papers, born in Plymouth[112] • David Maraghy Ceo of Sports Management International, LC. was born in Plymouth. • Aaron Matson (1770–1855), a United States Representative from New Hampshire, born in Plymouth[113] • Violet Mersereau (1892–1975), silent film actress, died in Plymouth[114] • Gary DiSarcina, former shortstop for the California Angels and manager of the single-A team Lowell Spinners, currently resides in Plymouth. • Henry Picard, Professional golfer, won The Masters Tournament • James Warren, president of the Massachusetts provincial legislature and prominent colonial-era politician. • Chris Raab Member of the CKY crew. • Warren G. Phillips Inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame in 2010, taught in Plymouth Plymouth, Massachusetts 25

Twin and sister cities

Since 2001, Plymouth has shared a twin-city status with: Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom.[115] In addition, since 1990, Plymouth has shared a sister-city status with Shichigahama, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.[116]

References

[1] "Town and City Information" (http:/ / www. seeplymouth. com/ towninfo. htm). Plymouth County Development Council. . Retrieved 2008-10-26.

[2] "Town Departments: Town Manager's Office" (http:/ / www. plymouth-ma. gov/ Plymouth House in Shichigahama,

Public_Documents/ PlymouthMA_Admin/ index). Town of Plymouth. . Retrieved modeling after the recreated First Parish 2007-07-30. Church in Plimoth Plantation

[3] U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Town of Plymouth (http:/ /

geonames. usgs. gov/ pls/ gnispublic/ f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:618349). Geographic Names Information System. Retrieved on 2007-07-31.

[4] "Town of Plymouth Population Projections" (http:/ / www. plymouth-ma. gov/ Public_Documents/ PlymouthMA_Planning/ documents/

Population. pdf) (PDF). Town of Plymouth. . Retrieved 2010-02-04.

[5] http:/ / www. plymouth-ma. gov/

[6] "What are the oldest cities in America?" (http:/ / www. glo-con. com/ article/ article_no/ 3022/ ). Glo-con.com. . Retrieved 2007-08-11.

[7] "First Thanksgiving Day Feast" (http:/ / www. thanksgiving-day. org/ first-thanksgiving-day-feast. html). Thanksgiving-Day.org. . Retrieved 2007-08-10.

[8] Briggs, Rose T.. "THE COURT HOUSES OF PLYMOUTH" (http:/ / www. pilgrimhall. org/ PSNote17. htm). Pilgrim Hall Museum. . Retrieved 2007-08-10.

[9] Diesenhouse, Susan (2000-09-03). "Where the Pilgrims Lived, Megaprojects Now Loom" (http:/ / www. nytimes. com/ 2000/ 09/ 03/

realestate/ where-the-pilgrims-lived-megaprojects-now-loom. html). The New York Times. . Retrieved 2009-07-17.

[10] "Find a County" (http:/ / www. naco. org/ Counties/ Pages/ FindACounty. aspx). National Association of Counties. . Retrieved 2011-06-07.

[11] "Plymouth, Massachusetts (MA) Economy and Business Data" (http:/ / www. city-data. com/ business/ econ-Plymouth-Massachusetts. html). City-Data.com. . Retrieved 2007-08-11.

[12] http:/ / kathika. com/ thanksgiving-vacation-destinations/ [13] James Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me, Simon & Schuster: New York, 1995, ISBN 0-684-81886-8, pp. 90-91

[14] "Samuel de Champlain" (http:/ / www. pilgrimhall. org/ champlain. htm). Pilgrim Hall Museum. . Retrieved 2009-05-04.

[15] Patricia Scott Deetz; James F. Deetz (2000). "Passengers on the Mayflower: Ages & Occupations, Origins & Connections" (http:/ / etext.

virginia. edu/ users/ deetz/ Plymouth/ Maysource. html). The Plymouth Colony Archive Project. . Retrieved 2007-07-11. [16] Loewen, 1995, pp. 80-86

[17] "Pilgrims: Plymouth Its History and People" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20080116043600/ http:/ / pilgrims. net/ plymouth/ history/ ).

Historical Reference Center. Archived from the original (http:/ / pilgrims. net/ plymouth/ history/ ) on 2008-01-16. . Retrieved 2009-07-17. [18] Philbrick, Nathaniel (2006). Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War. New York: Penguin Group. [19] Philbrick (2006) pp 41 [20] Johnson, Paul (1997). A History of the American People. New York: HarperCollins.

[21] "Plymouth" (http:/ / www. hblasalzburg-annahof. at/ minf schuelerarbeiten/ schoesswender_julia 4 chl/ Plymouth/ plymouth. htm). Cornwall Guide. . Retrieved 2007-08-10. [22] Loewen, 1995, p. 91 [23] Loewen, 1995, pp. 92-93

[24] Wilson, Jerry (2001). "The Thanksgiving Story" (http:/ / wilstar. com/ holidays/ thankstr. htm). Holiday Page. Wilstar.com. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[25] "History of Thanksgiving: A Timeline" (http:/ / www. twoop. com/ holidays/ archives/ 2005/ 11/ thanksgiving. html). Twoop.com. 2006. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[26] "Timeline: United States of America" (http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ 2/ hi/ americas/ country_profiles/ 1230058. stm). BBC News. . Retrieved 2009-07-17.

[27] "Town of Plymouth, Established 1620" (http:/ / www. usgennet. org/ usa/ ma/ county/ plymouth/ towns/ plymouth. htm). Usgennet.org. . Retrieved 2007-07-14.

[28] "Cordage Company: Storied Past" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20070927200510/ http:/ / www. cordagecommercecenter. com/

flash_content/ history. htm). Cordage Commerce Center. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. cordagecommercecenter. com/

flash_content/ history. htm) on 2007-09-27. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[29] "Records of the Plymouth Cordage Company (Coll. 133), History of the Plymouth Cordage Company" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/

20070927202800/ http:/ / www. mysticseaport. org/ library/ Manuscripts/ coll/ coll133/ coll133. html). Mystic Seaport. Archived from the

original (http:/ / www. mysticseaport. org/ library/ Manuscripts/ coll/ coll133/ coll133. html) on 2007-09-27. . Retrieved 2009-07-17. Plymouth, Massachusetts 26

[30] "The Property, Property Highlights" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20070927200523/ http:/ / www. cordagecommercecenter. com/

flash_content/ property. htm). Cordage Commerce Center. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. cordagecommercecenter. com/

flash_content/ property. htm) on 2007-09-27. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[31] "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990" (http:/ / www. census. gov/ geo/ www/ gazetteer/ gazette. html). United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. . Retrieved 2011-04-23.

[32] "Plymouth" (http:/ / www. placenames. com/ us/ p615295/ ). Placenames.com. . Retrieved 2007-08-11.

[33] "Plymouth Massachusetts 1890" (http:/ / capecodhistory. us/ Mass1890/ Plymouth1890. htm). Massachusetts Gazetteer, 1890. . Retrieved 2007-08-10.

[34] "Plymouth, Massachusetts: Nearest cities" (http:/ / www. city-data. com/ city/ Plymouth-Massachusetts. html). City-Data.com. . Retrieved 2007-08-11.

[35] "Myles Standish State Forest" (http:/ / www. mass. gov/ dcr/ parks/ southeast/ mssf. htm). Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. . Retrieved 2007-08-11.

[36] "USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map" (http:/ / www. usna. usda. gov/ Hardzone/ hzm-ne1. html). US Department of Agriculture - The United States National Arboretum. March 2, 2006. . Retrieved 2007-01-19.

[37] "Plymouth, Massachusetts Average Temperature" (http:/ / www. weatherbase. com/ weather/ weather. php3?s=684691& refer=). Weatherbase. . Retrieved 2007-08-09.

[38] "Weatherbase: Historical Weather for Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States of America" (http:/ / www. weatherbase. com/ weather/

weather. php3?s=684691& refer=). Weatherbase. 2007. . Retrieved 2007-08-09.

[39] "TOTAL POPULATION (P1), 2010 Census Summary File 1, All County Subdivisions within Massachusetts" (http:/ / factfinder2. census.

gov/ bkmk/ table/ 1. 0/ en/ DEC/ 10_SF1/ P1/ 0400000US25. 06000). United States Census Bureau. . Retrieved September 13, 2011.

[40] "Massachusetts by Place and County Subdivision - GCT-T1. Population Estimates" (http:/ / factfinder. census. gov/ servlet/

GCTTable?_bm=y& -geo_id=04000US25& -_box_head_nbr=GCT-T1& -ds_name=PEP_2009_EST& -_lang=en& -format=ST-9& -_sse=on). United States Census Bureau. . Retrieved July 12, 2011.

[41] "1990 Census of Population, General Population Characteristics: Massachusetts" (http:/ / www. census. gov/ prod/ cen1990/ cp1/ cp-1-23. pdf). US Census Bureau. December 1990. Table 76: General Characteristics of Persons, Households, and Families: 1990. 1990 CP-1-23. . Retrieved July 12, 2011.

[42] "1980 Census of the Population, Number of Inhabitants: Massachusetts" (http:/ / www2. census. gov/ prod2/ decennial/ documents/

1980a_maABC-01. pdf). US Census Bureau. December 1981. Table 4. Populations of County Subdivisions: 1960 to 1980. PC80-1-A23. . Retrieved July 12, 2011.

[43] "1950 Census of Population" (http:/ / www2. census. gov/ prod2/ decennial/ documents/ 23761117v1ch06. pdf). Bureau of the Census. 1952. Section 6, Pages 21-10 and 21-11, Massachusetts Table 6. Population of Counties by Minor Civil Divisions: 1930 to 1950. . Retrieved July 12, 2011.

[44] "1920 Census of Population" (http:/ / www2. census. gov/ prod2/ decennial/ documents/ 41084506no553ch2. pdf). Bureau of the Census. Number of Inhabitants, by Counties and Minor Civil Divisions. Pages 21-5 through 21-7. Massachusetts Table 2. Population of Counties by Minor Civil Divisions: 1920, 1910, and 1920. . Retrieved July 12, 2011.

[45] "1890 Census of the Population" (http:/ / www2. census. gov/ prod2/ decennial/ documents/ 41084506no553ch2. pdf). Department of the Interior, Census Office. Pages 179 through 182. Massachusetts Table 5. Population of States and Territories by Minor Civil Divisions: 1880 and 1890. . Retrieved July 12, 2011.

[46] "1870 Census of the Population" (http:/ / www2. census. gov/ prod2/ decennial/ documents/ 1870e-05. pdf). Department of the Interior, Census Office. 1872. Pages 217 through 220. Table IX. Population of Minor Civil Divisions, &c. Massachusetts. . Retrieved July 12, 2011.

[47] "1860 Census" (http:/ / www2. census. gov/ prod2/ decennial/ documents/ 1860a-08. pdf). Department of the Interior, Census Office. 1864. Pages 220 through 226. State of Massachusetts Table No. 3. Populations of Cities, Towns, &c.. . Retrieved July 12, 2011.

[48] "1850 Census" (http:/ / www2. census. gov/ prod2/ decennial/ documents/ 1850c-11. pdf). Department of the Interior, Census Office. 1854. Pages 338 through 393. Populations of Cities, Towns, &c.. . Retrieved July 12, 2011.

[49] "American FactFinder" (http:/ / factfinder. census. gov). United States Census Bureau. . Retrieved 2008-01-31.

[50] "Plymouth, Massachusetts: Population Density" (http:/ / www. city-data. com/ city/ Plymouth-Massachusetts. html). City-data.com. . Retrieved 2007-08-11.

[51] "Plymouth, Massachusetts: Races in Plymouth" (http:/ / www. city-data. com/ city/ Plymouth-Massachusetts. html). City-data.com. . Retrieved 2007-08-11.

[52] "Plymouth, Massachusetts: Estimated Median Household Income" (http:/ / www. city-data. com/ city/ Plymouth-Massachusetts. html). City-data.com. . Retrieved 2007-08-11.

[53] "Index of Legislative Representation by City and Town" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20070929115141/ http:/ / www. mass. gov/ legis/

citytown. htm). Mass.gov. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. mass. gov/ legis/ citytown. htm) on 2007-09-29. . Retrieved 2009-07-17.

[54] "Station D-7, SP Bourne" (http:/ / www. mass. gov/ ?pageID=eopsterminal& L=5& L0=Home& L1=Law+ Enforcement+ & + Criminal+

Justice& L2=Law+ Enforcement& L3=State+ Police+ Troops& L4=Troop+ D& sid=Eeops& b=terminalcontent&

f=msp_divisions_field_services_troops_troop_d_msp_field_troop_d_station_d7& csid=Eeops). Executive Office of Public Safety (EOPS). . Retrieved 2007-08-09.

[55] "Town Departments: Board of Selectmen" (http:/ / www. plymouth-ma. gov/ Public_Documents/ PlymouthMA_BOS/ index). Town of Plymouth, MA. . Retrieved 2007-07-31. Plymouth, Massachusetts 27

[56] "Town Departments: Town Manager" (http:/ / www. plymouth-ma. gov/ Public_Documents/ PlymouthMA_Admin/ index). Town of Plymouth, MA. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[57] "Town Departments: Police Department" (http:/ / www. plymouth-ma. gov/ Public_Documents/ PlymouthMA_Police/ index). Town of Plymouth, MA. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[58] "Town Departments: Fire Department" (http:/ / www. plymouth-ma. gov/ Public_Documents/ PlymouthMA_Fire/ index). Town of Plymouth, MA. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[59] "Plymouth MA Community Post Offices" (http:/ / yp. yahoo. com/ yp/ Plymouth_MA/ Community_Post_Offices/ 8104728. html). Yahoo Local Pages. . Retrieved 2007-08-11.

[60] "The Village Green, Shops and Services" (http:/ / www. pinehillsvillagegreen. com/ shops/ index. php). The Pinehills. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[61] "Manomet Branch" (http:/ / www. plymouthpubliclibrary. org/ manometbranch. htm). Plymouth Public Library. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[62] "About OCLN" (http:/ / www. ocln. org/ wp-public/ ?page_id=4). Old Colony Library Network. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[63] "Colony Place" (http:/ / colonyplace. com/ ). Colony Place. . Retrieved 2008-10-08.

[64] "The Shops at 5: Plymouth, MA" (http:/ / www. nedevelopment. com/ pdf/ Shops5. pdf) (PDF). New England Development. . Retrieved 2007-07-28.

[65] "Behind the Pinehills" (http:/ / www. pinehills. com/ ). The Pinehills. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[66] Gaines, Judith. "Is this the new New England?" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20070927000848/ http:/ / www. pinehills. com/ behind/

articles/ yankee/ index. php). Yankee Magazine. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. pinehills. com/ behind/ articles/ yankee/ index. php) on 2007-09-27. . Retrieved 2009-07-17.

[67] "Plymouth South High School" (http:/ / www. publicschoolreview. com/ school_ov/ school_id/ 38376). Public School Review. . Retrieved 2007-08-18.

[68] "Our Schools" (http:/ / www. plymouthschools. com/ ). Plymouth School District. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[69] "About Our School" (http:/ / www. risingtide. org/ ). Rising Tide Charter Public School. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[70] "About Quincy College" (http:/ / www. quincycollege. edu/ qc/ about/ history. htm). Quincy College. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[71] "Plymouth Campus" (http:/ / www. curry. edu/ Academics/ Continuing+ Education/ Locations/ Plymouth+ Campus. htm). Curry College. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[72] "Plymouth" (http:/ / www. ccde. umb. edu/ plymouth/ ). University of Massachusetts Boston. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[73] "Welcome to Jordan Hospital" (http:/ / www. jordanhospital. org/ ). Jordan Hospital. . Retrieved 2007-07-14.

[74] "About South Shore Hospital" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20071009120812/ http:/ / www. southshorehospital. org/ about_ssh/

about_home3. htm). South Shore Hospital. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. southshorehospital. org/ about_ssh/ about_home3. htm) on 2007-10-09. . Retrieved 2009-07-17.

[75] "Commuter Rail Maps and Schedules" (http:/ / mbta. com/ schedules_and_maps/ rail/ ). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. . Retrieved 2007-08-20.

[76] "Plymouth" (http:/ / mbta. com/ schedules_and_maps/ rail/ lines/ stations/ default. asp?stopId=159& lat=41. 981184& lng=-70. 692514). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. . Retrieved 2007-08-20.

[77] "Provincetown Ferry" (http:/ / www. provincetownferry. com/ ). Capt. John Boats. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[78] "Terminals and Ticket Agencies" (http:/ / www. p-b. com/ Fares. html#agencies). Plymouth & Brockton Street Railway Co.. . Retrieved 2009-07-17.

[79] "Plymouth Area Link: Information" (http:/ / www. gatra. org/ ). Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[80] "History of Plymouth Airport" (http:/ / www. pymairport. org/ index. htm). Plymouth Municipal Airport. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[81] "Plymouth, Massachusetts: Airports certified for carrier operations nearest to Plymouth" (http:/ / www. city-data. com/ city/

Plymouth-Massachusetts. html). City-data.com. . Retrieved 2007-08-12.

[82] "Barnstable Municipal Airport: Airlines" (http:/ / www. town. barnstable. ma. us/ departments/ airport/ 05/ passengerservices/ airlines. htm). Barnstable Municipal Airport. . Retrieved 2007-08-12. [83] Philbrick (2006) pp 351-356

[84] "Pilgrim Memorial State Park" (http:/ / www. mass. gov/ dcr/ parks/ southeast/ plgm. htm). Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. . Retrieved 2007-08-11.

[85] "The Nye Barn at Plimoth Plantation" (http:/ / www. plimoth. org/ features/ nye. php). Plimoth Plantation. . Retrieved 2007-07-31. [86] Associated Press (October 23, 1985). "Henry Hornblower 2d (obituary)". The New York Times. p. B6.

[87] "Mayflower II" (http:/ / www. plimoth. org/ features/ mayflower-2/ ). Plimoth Plantation. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[88] "The Journey of the Mayflower II" (http:/ / www. plimoth. org/ features/ mayflower-2/ journey/ ). Plimoth Plantation. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[89] "Mayflower II: 50th Celebrations" (http:/ / www. plimoth. org/ features/ mayflower-2/ 50th. php). Plimoth Plantation. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[90] "Pilgrim Hall Museum: America's museum of Pilgrim's possessions" (http:/ / www. pilgrimhall. org/ plgrmhll. htm). Pilgrim Hall. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[91] Plymouth Guide. "Forefathers Monument" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20051023014629/ http:/ / www. plymouthguide. com/

monument. html). Archived from the original (http:/ / www. plymouthguide. com/ monument. html) on 2005-10-23. . Retrieved 2009-07-17. Plymouth, Massachusetts 28

[92] "National Monument to the Forefathers" (http:/ / mass. gov/ dcr/ stewardship/ rmp/ rmp-forefathers. htm). Department of Conservation and Recreation (Massachusetts). . Retrieved 2007-08-11.

[93] "Let Freedom Ring" (http:/ / www. partingwaysplymouth. org/ ). Parting Ways Museum. . Retrieved 2007-08-11.

[94] "Ellisville Harbor State Park" (http:/ / www. mass. gov/ dcr/ parks/ southeast/ ells. htm). Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. . Retrieved 2007-08-11.

[95] http:/ / www. plymouthguild. com

[96] http:/ / www. driftwoodfolkcafe. com

[97] http:/ / www. projectarts. com

[98] http:/ / www. wickedlocal. com/ plymouth/ opinion/ editorials/ x1043121216/ EDITORIAL-Threat-to-Thursday-concerts-raises-question-of-union-control

[99] http:/ / www. brewsterproductions. com/ concertseries

[100] "Profile of Chris Alberghini on Famous Like Me" (http:/ / www. famouslikeme. com/ 7306/ article. html). Famous Like Me.com. . Retrieved 2007-08-21. [101] Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896. : Marquis Who's Who. 1963.

[102] "John Bartlett" (http:/ / www. bartleby. com/ people/ BartlettJon. html). Bartleby.com. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[103] "Amy Lynn Baxter" (http:/ / www. tv. com/ amy-lynn-baxter/ person/ 497381/ summary. html). TV.com. CNET Networks, Inc.. . Retrieved 2008-04-18.

[104] "About David" (http:/ / www. davidchokachi. net/ index_about. html). DavidChokachi.net. . Retrieved 2007-08-21.

[105] "Ken Coleman, Former Red Sox Broadcaster, 1925 - August 21, 2003" (http:/ / www. americansportscastersonline. com/

colemanmemorial. html). American Sportscasters Online. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[106] "Davee, Thomas" (http:/ / bioguide. congress. gov/ scripts/ biodisplay. pl?index=D000068). Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[107] "Phoenix Farrell" (http:/ / www. nndb. com/ people/ 088/ 000030995/ ). NNDB. . Retrieved 2007-08-09.

[108] "The Reverend Professor Peter J. Gomes" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20080417000933/ http:/ / www. memorialchurch. harvard. edu/

preachers/ pjg. shtml). The Memorial Church of Harvard University. Archived from the original (http:/ / www. memorialchurch. harvard. edu/

preachers/ pjg. shtml) on 2008-04-17. . Retrieved 2008-04-18.

[109] "Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra" (http:/ / nfo. net/ usa/ g3. html). American BigBands. . Retrieved 2007-08-21. [110] "Biography: Dick Gregory for the people... Activist, Philosopher, Anti-Drug Crusader, Comedian, Author, Actor Recording Artist,

Nutritionist" (http:/ / www. dickgregory. com/ about_dick_gregory. html). Dick Gregory Global Watch. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[111] "Pee Wee Hunt" (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20071103080536/ http:/ / musicstories. net/ Pee_Wee_Hunt. htm). MusicStories.net.

Archived from the original (http:/ / musicstories. net/ Pee_Wee_Hunt. htm) on 2007-11-03. . Retrieved 2009-07-17.

[112] "Biography of Frederic Augustus Lucas" (http:/ / library. nybg. org/ finding_guide/ archv/ lucas_ppb. html). Frederic Augustus Lucas Papers (PP). . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[113] "Matson, Aaron" (http:/ / bioguide. congress. gov/ scripts/ biodisplay. pl?index=M000247). Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. . Retrieved 2007-07-31.

[114] "Violet Mersereau" (http:/ / www. silentera. com/ people/ actresses/ Mersereau-Violet. html). Silent Era. . Retrieved 2007-08-21.

[115] "Plymouth and its Twin Towns" (http:/ / www. devon. gov. uk/ environmentalhealth?url=localcontent. htm& site=2& ref=twintowns.

htm& ). Devon County Council. . Retrieved 2007-08-09.

[116] "Sister City Plymouth" (http:/ / www. shichigahama. com/ ie/ guide2. html). Shichigahama Town Guide. . Retrieved 2007-08-09.

External links • Plymouth (Massachusetts) travel guide from Wikitravel

• Destination: Plymouth tourism site (http:/ / www. visit-plymouth. com/ )

• Plymouth Town Website (http:/ / www. plymouth-ma. gov/ Public_Documents/ PlymouthMA_WebDocs/ about/ )

• Wicked Local Plymouth (http:/ / plymouth. wickedlocal. com/ )

• Answer Book/Plymouth: Everything you need to know (http:/ / www. patriotledger. com/ answerbook/ plymouth)

• Plymouth Public Library (http:/ / www. plymouthpubliclibrary. org) Thanksgiving 29 Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day

Saying grace before carving a at , Pennsylvania, U.S., 1942 Observed by Canada Leiden, Netherlands Liberia Norfolk Island United States

Type National, cultural

Date 2nd Monday in October (Canada) 1st Thursday in November (Liberia) Last Wednesday in November (Norfolk Island) 4th Thursday in November (USA and Leiden, Netherlands)

2011 date October 17, 2011 (Canada); November 10, 2011 (Liberia); November 30, 2011 (Norfolk Island); November 31, 2011 (USA and Leiden, Netherlands)

2012 date October 15, 2012 (Canada); November 8, 2012 (Liberia); November 28, 2012 (Norfolk Island); November 29, 2012 (USA and Leiden, Netherlands)

Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. Thanksgiving in Canada falls on the same day as in the United States. Because of the longstanding traditions of the holiday, the celebration often extends to the weekend that falls closest to the day it is celebrated.

History Thanksgiving in North America had originated from a mix of European and Native traditions.[1] Typically in Europe, were held before and after the harvest cycles to give thanks for a good harvest, and to rejoice together after much hard work with the rest of the community.[1] At the time, Native Americans had also celebrated the end of a harvest season.[1] When Europeans first arrived to the Americas, they brought with them their own harvest traditions from Europe, celebrating their safe voyage, peace and good harvest.[1] Though the origins of the holiday in both Canada and the United States are similar, Americans do not typically celebrate the contributions made in Newfoundland, while Canadians do not celebrate the contributions made in Plymouth, Massachusetts.[2] Thanksgiving 30

In Canada

The origin of the first Thanksgiving in Canada goes back to the explorer, , who had been trying to find a northern passage to the Pacific Ocean. Frobisher's Thanksgiving celebration was not for harvest, but in thanks for surviving the long journey from England through the perils of storms and icebergs. On his third and final voyage to these regions in 1578 Frobisher held a formal ceremony in in in present Day to give thanks to God and in a service ministered by the preacher Robert Wolfall they celebrated Communion, the first ever service in these The , 1606 by Charles regions.[3] Years later, the tradition of a feast would continue as more William Jefferys, (1925). settlers began to arrive to the Canadian colonies.[4]

The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving can also be traced to the French settlers who came to with explorer Samuel de Champlain in the early 17th century, who also took to celebrating their successful harvests. The French settlers in the area typically had feasts at the end of the harvest season and continued throughout the winter season, even sharing their food with the of the area.[5] Champlain had also proposed for the creation of the Order of Good Cheer in 1606.[6] Oven roasted turkey As many more settlers arrived in Canada, more celebrations of good harvest became common. New immigrants into the country, such as the Irish, Scottish and Germans, would also add their own traditions to the harvest celebrations. Most of the U.S. aspects of Thanksgiving (such as the turkey) were incorporated when United Empire Loyalists began to flee from the United States during the and settled in Canada.[5]

In the United States

In the United States, the modern Thanksgiving holiday tradition traces its origins to a 1621 celebration at Plymouth in present-day Massachusetts. There is also evidence for an earlier harvest celebration on the continent by Spanish explorers in during 1565, as well as thanksgiving feasts in the Virginia Colony. The initial thanksgiving observance at Virginia in 1619 was prompted by the colonists' leaders on the anniversary of the settlement.[7] The 1621 Plymouth feast and thanksgiving was prompted by a good harvest. In later years, the The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth By Jennie A. Brownscombe (1914) tradition was continued by civil leaders such as Governor Bradford who planned a thanksgiving celebration and fast in 1623.[8] [9] [10] While initially, the Plymouth colony did not have enough food to feed half of the 102 colonists, the Wampanoag Native Americans helped the Pilgrims by providing seeds and teaching them to fish. The practice of holding an annual like this did not become a regular affair in New England until the late 1660s.[11]

According to historian Jeremy Bangs, director of the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum, the Pilgrims may have been influenced by watching the annual services of Thanksgiving for the relief of the siege of Leiden in 1574, while they were staying in Leiden.[12] Thanksgiving 31

Contending origins The claim of where the first Thanksgiving was held in the United States, and even the Americas has often been a subject of debate. Author and teacher Robyn Gioia and Michael Gannon, of the University of Florida, have argued that the earliest attested "Thanksgiving" celebration in what is now the United States was celebrated by the Spanish on September 8, 1565 in what is now Saint Augustine, Florida.[13] [14] Similarly, many historians point out that the first thanksgiving celebration in the United States was held in Virginia, and not in Plymouth. Thanksgiving services were routine in what was to become the Commonwealth of Virginia as early as 1607.[15] A day of Thanksgiving was codified in the founding charter of Berkeley Hundred in Charles City County, Virginia in 1619.[16]

Fixing the date of the holiday The reason for the earlier Thanksgiving celebrations in Canada has often been attributed to the earlier onset of winter in the north, thus ending the harvest season earlier.[17] Thanksgiving in Canada did not have a fixed date until the late 19th century. Prior to , many of the individual colonial governors of the Canadian provinces had declared their own days of Thanksgiving. The first official Canadian Thanksgiving occurred on April 15, 1872 when the nation was celebrating the Prince of Wales' recovery from a serious illness.[17] By the end of the 19th Century, Thanksgiving Day was normally celebrated on November 6. However, when World War I ended, the Armistice Day holiday were usually held during the same week. To prevent the two holidays from clashing with one another, in 1957 the Canadian Parliament proclaimed Thanksgiving to be observed on its present date on the second Monday of October.[5] Since 1971, when the American Uniform Monday Holiday Act took effect, the American observance of Columbus Day has coincided with the Canadian observance of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving in the United States, much like in Canada, was observed on various dates throughout history. The dates of Thanksgiving in the era of the Founding Fathers until the time of Lincoln had been decided by each state on various dates. The first Thanksgiving celebrated on the same date by all states was in 1863 by presidential proclamation. The final Thursday in November had become the customary date of Thanksgiving in most U.S. states by the beginning of the 20th century. And so, in an effort by President (influenced by the campaigning of author ) to foster a sense of American unity between the Northern and Southern states, proclaimed the date to be the final Thursday in November.[15] It was not until December 26, 1941, that the unified date changed to the fourth Thursday (and not always final) in November -this time by federal legislation. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, after two years earlier offering his own proclamation to move the date earlier, with the reason of giving the country an economic boost, agreed to sign a bill into law with Congress, making Thanksgiving a national holiday on the fourth (not final) Thursday in November.

Observance around the world

Canada Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day (Canadian French: Jour de l'Action de grâce), occurring on the second Monday in October, is an annual Canadian holiday to give thanks at the close of the harvest season. Although the original act of Parliament references God and the holiday is celebrated in churches, the holiday is mostly celebrated in a secular manner. Thanksgiving is a statutory holiday in all provinces in Canada, except for , , and . While businesses may remain open in these provinces, the holiday is nonetheless, recognized and celebrated regardless of its status.[18] [19] [20] [21] [22] Thanksgiving 32

Liberia In the West African country of Liberia, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the first Thursday of November.[23]

The Netherlands Many of the Pilgrims who migrated to the Plymouth Plantation had resided in the city of Leiden from 1609–1620, many of whom had recorded their birth, marriages and deaths at the Pieterskerk.[24] To commemorate this, a non-denominational Thanksgiving Day service is held each year on the morning of the American Thanksgiving Day in the Pieterskerk, a Gothic church in Leiden, to commemorate the hospitality the Pilgrims received in Leiden on their way to the New World.[25]

Norfolk Island In the Australian external territory of Norfolk Island, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the last Wednesday of November, similar to the pre-World War II American observance on the last Thursday of the month. This means the Norfolk Island observance is the day before or six days after the United States' observance. The holiday was brought to the island by visiting American whaling ships.[26]

United States Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, currently celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November by federal legislation in 1941, has been an annual tradition in the United States by presidential proclamation since 1863 and by state legislation since the Founding Fathers of the United States. Historically, Thanksgiving began as a tradition of celebrating the harvest of the year.[27]

References [1] Morill, Ann "Thanksgiving and Other Harvest Festivals" Infobase Publishing, ISBN 1-6041-3096-2 p.28 [2] Morill, Ann "Thanksgiving and Other Harvest Festivals" Infobase Publishing, ISBN 1-6041-3096-2 p.29-30

[3] "The three voyages of Martin Frobisher: in search of a passage to Cathai and India by the northwest AD 1576-1578" (http:/ / books. google.

com/ books?id=3F9MJjZN638C& printsec=frontcover& dq=Three+ voyages+ of+ martin+ frobisher#v=onepage& q& f=false). . [4] Morill, Ann "Thanksgiving and Other Harvest Festivals" Infobase Publishing, ISBN 1-6041-3096-2 p.31 [5] Solski, Ruth "Canada's Traditions and Celebrations" McGill-Queen's Press, ISBN 1-5503-5694-1 p.12

[6] "Port-Royal National Historic Site of Canada" (http:/ / www. pc. gc. ca/ lhn-nhs/ ns/ portroyal/ natcul/ histor. aspx). National Historic Sites. Parks Canada. . Retrieved 8 December 2010.

[7] "The First Thanksgiving Proclamation — June 20, 1676" (http:/ / www. covenantnews. com/ thanks01. htm). The Covenant News. . Retrieved 2008-11-27. [8] Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647, pp. 120-121. [9] Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation, pp. 135-142.

[10] The fast and thanksgiving days of New England (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=u7c-AAAAYAAJ& ots=H3o5FFvV-K& dq=love

fast and thanksgiving days& pg=PA84#v=onepage& q=july thanksgiving& f=false) by William DeLoss Love, Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Cambridge, 1895 [11] Kaufman, Jason Andrew "The origins of Canadian and American political differences" Harvard University Press, 2009, ISBN 0-6740-3136-9 p.28

[12] Jeremy Bangs. "Influences" (http:/ / www. rootsweb. ancestry. com/ ~netlapm/ Page31K. htm). The Pilgrims' Leiden. . Retrieved 2010-09-11.

[13] Wilson, Craig (2007-11-21). "Florida teacher chips away at Plymouth Rock Thanksgiving myth" (http:/ / www. usatoday. com/ life/

lifestyle/ 2007-11-20-first-thanksgiving_N. htm). Usatoday.com. . Retrieved 2011-09-05.

[14] Davis, Kenneth C. (2008-11-25). "A French Connection" (http:/ / www. nytimes. com/ 2008/ 11/ 26/ opinion/ 26davis. html?th& emc=th). Nytimes.com. . Retrieved 2011-09-05. [15] Morill, Ann "Thanksgiving and Other Harvest Festivals" Infobase Publishing, ISBN 1-6041-3096-2 p.33

[16] "The First Thanksgiving Proclamation — June 20, 1676" (http:/ / www. covenantnews. com/ thanks01. htm). The Covenant News. . Retrieved 2008-11-27. [17] Kaufman, Jason Andrew "The origins of Canadian and American political differences" Harvard University Press, 2009, ISBN 0-6740-3136-9 p.29 Thanksgiving 33

[18] "Paid public holidays" (http:/ / www. workrights. ca/ content. php?sec=9). WorkRights.ca. .

[19] "Thanksgiving - is it a Statutory Holiday?" (http:/ / www. gov. ns. ca/ lwd/ employmentrights/ thanksgiving. asp). Government of Nova Scotia. . Retrieved 2008-10-13.

[20] "Statutes, Chapter E-6.2" (http:/ / www. gov. pe. ca/ law/ statutes/ pdf/ e-06_2. pdf) (PDF). Government of Prince Edward Island. . Retrieved 2008-10-13.

[21] "RSNL1990 Chapter L-2 - Labour Standards Act" (http:/ / assembly. nl. ca/ Legislation/ sr/ statutes/ l02. htm#14_). Assembly of Newfoundland. . Retrieved 2008-10-13.

[22] "Statutory Holidays" (http:/ / www. hrsdc. gc. ca/ en/ lp/ spila/ clli/ eslc/ stat_hol. pdf) (PDF). Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, Canada. .

[23] "Vice President Boakai Joins Catholic Community in Bomi to Celebrate Thanksgiving Day" (http:/ / www. emansion. gov. lr/ press.

php?news_id=1709& related=). The Executive Mansion. Republic of Liberia. 2010-11-05. . Retrieved 2010-11-28.

[24] Consulate General of the United States, Amsterdam. "Thanksgiving Day Events in the Netherlands, 2007" (http:/ / amsterdam. usconsulate.

gov/ thanksgiving_events. html). U.S. Department of State. . Retrieved 2010-10-02.

[25] "Dutch town" (http:/ / www. theworld. org/ ?q=node/ 22856& answer=true). The World (radio program). . Retrieved 2008-11-28. "The Pilgrims arrived in Leiden in 1609, after fleeing religious persecution in England. Leiden welcomed them because it needed immigrants to help rebuild its textile industry, which had been devastated by a long revolt against Spain. Here, the Pilgrims were allowed to worship as they wanted, and they even published their arguments calling for the separation of church and state. Jeremy Bangs directs the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum. He says the Pilgrims quickly adopted several Dutch customs, like civil marriage and Thanksgiving."

[26] Australian Government Attorney-General's Department website (http:/ / www. ag. gov. au/ www/ agd/ agd. nsf/ Page/ TerritoriesofAustralia_NorfolkIsland_NorfolkIslandInformationandServices#Public)

[27] "Thanksgiving Day" (http:/ / www. britannica. com/ EBchecked/ topic/ 590003/ Thanksgiving-Day). Encyclopædia Britannica. . Retrieved 2009-11-03.

Further reading • Dow (), Judy; Slapin, Beverly (2006-06-12). "Deconstructing the Myths of "The First Thanksgiving""

(http:/ / www. oyate. org/ resources/ shortthanks. html). Oyate.org. Retrieved 2010-11-29.

External links

• Thanksgiving (http:/ / www. dmoz. org/ Society/ Holidays/ Thanksgiving/ ) at the Open Directory Project Thanksgiving (United States) 34 Thanksgiving (United States)

Thanksgiving

The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth by Jennie A. Brownscombe. (1914) Observed by United States

Type National

Date Fourth Thursday in November

2010 date November 32

2011 date November 31

2012 date November 29

Celebrations Giving thanks, spending time with family, feasting, football games, parades

Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, has officially been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863, when during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday, November 26.[1] As a federal and popular holiday in the U.S., Thanksgiving is one of the "big six" major holidays of the year (along with , New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, and ). Together with Christmas and the New Year, Thanksgiving is a part of the broader holiday season. The event that Americans commonly call the "First Thanksgiving" was celebrated to give thanks to God for guiding them safely to the New World.[2] The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three days, providing enough food for 53 pilgrims and 90 Native Americans.[3] The feast consisted of fish (cod, eels, and bass) and shellfish (clams, lobster, and mussels), wild fowl (ducks, geese, swans, and turkey), , berries and fruit, vegetables (, , and possibly, wild or cultivated ), harvest grains (barley and wheat), and the Three Sisters: beans, dried Indian maize or corn, and squash.[2] [4] [5] [6] The New England colonists were accustomed to regularly celebrating "thanksgivings"—days of prayer thanking God for blessings such as military victory or the end of a drought.[7]

History The first documented thanksgiving feasts in territory currently belonging to the United States were conducted by Spaniards in the 16th century.[8] [9] [10] Thanksgiving services were routine in what was to become the Commonwealth of Virginia as early as 1607,[11] with the first permanent settlement of Jamestown, Virginia holding a thanksgiving in 1610.[8] On December 4, 1619, 38 English settlers arrived at Berkeley Hundred, which comprised about 8000 acres (3200 ha) on the north bank of the James River, near Herring Creek, in an area then known as Charles Cittie, about 20 miles (32 km) upstream from Jamestown, where the first permanent settlement of the had been established on May 14, 1607. Thanksgiving (United States) 35

The group's charter required that the day of arrival be observed yearly as a "day of thanksgiving" to God. On that first day, Captain John Woodlief held the service of thanksgiving. As quoted from the section of the Charter of Berkeley Hundred specifying the thanksgiving service: "We ordaine that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantacon in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God."[12] During the Indian massacre of 1622, nine of the settlers at Berkeley Hundreds were killed, as well as about a third of the entire population of the Virginia Colony. The Berkeley Hundred site and other outlying locations were abandoned as the colonists withdrew to Jamestown and other more secure points. After several years, the site became , and was long the traditional home of the Harrison family, one of the First Families of Virginia. In 1634, it became part of the first eight shires of Virginia, as Charles City County, one of the oldest in the United States, and is located along Virginia State Route 5, which runs parallel to the river's northern borders past sites of many of the James River plantations between the colonial capital city of Williamsburg (now the site of Colonial Williamsburg) and the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia at Richmond.

Thanksgiving observed by the Pilgrims at Plymouth

The modern Thanksgiving holiday traces its origins from a 1621 celebration at the Plymouth Plantation, where the Plymouth settlers held a harvest feast after a successful growing season. This was continued in later years, first as an impromptu religious observance, and later as a civil tradition. Squanto, a Patuxet Native American who resided with the Wampanoag tribe, taught the Pilgrims how to catch eel and grow corn and served as

an interpreter for them (Squanto had learned English while enslaved in The First Thanksgiving 1621, oil on canvas by Europe and during travels in England). Additionally the Wampanoag Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1863–1930). The leader Massasoit had donated food stores to the fledgling colony painting shows common misconceptions about during the first winter when supplies brought from England were the event that persist to modern times: Pilgrims did not wear such outfits, and the Wampanoag [13] insufficient. The Pilgrims set apart a day to celebrate at Plymouth are dressed in the style of Plains Indians. immediately after their first harvest, in 1621. At the time, this was not regarded as a Thanksgiving observance; harvest festivals existed in English and Wampanoag tradition alike. Several colonists gave personal accounts of the 1621 feast in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Pilgrims, most of whom were Separatists, are not to be confused with Puritans who established their own Massachusetts Bay Colony nearby (current day Boston) in 1628 and had very different religious beliefs.[14]

William Bradford, in Of Plymouth Plantation: Thus they found the Lord to be with them in all their ways, and to bless their outgoings and incomings, for which let His holy name have the praise forever, to all posterity. They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty. For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion. All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to the proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largely of their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned but true reports. Thanksgiving (United States) 36

Edward Winslow, in Mourt's Relation: Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruits of our labor. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which we brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty. The Pilgrims held an even greater Thanksgiving celebration in 1623, after a switch from communal farming to privatized farming,[15] [16] a fast,[17] and a refreshing 14-day rain[17] [18] resulted in a larger harvest. William DeLoss Love calculates that this thanksgiving was made on Wednesday, July 30, 1623, a day prior to the arrival of a supply ship with more colonists,[17] but prior to the fall harvest. In Love's opinion this 1623 thanksgiving was significant because the order to recognize the event was from civil authority,[19] (Governor Bradford) and not from the church, making it likely the first civil recognition of Thanksgiving in New England.[17] Referring to the 1623 harvest after the nearly catastrophic drought, Bradford wrote: And afterwards the Lord sent them such seasonable showers, with interchange of fair warm weather as, through His blessing, caused a fruitful and liberal harvest, to their no small comfort and rejoicing. For which mercy, in time convenient, they also set apart a day of thanksgiving… By this time harvest was come, and instead of famine now God gave them plenty … for which they blessed God. And the effect of their particular planting was well seen, for all had … pretty well … so as any general want or famine had not been amongst them since to this day.[20] — William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation Irregular thanksgivings continued after favorable events and days of after unfavorable ones. In the Plymouth tradition, a thanksgiving day was primarily a church observance, rather than a feast day. But thanksgiving days did have a civil observance linked to the religious one, as in 1623. Gradually, an annual Thanksgiving after the harvest developed in the mid-17th century. This did not occur on any set day or necessarily on the same day in different colonies in America.

Other colonies The Massachusetts Bay Colony (consisting mainly of Puritan Christians) celebrated Thanksgiving for the first time in 1630, and frequently thereafter until about 1680, when it became an annual festival in that colony; and as early as 1639 and annually after 1647, except in 1675. The Dutch in New Netherland appointed a day for giving thanks in 1644 and occasionally thereafter. Charlestown, Massachusetts, held the first recorded Thanksgiving observance June 29, 1671, by proclamation of the town's governing council. Later in the 18th century, individual colonies would periodically designate a day of thanksgiving in honor of a military victory, an adoption of a state constitution or an exceptionally bountiful crop. Such a Thanksgiving Day celebration was held in December 1777 by the colonies nationwide, commemorating the surrender of British General Burgoyne at Saratoga. During the 18th century, individual colonies commonly observed days of thanksgiving throughout each year. We might not recognize a traditional Thanksgiving Day from that period, as it was not a day marked by plentiful food and drink as is today's custom, but rather a day set aside for prayer and fasting. Thanksgiving (United States) 37

The Revolutionary War to nationhood During the American Revolutionary War the appointed one or more thanksgiving days each year, each time recommending to the executives of the various states the observance of these days in their states. The First National Proclamation of Thanksgiving was given by the Continental Congress in 1777: FOR AS MUCH as it is the indispensable Duty of all Men to adore the superintending Providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with Gratitude their Obligation to him for Benefits received, and to implore such farther Blessings as they stand in Need of: And it having pleased him in his abundant Mercy, not only to continue to us the innumerable Bounties of his common Providence; but also to smile upon us in the Prosecution of a just and necessary War, for the Defense and Establishment of our unalienable Rights and Liberties; particularly in that he hath been pleased, in so great a Measure, to prosper the Means used for the Support of our Troops, and to crown our Arms with most signal success: It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive Powers of these UNITED STATES to set apart THURSDAY, the eighteenth Day of December next, for SOLEMN THANKSGIVING and PRAISE: That at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor; and that, together with their sincere Acknowledgments and Offerings, they may join the penitent Confession of their manifold Sins, whereby they had forfeited every Favor; and their humble and earnest Supplication that it may please GOD through the Merits of CHRIST, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of Remembrance; That it may please him graciously to afford his Blessing on the Governments of these States respectively, and prosper the public Council of the whole: To inspire our Commanders, both by Land and Sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty GOD, to secure for these United States, the greatest of all human Blessings, INDEPENDENCE and PEACE: That it may please him, to prosper the Trade and Manufactures of the People, and the Labor of the Husbandman, that our Land may yield its Increase: To take Schools and Seminaries of Education, so necessary for cultivating the Principles of true Liberty, Virtue and Piety, under his nurturing Hand; and to prosper the Means of Religion, for the promotion and enlargement of that Kingdom, which consisteth "in Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost. And it is further recommended, That servile Labor, and such Recreation, as, though at other Times innocent, may be unbecoming the Purpose of this Appointment, be omitted on so solemn an Occasion. , leader of the revolutionary forces in the American Revolutionary War, proclaimed a Thanksgiving in December 1777 as a victory celebration honoring the defeat of the British at Saratoga.

Thanksgiving proclamations in the first thirty years of nationhood As President, on October 3, 1789, George Washington made the following proclamation and created the first Thanksgiving Day designated by the national government of the United States of America: Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness. Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to 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. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in Thanksgiving (United States) 38

the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best. Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.[21] George Washington again proclaimed a Thanksgiving in 1795. President John Adams declared Thanksgivings in 1798 and 1799. No Thanksgiving proclamations were issued by Thomas Jefferson but James Madison renewed the tradition in 1814, in response to resolutions of Congress, at the close of the . Madison also declared the holiday twice in 1815; however, none of these was celebrated in autumn. In 1816, Governor Plumer of New Hampshire appointed Thursday, November 14 to be observed as a day of Public Thanksgiving and Governor Brooks of Massachusetts appointed Thursday, November 28 to be "observed throughout that State as a day of Thanksgiving."[22] A thanksgiving day was annually appointed by the governor of New York from 1817. In some of the Southern states, there was opposition to the observance of such a day on the ground that it was a relic of Puritanic bigotry, but by 1858 proclamations appointing a day of thanksgiving were issued by the governors of 25 states and two territories.

Lincoln and the Civil War

In the middle of the , President Abraham Lincoln, prompted by a series of editorials written by Sarah Josepha Hale,[1] proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated on the final Thursday in November 1863: The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to Sketch by Alfred Waud of Thanksgiving in camp (of General Louis Blenker) during the U.S. Civil penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible War in 1861. to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted Thanksgiving (United States) 39

by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of Home To Thanksgiving, lithograph by Currier and Ives. (1867) augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth." Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln, October 3, 1863.[1] Since 1863, Thanksgiving has been observed annually in the United States.

Post-Civil War Era During the second half of the 19th century, Thanksgiving traditions in America varied from region to region. A traditional New England Thanksgiving, for example, consisted of a raffle held on Thanksgiving eve (in which the prizes were mainly geese or turkeys), a shooting match on Thanksgiving morning (in which unfortunate turkeys and chickens were used as targets), church services, and then the traditional feast which consisted of some familiar Thanksgiving staples such as turkey and pumpkin , and some not-so-familiar dishes such as pigeon pie. The earliest high school football rivalries took root in the late 19th century in Massachusetts, stemming from games played on Thanksgiving; professional football took root as a Thanksgiving staple during the sport's genesis in the 1890s, and the tradition of Thanksgiving football both at the high school and professional level continues to this day. In New York City, people would up in fanciful masks and costumes and roam the streets in merry-making mobs. By the beginning of the 20th century these mobs had morphed into "ragamuffin parades" consisting mostly of children dressed as "ragamuffins" in costumes of old and mismatched adult clothes and with deliberately smudged faces, and by the late 1950s the tradition had vanished entirely.[23] Thanksgiving (United States) 40

1939 to 1941 Abraham Lincoln's successors as president followed his example of annually declaring the final Thursday in November to be Thanksgiving. But in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt broke with this tradition.[24] November had five Thursdays that year (instead of the usual four), and Roosevelt declared the fourth Thursday as Thanksgiving rather than the fifth one. Although many popular histories state otherwise, he made clear that his plan was to establish the holiday on the next-to-last Thursday in the month instead of the last one. With the country still in the midst of The , Roosevelt thought an earlier Thanksgiving would give merchants a longer period to sell goods before Christmas. Increasing profits and spending during this period, Roosevelt hoped, would help bring the country out of the Depression. At the time, advertising goods for Christmas before Thanksgiving was considered inappropriate. Fred Lazarus, Jr., founder of the Federated Department Stores (later Macy's), is credited with convincing Roosevelt to push Thanksgiving back a week to expand the shopping season.[25] Republicans decried the change, calling it an affront to the memory of Lincoln. People began referring to Nov. 30 as the "Republican Thanksgiving" and Nov. 23 as the "Democratic Thanksgiving" or "".[26] Regardless of the politics, many localities had made a tradition of celebrating on the last Thursday, and many football teams had a tradition of playing their final games of the season on Thanksgiving; with their schedules set well in advance, they could not change. Since a presidential declaration of Thanksgiving Day was not legally binding, Roosevelt's change was widely disregarded. Twenty-three states went along with Roosevelt's recommendation, 22 did not, and some, like , could not decide and took both days as government holidays. In 1940 and 1941, years in which November had four Thursdays, Roosevelt declared the third one as Thanksgiving. As in 1939, some states went along with the change while others retained the traditional last-Thursday date.

1942 to present

On October 6, 1941, both houses of the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution fixing the traditional last-Thursday date for the holiday beginning in 1942. However, in December of that year the Senate passed an amendment to the resolution that split the difference by requiring that Thanksgiving be observed annually on the fourth Thursday of November, which was sometimes the last Thursday and sometimes (less frequently) the next to last.[27] On December 26, 1941 President Roosevelt signed this bill, for the first time making the date of Thanksgiving a matter of federal law.[28] However, for several years some states continued to observe the last-Thursday date in years with five November Thursdays, with Texas doing so as late as 1956.

Since 1947, the National Turkey Federation has presented the John F. Kennedy unofficially spares a turkey on President of the United States with one live turkey and two dressed November 19, 1963. The practice of "pardoning" turkeys in this manner becomes a permanent turkeys, in a ceremony known as the National Thanksgiving Turkey tradition in 1989. Presentation. In a tradition that began as a one-off joke by Ronald Reagan in 1987 and made permanent by George H. W. Bush in 1989, the live turkey is "pardoned" and lives out the rest of its days on a nearby peaceful farm.[29] There are legends that state that the "pardoning" tradition dates to the Harry Truman administration or even to an anecdote of Abraham Lincoln pardoning his son's pet turkey; both stories have been quoted in more recent presidential speeches, but neither has any evidence in the Presidential record.[30] In more recent years, two turkeys have been pardoned, in case the original turkey becomes unavailable for presidential pardoning.[31] [32] Thanksgiving (United States) 41

Traditional celebrations

Foods of the season

U.S. tradition compares the holiday with a meal held in 1621 by the Wampanoag and the Pilgrims who settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It is continued in modern times with the Thanksgiving dinner, traditionally featuring turkey, playing a central role in the celebration of Thanksgiving. In the United States, certain kinds of food are traditionally served at Thanksgiving meals. Firstly, baked or roasted turkey is usually the featured item on any Thanksgiving feast table (so much so that Traditional Thanksgiving dinner Thanksgiving is sometimes referred to as "Turkey Day"). , mashed potatoes with , sweet potatoes, , sweet corn, various fall vegetables (mainly various kinds of squashes), and are commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner. All of these are actually native to the Americas or were introduced as a new food source to the Europeans when they arrived. Turkey may be an exception. In his book Mayflower, Nathaniel Philbrick suggests that the Pilgrims might already have been familiar with turkey in England, even though the bird is native to the Americas. The Spaniards had brought domesticated turkeys back from Central America in the early 1600s, and the birds soon became popular fare all over Europe, including England, where turkey (as an alternative to the traditional goose) became a "fixture at English ".[33]

The less fortunate are often provided with food at Thanksgiving time. Most communities have annual food drives that collect non-perishable packaged and canned foods, and corporations sponsor charitable distributions of staple foods and Thanksgiving .[34]

Giving thanks

Thanksgiving was originally a religious observance for all the members of the community to give thanks to God for a common purpose. Historic reasons for community thanksgivings are: the 1541 thanksgiving mass after the expedition of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado safely crossing the high plains of Texas and finding game,[35] [8] and the 1777 thanksgiving after the victory in the Revolutionary War Battle of Saratoga.[8] In his 1789 Proclamation, President Washington gave many noble reasons for a national Thanksgiving, including "for the civil and religious liberty", for "useful Giving thanks to God before carving the turkey at knowledge", and for God’s "kind care" and "His Providence".[36] The Thanksgiving dinner. (1942) only presidents to inject a specifically Christian focus to their proclamation have been Grover Cleveland in 1896,[36] and William McKinley in 1900.[36] Several other presidents have cited the Judeo-Christian tradition. Gerald Ford's 1975 declaration made no clear reference to any divinity.[36]

The tradition of giving thanks to God is continued today in various forms. Various religious and spiritual organizations offer services and events on Thanksgiving themes the weekend before, the day of, or the weekend after Thanksgiving. At home, it is a holiday tradition in many families to begin the Thanksgiving dinner by saying grace (a prayer before or after a meal).[37] The custom is portrayed in the photograph "Family Holding Hands and Praying Before a Thanksgiving Meal". Traditionally, grace was led by the hostess or host, though in later times it is usual for others to Thanksgiving (United States) 42

contribute.[38]

Vacation and travel On Thanksgiving Day, families and friends usually gather for a large meal or dinner. Consequently, the Thanksgiving holiday weekend is one of the busiest travel periods of the year.[39] Thanksgiving is a four-day or five-day weekend vacation for schools and colleges. Most business and government workers (78% in 2007) are given Thanksgiving and the day after as paid holidays.[40] Thanksgiving Eve, the night before Thanksgiving, is one of the busiest nights of the year for bars and clubs, as many college students and others return to their hometowns to reunite with friends and family.[41]

Parades For a more comprehensive list, see List of holiday parades. Since 1924, in New York City, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is held annually every Thanksgiving Day from the Upper West Side of Manhattan to Macy's flagship store in Herald Square, and televised nationally by NBC. The parade features parade floats with specific themes, scenes from Broadway plays, large of cartoon characters and TV personalities, and high school marching bands. The float that traditionally ends the Macy's Parade is the float, the arrival of which is an unofficial sign of the beginning of the Christmas season. Also founded in 1924, America's Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit is one of the largest parades in the country. The parade runs from Midtown to Downtown Detroit and precedes the annual Detroit Lions Thanksgiving football game. The parade includes large balloons, marching bands, and various celebrity guests much like the Macy's parade and is nationally televised on various affiliate stations. The Mayor of Detroit closes the parade by giving Santa Claus a key to the city. There are Thanksgiving parades in many other cities, including: • 6abc IKEA Thanksgiving Day Parade (, Pennsylvania) • Ameren Missouri Thanksgiving Day Parade[42] (St. Louis, Missouri) • America's Hometown Thanksgiving Parade (Plymouth, Massachusetts) • Belk Carolinas' Carrousel Parade (Charlotte, North Carolina) • FirstLight Federal Credit Union Sun Bowl Parade[43] (El Paso, Texas) • H-E-B Holiday Parade[44] (Houston, Texas) • McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade (Chicago, Illinois) • My Macy's Holiday Parade (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) • Parada de los Cerros Thanksgiving Day Parade[45] (Fountain Hills, Arizona) • UBS Parade Spectacular[46] (Stamford, Connecticut) - held the Sunday before Thanksgiving so it doesn't directly compete with the Macy's parade 30 miles away. Most of these parades are televised on a local station, and some have small, usually regional, syndication networks; most also carry the parades via Internet television on the TV stations' websites. Several other parades have a loose association with Thanksgiving, thanks to CBS's now-discontinued All-American Thanksgiving Day Parade coverage. Parades that were covered during this era were the Aloha Floral Parade held in Honolulu, Hawaii every September, the Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the Opryland Aqua Parade (held from 1996 to 2001 by the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville); the Opryland parade was discontinued and replaced by a taped parade in Miami Beach, Florida in 2002. A Disneyland parade was also featured on CBS until Disney purchased rival ABC. Thanksgiving (United States) 43

Football is an important part of many Thanksgiving celebrations in the United States. Professional football games are often held on Thanksgiving Day; until recently, these were the only games played during the week apart from Sunday or Monday night. The has played games on Thanksgiving every year since its creation; the tradition is referred to as the Thanksgiving Classic. The Detroit Lions have hosted a game every Thanksgiving Day since 1934, with the exception of 1939–1944 (due to World War II). For many teams, the regular season ends on Thanksgiving weekend, and a team's final game is often against a regional or historic rival. Most of these college games are played on the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving, but usually a single college game is played on Thanksgiving itself. The better-known Thanksgiving holiday weekend game traditions include: • Alabama State Hornets vs. Tuskegee Golden Tigers (the ) • Auburn Tigers vs. (the Iron Bowl) • BYU Cougars vs. Utah Utes (the Holy War) • Clemson Tigers vs. South Carolina Gamecocks (since 2006) • Buffaloes vs. Cornhuskers • Florida Gators vs. Florida State (the Sunshine Showdown) • vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate) • Grambling State Tigers vs. Southern Jaguars (the ) • Harvard Crimson vs. Yale Bulldogs (The Game) • Houston Cougars vs. Rice Owls (the Bayou Bucket Classic) • Kansas Jayhawks vs. Missouri Tigers (the Border Showdown) • LSU Tigers vs. Razorbacks (the Battle for the Golden Boot) • Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. USC Trojans (The Notre Dame – USC rivalry game has taken place in almost every season since 1926, with the home team alternating from year to year. When USC hosts, the game takes place on Thanksgiving weekend; when Notre Dame hosts, the game typically occurs sometime in October.) • Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Michigan Wolverines (The Game) • Oklahoma Sooners vs. Oklahoma State Cowboys (the Bedlam Series) • Ole Miss Rebels vs. State Bulldogs (the Egg Bowl) • vs. West Virginia Mountaineers (the Backyard Brawl) • Texas Longhorns vs. Texas A&M Aggies (the State Farm Lone Star Showdown) • Virginia Tech Hokies vs. Virginia Cavaliers (the Commonwealth Cup) High school football games, and informal "Turkey Bowl" contests played by amateur groups and organizations, are frequently held on Thanksgiving weekend. Games of football proceeding or following the meal in the back yard or a nearby field are also common with during many family gatherings.

Other sports In college basketball, the annual 76 Classic and Old Spice Classic tournaments take place over Thanksgiving weekend, with many of the games being played on Thanksgiving itself. Games are televised on ESPN2 and ESPNU in format. This is a relatively new "tradition," as these tournaments were founded in 2007 and 2006 respectively. The National Basketball Association also has taken to playing on Thanksgiving, albeit in the evening, with a doubleheader airing Thanksgiving night on TNT, a practice that began in 2009; the Hawks have hosted the early game each year, while the Los Angeles Clippers have been scheduled to host the late game in both 2010 and 2011 (both of the 2011 NBA Thanksgiving games were canceled due to a labor dispute). Though golf and auto racing are in their off-seasons on Thanksgiving, there are events in those sports that take place on Thanksgiving weekend. The is an annual automobile race that takes place at the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Thanksgiving night; due in part to the fact that this is after the Sprint Cup Series and Thanksgiving (United States) 44

IZOD IndyCar Series have finished their seasons, it allows some of the top racers in the United States to participate. In golf, Thanksgiving weekend was the traditional time of the Skins Game from 1983 to 2008; the event was canceled in 2009 due to a lack of sponsorship and a difficulty in drawing star talent.[47] A return was, at the time of the cancellation, planned for the next year, but no skins game was included when the PGA Tour released its schedule in 2010 or 2011, meaning the skins game is no more. The world championship pumpkin chunking contest, held in early November in Sussex County, Delaware, is televised on Thanksgiving on Science Channel. In ice hockey, the National Hockey League announced, as part of its decade-long extension with NHL on NBC and Versus, that they would begin airing a game on the Friday night following Thanksgiving beginning the 2011–12 NHL season. The NHL traditionally takes American Thanksgiving off, with none of the teams playing games that day (even the Canadian teams take the day off, even though Thanksgiving is on a different day there). The is a event held in numerous cities on Thanksgiving morning. Depending on the organizations involved, these can range from one-mile fun runs to full (although only the currently uses the latter). Most Turkey Trots range from between three and ten miles.

Film Occasionally, a Christmas-themed film will be released to theatres in the United States on or during the Thanksgiving holiday. Such was the case with the 1935 Scrooge , the,[48] the 1951 film version of the Dickens classic,[49] and with two film versions of The - the 1986 film version [50] and the famous George Balanchine version of the ballet [51] as well as the animated The Nutcracker Prince.[52]

Television and radio For a more comprehensive list, see List of Thanksgiving television specials. While not as prolific as Christmas specials, which usually begin right after Thanksgiving, there are many special television programs transmitted on or around Thanksgiving. In some cases, Christmas films and specials begin to be telecast on Thanksgiving Day, since the day signals the beginning of the Christmas season in the U.S. Daytime television is a popular time slot for several Thanksgiving specials. NBC currently carries the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade nationwide by official license from Macy's; NBC also carries the National , immediately after the Macy's Parade, followed by Miracle on 34th Street. CBS carries unofficial coverage of the Macy's parade and an NFL game; on odd-numbered years when CBS has the Cowboys game, the East Coast sees repeats of its daytime programs during the afternoons (on even-numbered when they have the Detroit Lions game, the West Coast programming is shuffled so that the extra time airs in late night hours). ABC has no daytime Thanksgiving specials; neither does FOX, although Fox also carries an NFL game. WGN America carries the McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade and a special entitled Bozo, Gar and Ray: WGN TV Classics. Local television stations will occasionally preempt these programs in favor of local parades and events, while syndicators will offer Thanksgiving-themed episodes of sitcom reruns. In prime time, ABC currently airs A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and "The Mayflower Voyagers" from This is America, Charlie Brown; until 2005 and again since 2008, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving aired on Thanksgiving night (though in 2006 and 2007, the network moved this to the Monday before so that they could compete head-to-head with CBS, who airs regularly scheduled programming, in a ratings war, as Thanksgiving lies within the November sweeps period). On Thanksgiving night, Fox usually carries a feature film (although this is expected to end because of the debut of The X Factor, which will air on Thursday nights during the fall, in 2011); NBC's programming currently includes a news special entitled People of the Year but otherwise varies, including feature films, special episodes of NBC series, or music specials. Additionally, some series have over time featured Thanksgiving-themed episodes and specials, including WKRP in Cincinnati's famous episode "Turkeys Away". Music specials by popular artists are popular in the days leading up to Thanksgiving and on Thanksgiving itself. Thanksgiving (United States) 45

Cable stations usually carry marathons of their popular shows on Thanksgiving Day. The 1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz is often aired on Thanksgiving Day on Turner Broadcasting owned outlets (either TBS or Turner Classic Movies). On the radio, the Friday before Thanksgiving has, in recent years, been the benchmark and standard date for adult contemporary music stations to switch over to full-time . There are a few Thanksgiving-themed specials and songs for various formats; many classic rock stations, for example, have a tradition of playing Arlo Guthrie's 1967 song "Alice's Restaurant" on Thanksgiving, as the song's lyrics are about an event that takes place on the holiday, while many other stations will air 's "." In talk radio, The Rush Limbaugh Show has a tradition known as "The Real Story of Thanksgiving," in which Limbaugh argues (based upon texts such as Of Plymouth Plantation) that the early Puritans were communalists who, upon near starvation in the winter of 1621 with their system of common ownership of farm produce, switched to a free enterprise system and prospered. carries all of the NFL Thanksgiving games, while the Sports USA Radio Network and United Stations Radio Networks carry several of the Friday rivalry games.

Controversy Much like Columbus Day, Thanksgiving is seen by some as a celebration of the conquest and genocide of Native Americans by European colonists. Professor Dan Brook of UC Berkeley condemns the "cultural and political amnesia" of Americans that celebrate Thanksgiving, saying that "We do not have to feel guilty, but we do need to feel something."[53] Professor Robert Jensen of the University of Texas at Austin is somewhat harsher, saying that "One indication of moral progress in the United States would be the replacement of Thanksgiving Day and its self-indulgent family feasting with a National Day of Atonement accompanied by a self-reflective collective fasting."[54] Since 1970, the United American Indians of New England, a protest group led by Frank "" James that has accused the United States and European settlers of fabricating the Thanksgiving story and whitewashing a supposed democide and injustice against Indians, has led a National Day of Mourning protest on Thanksgiving at Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts in the name of social equality and in honor of political prisoners. Another notable example of anti-Thanksgiving sentiment was when hundreds of supporters traveled to Alcatraz on Thanksgiving Day to celebrate the Occupation of Alcatraz by Indians of All Tribes. The also holds a negative view of Thanksgiving and has used it as a platform of protest, most notably when they took over a Mayflower float in a Thanksgiving Day parade.[55] Some Native Americans hold "Unthanksgiving Day" celebrations in which they mourn the deaths of their ancestors, fast, dance, and pray.[56] This tradition has been taking place since 1975.[57] However, the perception of Thanksgiving among Native Americans is not universally negative. Tim Giago, founder of the Native American Journalists Organization, seeks to reconcile Thanksgiving with Native American traditions. He compares Thanksgiving to "wopila," a thanks-giving celebration practiced by Native Americans of the Great Plains. He writes in The Huffington Post that "the idea of a day of Thanksgiving has been a part of the Native American landscape for centuries. The fact that it is also a national holiday for all Americans blends in perfectly with Native American traditions." He also shares personal anecdotes of Native American families coming together to celebrate Thanksgiving.[58] Jacqueline Keeler of the Dineh Nation and the Yankton Dakota Sioux also celebrates Thanksgiving. She sees it as a celebration of Wampanoag generosity to starving, impoverished colonists while still lamenting the violence that followed.[59] Members of the Oneida Indian Nation marched in the 2010 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with a float called "The True Spirit of Thanksgiving."[60] Thanksgiving (United States) 46

Date Since being fixed at the fourth Thursday in November by law in 1941, the holiday in the United States can occur on any date from November 22 to November 28. When it falls on November 22 or 23, it is not the last Thursday, but the penultimate Thursday in November. As it is a Federal holiday, all United States government offices are closed and employees are paid for that day. It is also a holiday for the New York Stock Exchange and most other financial markets and financial services companies.

Thanksgiving dates, 2010–2021 • November 25, 2010 • November 24, 2011 • November 22, 2012 • November 28, 2013 • November 27, 2014 • November 26, 2015 • November 24, 2016 • November 23, 2017 • November 22, 2018 • November 28, 2019 • November 26, 2020 • November 24, 2021

Day after Thanksgiving The day after Thanksgiving is a day off for some companies and many schools. It is popularly known as , because of the heavy shopping that day helps put retailers' books back into black. Black Friday has been considered by retailers to be the start of the Christmas shopping season since as early as the 1930s.

Literature

Poetry • "Thanksgiving", by Florence Earle Coates • "Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 1986", by William S. Burroughs in Tornado Alley

Music • "Thankgiving Day" a song by Ray Davies on his 2006 album Other People's Lives.

Notes

[1] "Proclamation of Thanksgiving (October 3, 1863)" (http:/ / showcase. netins. net/ web/ creative/ lincoln/ speeches/ thanks. htm). Abraham Lincoln Online. . Retrieved 2010-11-24. [2] Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647, pp. 85-92.

[3] Winslow, Edward. "Primary Sources for "The First Thanksgiving" at Plymouth" (http:/ / www. pilgrimhall. org/ 1stthnks. htm). Mourt's Relation. Pilgrim Hall Museum. . Retrieved 2009-11-26.

[4] "Thanksgiving Menu: Then & Now" (http:/ / www. teachervision. fen. com/ thanksgiving/ resource/ 3296. html#ixzz1615MmiJx). TeacherVision. Pearson Education. 2010. . Retrieved 2010-11-22.

[5] "The 1621 Thanksgiving" (http:/ / www. mayflowerhistory. com/ History/ thanksgiving. php). MayflowerHistory.com. 2010. . Retrieved 2010-11-22.

[6] "The First Thanksgiving: Slideshow" (http:/ / www. scholastic. com/ scholastic_thanksgiving/ feast/ slideshow. htm). Scholastic Teachers. Scholastic Inc. 2010. . Retrieved 2010-11-22. Thanksgiving (United States) 47

[7] "Thanksgiving Day" (http:/ / www. britannica. com/ EBchecked/ topic/ 590003/ Thanksgiving-Day). Encyclopædia Britannica. . Retrieved 2010-11-24.

[8] "Thanksgiving" (http:/ / www. loc. gov/ teachers/ classroommaterials/ presentationsandactivities/ presentations/ thanksgiving/ #). The Teachers Page. Library of Congress. . Retrieved 2010-11-26.

[9] Wilson, Craig (2007-11-21). "Florida teacher chips away at Plymouth Rock Thanksgiving myth" (http:/ / www. usatoday. com/ life/ lifestyle/

2007-11-20-first-thanksgiving_N. htm). Usatoday.com. . Retrieved 2011-09-05.

[10] Davis, Kenneth C. (2008-11-25). "A French Connection" (http:/ / www. nytimes. com/ 2008/ 11/ 26/ opinion/ 26davis. html?th& emc=th). Nytimes.com. . Retrieved 2011-09-05. [11] Morill, Ann "Thanksgiving and Other Harvest Festivals" Infobase Publishing, ISBN 1-6041-3096-2 p.33

[12] "The First Thanksgiving Proclamation — June 20, 1676" (http:/ / www. covenantnews. com/ thanks01. htm). The Covenant News. . Retrieved 2008-11-27.

[13] "LET'S TALK TURKEY: 5 myths about the Thanksgiving holiday" (http:/ / www. wickedlocal. com/ capecod/ visitor_guide/ fun/

x1945267987/ LETS-TALK-TURKEY-5-myths-about-the-Thanksgiving-holiday?img=2). The Patriot Ledger. November 26, 2009. . Retrieved 2010-08-01. [14] Hakim, Joy (2005). Making Thirteen Colonies: 1600-1740. A History of US. 2 (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195188950. [15] Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647, pp. 120-121. [16] Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation, pp. 135-136.

[17] The fast and thanksgiving days of New England By William DeLoss Love, Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Cambridge, 1895 (http:/ / books.

google. com/ books?id=u7c-AAAAYAAJ& ots=H3o5FFvV-K& dq=love fast and thanksgiving days& pg=PA84#v=onepage& q=july

thanksgiving& f=false) [18] Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation, p. 142. [19] Winslow, Edward (1624). "Good Newes from New-England: or, A true relation of things very remarkable at the plantation of Plimoth in

New-England … Together with a relation of such religious and civill lawes and customes, as are in practise amongst the Indians" (http:/ /

www. mayflowerhistory. com/ PrimarySources/ GoodNews. pdf). MayflowerHistory.com. . Retrieved 2010-11-24. [20] Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647, p. 132.

[21] "George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation. October 3, 1789" (http:/ / lcweb2. loc. gov/ ammem/ GW/ gw004. html). George Washington Papers. Library of Congress. . Retrieved 2008-01-26. [22] [Zanesville Express, October 31, 1816.]

[23] Nigro, Cameron. "Thanksgiving Ragamuffin Parade" (http:/ / www. nypl. org/ blog/ 2010/ 11/ 23/ thanksgiving-ragamuffin-parade). . Retrieved 25 October 2011.

[24] "The Year We Had Two Thanksgivings" (http:/ / docs. fdrlibrary. marist. edu/ thanksg. html). Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Marist College. . Retrieved November 2010-11-26.

[25] "The Role of Fred Lazarus Jr. in Giving Us Department Stores Like Macy's and Bloomingdale's" (http:/ / www. atouchofbusiness. com/

business-topics/ success-stories/ fred-lazarus-jr-0080. html). ATouchofBusiness.com. . Retrieved 2010-11-26.

[26] Kirkpatrick, Melanie (2009-11-24). "Happy Franksgiving" (http:/ / online. wsj. com/ article/

SB10001424052748704888404574548082613991744. html). The Wall Street Journal. . Retrieved 2010-11-26.

[27] "Congress Establishes Thanksgiving" (http:/ / www. archives. gov/ legislative/ features/ thanksgiving/ ). The National Archives. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. . Retrieved 2010-11-25.

[28] "5 U.S.C. 87b. Dec. 26, 1941, ch. 631, 55 Stat. 862" (http:/ / www. law. cornell. edu/ uscode/ html/ uscode05/

usc_sec_05_00006103----000-notes. html). Legal Information Institute. Cornell University. . Retrieved 2010-11-25.

[29] "Presidential Turkey Pardon" (http:/ / www. snopes. com/ holidays/ thanksgiving/ pardon. asp). snopes.com. 2010-11-23. . Retrieved 2010-11-26.

[30] Edwards, Cynthia (2003-12-05). "Did Truman pardon a Turkey?" (http:/ / www. trumanlibrary. org/ trivia/ turkey. htm). Truman Trivia. Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum. . Retrieved 2006-09-20.

[31] "President Bush Pardons "Flyer and Fryer" in National Thanksgiving Turkey Ceremony" (http:/ / georgewbush-whitehouse. archives. gov/

news/ releases/ 2006/ 11/ 20061122-2. html). Office of the Press Secretary. The White House Archives. 2006-11-22. . Retrieved 2010-11-26.

[32] Dizikes, Cynthia (2008-11-27). "Pumpkin and Pecan off the Thanksgiving menu" (http:/ / articles. latimes. com/ 2008/ nov/ 27/ nation/ na-turkey-pardon27). Los Angeles Times. . Retrieved 2010-11-26. [33] Philbrick, Nathaniel (2006). Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War. New York: Penguin Books. p. 118. ISBN 978-0143111979.

[34] "Thanksgiving Day a Time for Reflection, Gratitude, Sharing" (http:/ / www. america. gov/ st/ pubs-english/ 2005/ November/

20051108163712jmnamdeirf0. 3664057. html). Bureau of International Information Programs. U.S. Department of State. 2009-11-23. . Retrieved 2010-11-26.

[35] "May 1541" (http:/ / timelines. ws/ 1525_1549. HTML). Timeline 1525-1549. Timeslines of History. . Retrieved 2010-11-26.

[36] "Presidental Thanksgiving Proclamations" (http:/ / www. pilgrimhall. org/ ThanxProc. htm). Pilgrim Hall Museum. . Retrieved November 2010-11-26.

[37] Warth, Gary (2007-11-15). "Many blessings: Throughout history, we have given thanks in various ways" (http:/ / www. nctimes. com/

lifestyles/ faith-and-values/ article_72afad14-37cf-5e05-96d5-56c0fe278e8b. html). North County Times. . Retrieved 2010-11-26. Thanksgiving (United States) 48

[38] Pilato, Donna (2010). "Giving Thanks and Saying Grace" (http:/ / entertaining. about. com/ cs/ etiquette/ a/ sayinggrace. htm). About.com: Entertaining Guide. The New York Times Company. . Retrieved 2010-11-26.

[39] "24 million expected to fly over Thanksgiving holiday period" (http:/ / www. eturbonews. com/ 19332/ 24-million-expected-fly-over-thanksgiving-holiday-period). eTurboNews. 2010-11-01. . Retrieved 2010-11-01. [40] Cody, Karen James (2007-11-13). "Thanksgiving Holiday Leave Reaches New High; Turkey Stages a Comeback as Employer Holiday Gift"

(http:/ / www. bna. com/ press/ 2007/ specialreports/ thanks07. htm). The Bureau of National Affairs. . Retrieved 2010-11-26.

[41] Ronan, Gayle B. (2005-11-23). "Bars, restaurants grateful for Thanksgiving Eve" (http:/ / www. msnbc. msn. com/ id/ 10154949). msnbc.com. . Retrieved 2010-11-26.

[42] "About the Parade" (http:/ / christmasinstlouis. org/ parade/ parade). Christmas in St. Louis Foundation. 2010. . Retrieved 2010-11-26.

[43] "FirstLight Federal Credit Union Sun Bowl Parade" (http:/ / www. sunbowl. org/ game-a-events/ sun-bowl-parade). Sun Bowl Association. 2010. . Retrieved 2010-11-26.

[44] "H-E-B Holiday Parade" (http:/ / www. hebparade. com/ GeneralInfo/ GeneralInfo. html). Houston Festival Foundation. 2010. . Retrieved 2010-11-26.

[45] "Annual Events" (http:/ / www. fountainhillschamber. com/ Visitors/ VisitorsGuide/ AnnualEvents/ tabid/ 290/ Default. aspx). Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce. 2010. . Retrieved 2010-11-26.

[46] "Event Calendar" (http:/ / www. stamford-downtown. com/ index. php?option=com_content& task=view& id=21& Itemid=45). Stamford Downtown Special Services District. 2010. . Retrieved 2010-11-26.

[47] "Skins Game to take year off due to economy" (http:/ / www. golf. com/ golf/ tours_news/ article/ 0,28136,1897049,00. html?eref=si_latest). Golf.com. AP. 2009-05-09. . Retrieved 2010-11-26.

[48] http:/ / www. imdb. com/ title/ tt0026972/ releaseinfo [49] Crowther, Bosley (1951-11-29). "THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; Dickens' 'A ,' With Alastair Sim Playing Scrooge, Unveiled

Here" (http:/ / movies. nytimes. com/ movie/ review?res=9C0DEEDB143BE03ABC4151DFB767838A649EDE). The New York Times. .

[50] http:/ / www. imdb. com/ title/ tt0091658/

[51] http:/ / www. imdb. com/ title/ tt0107719/ releaseinfo

[52] http:/ / www. imdb. com/ title/ tt0100281/ releaseinfo

[53] Counterpunch.org (http:/ / www. counterpunch. org/ brook1126. html)

[54] Alternet.org (http:/ / www. alternet. org/ story/ 28584/ )

[55] Encyclopedia.jrank.org (http:/ / encyclopedia. jrank. org/ articles/ pages/ 5950/ American-Indian-Movement-AIM. html)

[56] Americanrivercurrent.com (http:/ / www. americanrivercurrent. com/ 2. 7848/ thanks-or-no-thanksgiving-1. 1107614?pagereq=2)

[57] PBS.org (http:/ / www. pbs. org/ itvs/ alcatrazisnotanisland/ activism. html)

[58] Huffingtonpost.com (http:/ / www. huffingtonpost. com/ tim-giago/ a-day-to-give-thanks-is-a_b_786399. html)

[59] Purewatergazette.net (http:/ / www. purewatergazette. net/ nativeamericanthanksgiving. htm)

[60] Oneidadispatch.com (http:/ / www. oneidadispatch. com/ articles/ 2010/ 11/ 24/ news/ doc4ced8bd0ccd0b433552173. txt#photo1)

References

• Bradford, William (1856) [1620-1647]. Charles Deane. ed. History of Plymouth Plantation (http:/ / books. google.

com/ books?id=tYecOAN1cwwC& pg=PR1#v=onepage& q& f=false). Boston: Little, Brown and Co. OCLC 45416485.

• Bradford, William (1952) [1620-1647]. Samuel Eliot Morison. ed. Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647 (http:/ /

books. google. com/ books?id=tnMa1-t128gC& lpg=PP1& pg=PP1#v=onepage& q& f=false). New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0394438955.

• Love, William DeLoss (1895). The Fast and Thanksgiving Days of New England (http:/ / books. google. com/

books?id=u7c-AAAAYAAJ& pg=PR1#v=onepage& q& f=false). Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co. OCLC 277223356. Thanksgiving (United States) 49

Further reading

• "American as Pumpkin Pie: A History of Thanksgiving" (http:/ / backstoryradio. org/

american-as-pumpkin-pie-a-history-of-thanksgiving/ ). BackStory with the American History Guys. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. 2010-11-16. Retrieved 2010-11-26. An hour-long history public radio program examining the roots of America's Thanksgiving rituals

• Armstrong, Elizabeth (2002-11-27). "The first Thanksgiving" (http:/ / www. csmonitor. com/ 2002/ 1127/

p13s02-lign. html). The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2008-01-12.

• "Of Harvest, Prayer, and Football: A History of Thanksgiving" (http:/ / www. randomhistory. com/ 2008/ 10/

23_thanksgiving. html). RandomHistory.com. 2008-10-23. Retrieved 2010-11-26.

• "Thanksgiving" (http:/ / www. freeaudio. org/ misc/ thanksgiving. html). FreeAudio.org. Retrieved 2010-11-26. Free audio readings of Thanksgiving proclamations by William Bradford, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln

• "The Background Leading Up To and Story of the First Thanksgiving" (http:/ / pokanoket. us/ Thanksgiving. html). The Council of Seven / Royal House of Pokanoket / Pokanoket Tribe / Wampanoag Nation. Retrieved 2010-11-26. Historical perspective from the Pokanoket Tribe

• "The First Thanksgiving" (http:/ / www. pilgrimhall. org/ f_thanks. htm). Plymouth, Massachusetts: Pilgrim Hall Museum. Retrieved 2010-11-26.

External links

• Thanksgiving (http:/ / www. dmoz. org/ Society/ Holidays/ Thanksgiving/ ) at the Open Directory Project Thanksgiving (Canada) 50 Thanksgiving (Canada)

Thanksgiving

Shopping for for Thanksgiving in Ottawa's Byward Market Observed by Canada

Type Cultural

Significance A celebration of being thankful for what one has and the bounty of the preceding year.

Date Second Monday in October

2010 date October 18

2011 date October 17

2012 date October 15

Celebrations Spending Time with Family, feasting, religious practice

Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day (Canadian French: Jour de l'Action de grâce), occurring on the second Monday in October (since 1957), is an annual Canadian holiday to give thanks at the close of the harvest season. On Thursday, January 31, 1957, the Canadian Parliament proclaimed:

A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed – to be observed on the 2nd “Monday in October. ”

Since 1971, Canadian Thanksgiving has coincided with the observance of Columbus Day in the United States.[1]

Traditional celebration Thanksgiving is a statutory holiday in most jurisdictions of Canada, with the Atlantic provinces of Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia being the exceptions. Companies that are regulated by the federal government (such as those in the telecommunications and banking sectors), recognize the holiday regardless of its provincial status.[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] As a liturgical festival, Thanksgiving corresponds to the English and continental European Harvest festival, with churches decorated with , pumpkins, corn, wheat sheaves, and other harvest bounty, English and European harvest hymns sung on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, and scriptural selections drawn from biblical stories relating to the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot. While the actual Thanksgiving holiday is on a Monday, Canadians might eat their Thanksgiving meal on any day of the three-day weekend, though Sunday is the most common. Thanksgiving in Canada is also often a time for weekend getaways. Similar to the United States, traditions such as parades and football can be a part of Canadian Thanksgiving. The Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest parade is the most widely known Canadian Thanksgiving Day parade and is broadcast nationwide on CTV. The holds a nationally televised doubleheader known as the "". It is one of two weeks in which the league plays on Monday afternoons, the other Thanksgiving (Canada) 51

being the Classic. Unlike the Labour Day games, the teams that play on the Thanksgiving Day Classic vary each year.

History Various in Canada had long-standing traditions celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful bounty of crops. Canada's First Nations and Native Americans throughout the Americas, including the Pueblo, Cherokee, Cree and many others organized harvest festivals, ceremonial dances, and other celebrations of thanks for centuries before the arrival of Europeans in North America.[7] The history of Thanksgiving in Canada can be traced back to the 1578 voyage of Martin Frobisher from England in search of the . In this, his third, voyage to the Frobisher Bay area of Baffin Island in the present Canadian Territory of Nunavut, it was also the intention to start a small settlement and his fleet of 15 ships were so fitted out with men, materials and provisions for this purpose. However, the loss of one of his ships through contact with ice along with much of the building material was to prevent him from doing so. The expedition was plagued by ice and freak storms which at times had scattered the fleet and on meeting together again at their anchorage in Frobisher Bay, “..Mayster Wolfall, [ Robert Wolfall ] a learned man, appoynted by hir Majesties Councell to be theyr minister and preacher, made unto them a godly sermon, exhorting them especially to be thankefull to God for theyr strange and miraculous deliverance in those so dangerous places,…” . They celebrated Communion and “The celebration of divine mystery was the first signe, scale, and Canadian troops attend a Thanksgiving service in confirmation of Christes name, death and passion ever known in all the bombed-out Cambrai Cathedral, in France in October 1918 these quarters.”[8]

Frobisher returned to England in the fall of the year with over a thousand tons of what he thought was precious gold ore which turned out to be totally worthless, and minus “fortie”, or about ten percent of his ships’ compliment “whiche number is not great, considering howe manye ships were in the fleete, and how strange fortunes we passed." The exact locations of Frobisher’s activities remained a bit of a mystery until the discoveries of the American explorer Charles Francis Hall in Baffin Island nearly three centuries later in 1861. Years later, French settlers, having crossed the ocean and arrived in Canada with explorer Samuel de Champlain, in 1604 onwards also held huge feasts of thanks. They even formed 'The Order of Good Cheer' and gladly shared their food with their First Nations neighbours. After the Seven Years' War ended in 1763 handing over of New France to the British, the citizens of Halifax held a special day of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving days were observed beginning in 1799 but did not occur every year.[9] After the American Revolution, American refugees who remained loyal to Great Britain moved from the newly independent United States and came to Canada. They brought the customs and practices of the American Thanksgiving to Canada. and observed Thanksgiving on different dates; for example, in 1816 both celebrated Thanksgiving for the termination of the war between France and Great Britain, the former on 21 May and the latter on 18 June.[9] In 1838, Lower Canada used Thanksgiving to celebrate the end of the .[9] Following the rebellions, the two were merged into a united , which observed Thanksgiving six times from 1850 to 1865.[9] Thanksgiving (Canada) 52

The first Thanksgiving Day after Canadian Confederation was observed as a on April 5, 1872 to celebrate the recovery of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) from a serious illness.[10] Starting in 1879 Thanksgiving Day was observed every year, but the date was initially a Thursday in November. The date of celebration changed several times until, in 1957, it was officially declared to be the second Monday in October.[10] The theme of the Thanksgiving holiday also changed each year to reflect an important event to be thankful for. In its early years it was for an abundant harvest and occasionally for a special anniversary.[9] After World War I, an amendment to the Armistice Day Act established that Armistice Day and Thanksgiving would both be celebrated on the Monday of the week in which November 11 occurred, starting in 1921.[10] Ten years later, in 1931, the two days became separate holidays, and Armistice Day was renamed . From 1931 to 1957, the date was set by proclamation, generally falling on the second Monday in October, except for 1935, when it was moved due to a general election.[10] [9] In 1957 Thanksgiving was permanently set to be the second Monday in October.[10]

References [1] The two holidays have been observed concurrently since the implementation of the American Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968, which took effect in 1971. Outside the United States, where Columbus Day is celebrated as the Día de la Raza, the two holidays do not coincide, except when October 12 (the holiday's traditional date) falls on a Monday.

[2] "Paid public holidays" (http:/ / www. workrights. ca/ content. php?sec=9). WorkRights.ca. .

[3] "Thanksgiving - is it a Statutory Holiday?" (http:/ / www. gov. ns. ca/ lwd/ employmentrights/ thanksgiving. asp). Government of Nova Scotia. . Retrieved 2008-10-13.

[4] "Statutes, Chapter E-6.2" (http:/ / www. gov. pe. ca/ law/ statutes/ pdf/ e-06_2. pdf) (PDF). Government of Prince Edward Island. . Retrieved 2008-10-13.

[5] "RSNL1990 Chapter L-2 - Labour Standards Act" (http:/ / assembly. nl. ca/ Legislation/ sr/ statutes/ l02. htm#14_). Assembly of Newfoundland. . Retrieved 2008-10-13.

[6] "Statutory Holidays" (http:/ / www. hrsdc. gc. ca/ en/ lp/ spila/ clli/ eslc/ stat_hol. pdf) (PDF). Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, Canada. .

[7] "The History of Thanksgiving - First Thanksgiving" (http:/ / www. history. com/ minisite. do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&

content_type_id=872& display_order=1& mini_id=1083). History.com. .

[8] "The three voyages of Martin Frobisher: in search of a passage to Cathai and India by the northwest AD 1576-1578" (http:/ / books. google.

com/ books?id=3F9MJjZN638C& printsec=frontcover& dq=Three+ voyages+ of+ martin+ frobisher#v=onepage& q& f=false). .

[9] "Proclamation and Observance of General Thanksgiving Days and reasons therefore." (http:/ / www. pch. gc. ca/ pgm/ ceem-cced/ jfa-ha/

graces-eng. cfm). Department of Canadian Heritage, . . Retrieved 2010-10-18.

[10] "Canadian Heritage - Thanksgiving and Remembrance Day" (http:/ / www. pch. gc. ca/ pgm/ ceem-cced/ jfa-ha/ action-eng. cfm). . Retrieved 2010-10-18.

External links

• Canadian Thanksgiving (http:/ / www. dmoz. org/ Society/ Holidays/ Thanksgiving/ Canadian_Thanksgiving/ ) at the Open Directory Project

• "Thanksgiving" (http:/ / www. britannica. com/ eb/ article-9071936/ Thanksgiving-Day) Encyclopædia Britannica Thanksgiving dinner 53 Thanksgiving dinner

The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada is a large meal, generally centered around a large roasted turkey. The majority of the dishes in the traditional American version of Thanksgiving dinner are made from foods native to the New World, as according to tradition the Pilgrims received these foods from the Native Americans. However, many of the classic traditions attributed to the first Thanksgiving are actually myths introduced later.[1]

A traditional Thanksgiving dinner

Historical menus

According to what traditionally is known as "The First Thanksgiving," the 1621 feast between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag at Plymouth Colony contained turkey, waterfowl, venison, fish, lobster, clams, berries, fruit, pumpkin, and squash. William Bradford noted that, "besides waterfowl, there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many."[2] Many of the foods that were included in that feast (except, notably, the seafood) have since gone on to become staples of the modern Thanksgiving dinner.

The use of the turkey in the USA for Thanksgiving precedes Men eating a Thanksgiving dinner during World War I Lincoln's nationalization of the holiday in 1863. proclaimed that no "Citizen of the United States should refrain from turkey on Thanksgiving Day," and many of the Founding Fathers (particularly ) had high regard for the as an American icon, but turkey was uncommon as Thanksgiving fare until after 1800. By 1857, turkey had become part of the traditional dinner in New England.[3]

A Thanksgiving Day dinner served to the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935 included: pickles, green olives, , roast turkey, , cranberry sauce, giblet gravy, dressing, creamed asparagus tips, snowflake potatoes, baked , hot rolls, fruit , mince , fruit , candies, , , French drip , cigars and cigarettes.[4] . Thanksgiving dinner 54

Turkey Because turkey is the most common main dish of a Thanksgiving dinner, Thanksgiving is sometimes colloquially called “turkey day.” In 2006, American turkey growers were expected to raise 270 million turkeys, to be processed into five billion pounds of turkey meat valued at almost $8 billion, with one third of all turkey consumption occurring in the Thanksgiving-Christmas season, and a per capita consumption of almost 18 pounds.[5] Most Thanksgiving turkeys are stuffed with a bread-based stuffing and roasted. Sage is the traditional herb added to the stuffing (also called dressing), along with chopped celery, carrots, and . Deep-fried turkey is rising in popularity, requiring special fryers to hold the large bird, and reportedly leading to fires and bad burns for those who fail to take care when dealing with a large quantity of very hot oil. In more recent years it is also true that as the wild population of turkeys has rebounded in most of the US, some will hunt and dress their turkey in the woods and then freeze it until meal preparation. Butterball, a national turkey producer, runs a well-known hotline (the "Turkey Talk Line") for those who need assistance cooking a turkey.[6]

Alternatives to turkey Non-traditional foods other than turkey are sometimes served as the main dish for a Thanksgiving dinner. Goose and duck, foods which were traditional European centerpieces of Christmas dinners before being displaced, are now sometimes served in place of the Thanksgiving turkey. Sometimes, fowl native to the region where the meal is taking place is used; for example, an article in Texas Monthly magazine suggested quail as the main dish for a Texan Thanksgiving feast. John Madden, who appeared on television for the Thanksgiving Classic every year from 1981 to 2001, frequently advertised his fondness for the , which is in fact three birds (turkey, duck and chicken) nested inside each other and cooked together; he has since disavowed the dish. In a few areas of the West Coast of the United States, Dungeness crab is common as an alternate main dish, as crab season starts in early November."Similarly, Thanksgiving falls within deer hunting season in the Northeastern United States, which encourages the use of venison as a centerpiece. Sometimes a variant recipe for cooking turkey is used; for example, a Chinese recipe for goose could be used on the similarly-sized American bird. Vegetarians or vegans may try , a -based dish with imitation turkey flavor. In Alaskan villages, is sometimes eaten.[7] Irish immigrants have been known to have prime rib of beef as their centerpiece as beef was once a rarity back in Ireland; in the past, families would save up money for this as a special sign of newfound prosperity and hope. In the United States, a new globalist approach to Thanksgiving has become popular due to the impact of massive immigration on the country. Some take the basic Thanksgiving ingredients, and reinvent them using flavors, techniques, and traditions from their own cuisines, while others celebrate the holiday with a large festive meal with or without turkey.[8] POLAND Given the working holiday it is also common for immigrant communities in North America to participate in the holiday by launching their own celebrations of the holiday. Thus, it is not uncommon to find Chinese and other large immigrant communities celebrating Thanksgiving in the same family spirit but with the food of the feast being of their own respective cultures instead.[9] [10] Thanksgiving dinner 55

Side dishes

Many other foods are alongside the main dish—so many that, because of the amount of food, the Thanksgiving meal is sometimes served midday or early afternoon to make time for all the eating, and preparation may begin at dawn or on days prior. Traditional Thanksgiving foods are sometimes specific to the day, and although some of the foods might be seen at any semi-formal meal in the United States, the meal often has something of a ritual or traditional quality. Many Americans would say it is "incomplete" without cranberry sauce; stuffing or dressing; and gravy. Other commonly served dishes include ; yams; mashed potatoes; dumplings; corn on the cob or hominy; deviled eggs; green beans or ; (among those in the Mid-Atlantic; especially Baltimore), peas and carrots, bread rolls, (in the south and parts of New England), or biscuits, rutabagas or turnips; and a salad. For , various pies are often served, particularly pie, A Thanksgiving meal in New England pie, sweet pie, pumpkin pie, chocolate and . In Québec, Tourtière is usually served alongside as a traditional staple of Quebecois cuisine.

There are also regional differences as to the stuffing or dressing traditionally served with the turkey. Southerners generally make their dressing from cornbread, while those in other parts of the country make stuffing from white or wheat bread as the base. One or several of the following may be added to the dressing/stuffing: oysters, apples, , raisins, celery and/or other vegetables, or the turkey's giblets. The traditional Canadian version has bread cubes, sage, onion and celery. Rice is also sometimes used instead of bread in some parts of Canada. Other dishes reflect the region or cultural background of those who have come together for the meal. For example, many and Southerners serve baked macaroni and and greens, along with Chitterlings and pie. while some Italian-Americans often have on the table and Ashkenazi Jews may serve noodle , a sweet dessert pudding. It is not unheard of for to serve their turkey with and roasted corn. In , the Thanksgiving meal is completed with arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas), pumpkin flan, potato salad, roasted white sweet potatoes and Spanish sparkling hard . Cuban-Americans traditionally serve the turkey alongside a small roasted pork and include white rice and black beans or kidney beans. Vegetarians or vegans have been known to serve alternative entree centerpieces such as a large vegetable pie or a stuffed and baked pumpkin or tofurkey. Many Midwesterners (such as Minnesotans) of Norwegian or Scandinavian descent set the table with and green bean .

Beverages The beverages at Thanksgiving can vary as much as the side dishes, often depending on who is present at the table and their tastes. Spirits or cocktails sometimes may be served before the main meal. On the dinner table, unfermented (still or sparkling) and/or are often served. Beaujolais nouveau is sometimes served, as "Beaujolais day" falls before American Thanksgiving.]. As with any other day of the year, pitchers of sweet tea are common on Southern tables.[11] In some parts of French Canada it is tradition to serve watered down wine to younger attendees of the Thanksgiving meal. Thanksgiving dinner 56

References [1] Dickson, James G. (1992). The Wild Turkey: Biology and Management. National Wild Turkey Federation. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books. p. 10. ISBN 978-0811718592. [2] Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation 1620-1647, p. 100. [3] Davis, Karen (2001). More Than a Meal: The Turkey in History, Myth, Ritual, and Reality. New York: Lantern Books. p. 53. ISBN 978-1930051881. [4] Smith, Kathy M. (2001). Gold Medal CCC Company 1538: A Documentary. Paducah, KY: Turner Pub. Co. p. 98. ISBN 978-1563116421.

[5] Briggs, Mike (2006-7-17). "Regional Farm Bill field hearing: Cape Girardeau, MO" (http:/ / agriculture. senate. gov/ Hearings/ hearings.

cfm?hearingid=2001& witnessId=5529). U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry. .

[6] Turkey Talk-Line® (http:/ / www. butterball. com/ tips-how-tos/ turkey-experts/ overview). Butterball.com. Retrieved August 14, 2011.

[7] http:/ / hosted. ap. org/ dynamic/ stories/ A/ ALASKA_THANKSGIVING?SITE=NYPLA& SECTION=HOME& TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[8] Duffy, Gillian (2007-11-4). "The Globalist’s Thanksgiving" (http:/ / nymag. com/ guides/ holidays/ thanksgiving/ 40289/ ). New York Magazine. . Retrieved 2010-11-24.

[9] Wang, Frances Kai-Hwa (2009-11-22). "Creating our own multicultural Thanksgiving traditions" (http:/ / www. annarbor. com/

passions-pursuits/ creating-our-own-traditions-from-lebanese-thanksgiving-to-thanksgiving-eve/ ). AnnArbor.com. . Retrieved 2010-11-24.

[10] Bo (2007-11-19). "The Day the Lees discovered Thanksgiving" (http:/ / www. 8asians. com/ 2007/ 11/ 19/

the-day-the-lees-discovered-thanksgiving/ ). 8Asians.com. . Retrieved 2010-11-24.

[11] NPR (2002-08-02). "Making the Perfect Iced Tea" (http:/ / www. . org/ programs/ atc/ features/ 2002/ aug/ icedtea/ ). npr.org. . Retrieved 2010-12-26. Black Friday (shopping) 57 Black Friday (shopping)

Black Friday Shopping

Day after Thanksgiving shopping at Walmart in 2009 Observed by United States and Canada

Date Friday after U.S. Thanksgiving

2010 date November 26

2011 date November 25

2012 date November 23

Celebrations Shopping

Related to , , U.S. Thanksgiving and Christmas

Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, many retailers open very early, often at 4 a.m., or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the shopping season, similar to Boxing Day sales in many Commonwealth countries. Black Friday is not actually a holiday, but many employers give their employees the day off, increasing the number of potential shoppers. It has routinely been the busiest shopping day of the year since 2005,[1] although news reports, which at that time were inaccurate,[2] have described it as the busiest shopping day of the year for a much longer period of time.[3] The day's name originated in Philadelphia, where it originally was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving[4] . Use of the term began by 1966 and began to see broader use outside Philadelphia around 1975. Later an alternative explanation began to be offered: that "Black Friday" indicates the period during which retailers are turning a profit, or "in the black."[5] Because Thanksgiving always falls on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States, the day after occurs between the 23rd and the 29th of November.

Shopping The news media have long described the day after Thanksgiving as the busiest shopping day of the year.[3] In earlier years, this was not actually the case. In the period from 1993 through 2001, for example, Black Friday ranked from fifth to tenth on the list of busiest shopping days, with the Saturday before Christmas usually taking first place.[2] In 2003, however, Black Friday actually was the busiest shopping day of the year, and it has retained that position every year since except 2004, when it ranked second.[1] Black Friday is popular as a shopping day for a combination of several reasons. As the first day after the last major holiday before Christmas it inaugurates the Christmas season. Additionally, many employers give their employees the day off as part of Thanksgiving leave, increasing the potential number of shoppers. In order to take advantage of Black Friday (shopping) 58

this, virtually all retailers in the country, big and small, offer various sales. Recent years have seen retailers extend beyond normal hours in order to maintain an edge, or to simply keep up with competition. Such hours may include opening as early as 4:00 a.m. or remaining open overnight on Thanksgiving Day and beginning sales prices at midnight. In 2010, Toys 'R' Us began their Black Friday sales at 10:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day and further upped the ante by offering free boxes of Crayola crayons and coloring books for as long as supplies lasted. Other retailers, like Sears, Aéropostale, and Kmart, began Black Friday sales early Thanksgiving morning, and ran them through as late as 11:00 p.m. Friday evening. Forever 21 went in the opposite direction, opening at normal hours on Friday, and running late sales until 2:00 a.m. Saturday morning.[6] [7] Historically, it was common for Black Friday sales to extend throughout the following weekend. However, this practice has largely disappeared in recent years, perhaps because of an effort by retailers to create a greater sense of urgency. The huge population centres around lake Ontario in Canada have always attracted cross border shopping in the U.S States, and as Black Friday became more popular in the U.S after 2001, many were traveling for the deals across the border. In 2009 several major Canadian retailers had their own version of the day by running promotions to discourage shoppers from leaving for the U.S.[8] Canada's Boxing Day is comparable to Black Friday in terms of retailer impact and consumerism, but Black Fridays in the U.S seems to provide some deeper or more extreme price cuts that some Canadian retailers would not provide, even when its the same cross national retailer. More recently, Black Friday has been exported to nations outside of North America such as Australia and the United Kingdom by major online retailers like Amazon or Apple.[9] [10]

Origin of the term Black Friday as a term has been used in multiple contexts, going back to the nineteenth century, where it was associated with a financial crisis in 1869 in the United States. The earliest known reference to "Black Friday" to refer to the day after Thanksgiving was made in a 1966 publication on the day's significance in Philadelphia: JANUARY 1966 -- "Black Friday" is the name which the Philadelphia Police Department has given to the Friday following Thanksgiving Day. It is not a term of endearment to them. "Black Friday" officially opens the Christmas shopping season in center city, and it usually brings massive traffic jams and over-crowded sidewalks as the downtown stores are mobbed from opening to closing.[11] The term Black Friday began to get wider exposure around 1975, as shown by two newspaper articles from November 29, 1975, both datelined Philadelphia. The first reference is in an article entitled "Army vs. Navy: A Dimming Splendor," in The New York Times: Philadelphia police and bus drivers call it "Black Friday" - that day each year between Thanksgiving Day and the Army–Navy Game. It is the busiest shopping and traffic day of the year in the Bicentennial City as the Christmas list is checked off and the Eastern college football season nears conclusion. The derivation is also clear in an Associated Press article entitled "Folks on Buying Spree Despite Down Economy," which ran in the Titusville Herald on the same day: Store aisles were jammed. Escalators were nonstop people. It was the first day of the Christmas shopping season and despite the economy, folks here went on a buying spree. ... "That's why the bus drivers and cab drivers call today 'Black Friday,'" a sales manager at Gimbels said as she watched a traffic cop trying to control a crowd of jaywalkers. "They think in terms of headaches it gives them." The term's spread was gradual, however, and in 1985 the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that retailers in Cincinnati and Los Angeles were still unaware of the term.[12] Black Friday (shopping) 59

Accounting practice Many merchants objected to the use of a negative term to refer to one of the most important shopping days in the year.[12] By the early 1980s, an alternative theory began to be circulated: that retailers traditionally operated at a financial loss for most of the year (January through November) and made their profit during the holiday season, beginning on the day after Thanksgiving. When this would be recorded in the financial records, once-common accounting practices would use red ink to show negative amounts and black ink to show positive amounts. Black Friday, under this theory, is the beginning of the period where retailers would no longer have losses (the red) and instead take in the year's profits (the black).[13] The earliest known use, which like the 1966 example above was found by Bonnie Taylor-Blake of the American Dialect Society, is from 1981, again from Philadelphia, and presents the "black ink" theory as one of several competing possibilities: If the day is the year's biggest for retailers, why is it called Black Friday? Because it is a day retailers make profits -- black ink, said Grace McFeeley of Cherry Hill Mall. "I think it came from the media," said William Timmons of Strawbridge & Clothier. "It's the employees, we're the ones who call it Black Friday," said Belle Stephens of Moorestown Mall. "We work extra hard. It's a long hard day for the employees."[14] The Christmas shopping season is of enormous importance to American retailers and, while most retailers intend to and actually do make profits during every quarter of the year, some retailers are so dependent on the Christmas shopping season that the quarter including Christmas produces all the year's profits and compensates for losses from other quarters.[15]

Violence Whereas the 1996 film Jingle All the Way depicted a comedic dramatization of somewhat chaotic antics that people may go through in order to achieve their holiday shopping goals, recent years have seen a marked increase in extreme chaos resulting from people's desires to take advantage of Black Friday sales. In 2006, a man in Roanoke, Virginia shopping at Best Buy was recorded on video assaulting another shopper.[16] Unruly Wal-Mart shoppers at a store outside Columbus, Ohio, quickly flooded in the doors at opening, pinning several employees against stacks of merchandise.[17] Nine shoppers in a California mall were injured, including an elderly woman who had to be taken to the hospital, when the crowd rushed to grab gift certificates that had been released from the ceiling.[18] In 2008 a crowd of approximately 2,000 shoppers in Valley Stream, New York, waited outside for the 5:00 a.m. opening of the local Wal-Mart. As opening time approached the crowd grew anxious and when the doors were opened the crowd pushed forward, breaking the door down, and trampling a 34 year old employee to death. The shoppers did not appear concerned with the victim's fate, expressing refusal to halt their stampede when other employees attempted to intervene and help the injured employee, complaining that they had been waiting in the cold and were not willing to wait any longer. Shoppers had begun assembling as early as 9:00 the evening before. Even when police arrived and attempted to render aid to the injured man, shoppers continued to pour in, shoving and pushing the officers as they made their way into the store. Several other people incurred minor injuries, including a pregnant woman who had to be taken to the hospital.[19] [20] [21] The incident may be the first case of a death occurring during Black Friday sales; according to the National Retail Federation, "We are not aware of any other circumstances where a retail employee has died working on the day after Thanksgiving."[19] During Black Friday 2010, a Madison, Wisconsin woman was arrested outside of a Toys 'R' Us store after cutting in line, and threatening to shoot other shoppers who tried to object.[22] A Toys for Tots volunteer in Georgia was stabbed by a shoplifter.[23] An Indianapolis woman was arrested after causing a disturbance by arguing with other Wal-Mart shoppers. She had been asked to leave the store, but refused.[24] A man was arrested at a Florida Wal-Mart when other shoppers waiting in line for the store to open noticed that he was carrying a handgun and reported the Black Friday (shopping) 60

matter to police. He was discovered to also be carrying two knives and a pepper spray grenade.[25] A man in Buffalo, New York, was trampled when doors opened at a Target store and unruly shoppers rushed in, in an episode reminiscent of the deadly 2008 Wal-Mart stampede.[26]

History That the day after Thanksgiving is the "official" start of the holiday shopping season may be linked together with the idea of Santa Claus parades. Parades celebrating Thanksgiving often include an appearance by Santa at the end of the parade, with the idea that 'Santa has arrived' or 'Santa is just around the corner'. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, many Santa parades or Thanksgiving Day parades were sponsored by department stores. These include the Toronto Santa Claus Parade, in Canada, sponsored by Eaton's, and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade sponsored by Macy's. Department stores would use the parades to launch a big advertising push. Eventually it just became an unwritten rule that no store would try doing Christmas advertising before the parade was over. Therefore, the day after Thanksgiving became the day when the shopping season officially started. Later on, the fact that this marked the official start of the shopping season led to controversy. In 1939, retail shops would have liked to have a longer shopping season, but no store wanted to break with tradition and be the one to start advertising before Thanksgiving. President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the date for Thanksgiving one week earlier, leading to much anger by the public who wound up having to change holiday plans.[27] Some even refused the change, resulting in the U.S. citizens celebrating Thanksgiving on two separate days.[27] Some started referring to the change as Franksgiving.

Online

Cyber Black Friday The term refers to the online version of Black Friday. According to Hitwise in 2010, [28] Thanksgiving weekend offered a strong start, especially as Black Friday sales continued to grow in popularity. For the 2nd consecutive year, Black Friday was the highest day for retail traffic during the holiday season, followed by Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. The highest year-over-year increases in visits took place on Cyber Monday and Black Friday with growth of 16% and 13%, respectively.

Advertising tip sites Some websites offer information about day after thanksgiving specials up to a month in advance. The text listings of items and prices are usually accompanied by pictures of the actual ad circulars. These are either leaked by insiders or intentionally released by large retailers to give consumers insight and allow them time to plan. In recent years, some retailers (including Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Target Corporation, OfficeMax, Big Lots, and Staples, Inc.) have claimed that the advertisements they send in advance of Black Friday and the prices included in those advertisements are copyrighted and are trade secrets.[29] Some of these retailers have used the take-down system of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act as a means to remove the offending price listings. This policy may come from the fear that competitors will slash prices, and shoppers may comparison shop. The actual validity of the claim that prices form a protected work of authorship is uncertain as the prices themselves (though not the advertisements) might be considered a fact in which case they would not receive the same level of protection as a copyrighted work.[30] The benefit of threatening Internet sites with a DMCA based lawsuit has proved tenuous at best. While some sites have complied with the requests, others have either ignored the threats or simply continued to post the information under the name of a similar sounding fictional retailer. However, as the DMCA allows websites 24 hours to comply with the take-down notice or file a counter notice, careful timing may mitigate the take-down notice. An Internet Black Friday (shopping) 61

service provider in 2003 brought against Best Buy, Kohl's, and Target Corporation, arguing that the take-down notice provisions of the DMCA are unconstitutional. The court dismissed the case, ruling that only the third-party posters of the advertisements, and not the ISP itself, would have standing to sue the retailers.[31] Usage of Black Friday Advertising Tip sites and buying direct varies by state in the U.S., influenced in large part by differences in shipping costs and whether a state has a sales tax.[32] However, in recent years, the convenience of online shopping has increased the number of cross-border shoppers seeking bargains from outside of the US, especially from Canada. Statistics Canada indicates that online cross-border shopping by Canadians has increased by about 300M a year since 2002.[33] The complex nature of additional fees such as taxes, duties and brokerage can make calculating the final cost of cross-border Black Friday deals difficult. Dedicated cross-border shopping solutions such as the Canadian shopping platform Wishabi [34] and Canada Post’s Borderfree exist to mitigate the problem through estimation of the various cost involved.

Cyber Thanksgiving The term Cyber Thanksgiving, refers to online retailer's Thanksgiving Day promotions. According to The Record (Bergen County, New Jersey):[35] Thanksgiving Day is becoming increasingly important for online sales, according to e-commerce watchers. It has become the lead-in for five days of online deals experts say are causing some bargain hunters to shop online instead of standing in line at stores. “Thanksgiving interestingly enough has turned into a really big sales day for us in the last couple of years,” said Greg Ahearn, senior vice president, marketing and e-commerce, for Wayne, New Jersey-based Toys “R” Us. “Everybody’s looking for information about what’s going to happen on Black Friday, but when they hit the Web sites they realize there’s a bunch of great deals there, and free shipping,’’ he said. “And if they get the right deals on the products that they’re looking for, they actually create a purchase on Thanksgiving Day as opposed to waiting for Black Friday.”

Cyber Monday The term Cyber Monday, a neologism invented in 2005 by the National Retail Federation's division Shop.org, refers to the Monday immediately following Black Friday based on a clear consumer trend that retailers began to recognize in 2003 and 2004. At the time, retailers noticed that many consumers, who were too busy to shop over the Thanksgiving weekend or did not find what they were looking for, shopped online that Monday from home or work to find bargains.

References

[1] International Council of Shopping Centers. "Holiday Watch: Media Guide 2006 Holiday Facts and Figure" (http:/ / holiday. icsc. org/ 2006/

hw06_fullguide. pdf) (PDF). .; ShopperTrak, Press Release, ShopperTrak Reports Positive Response to Early Holiday Promotions Boosts

Projections for 2010 Holiday Season (http:/ / www. shoppertrak. com/ shoppertrak-reports-positive-response-early-holiday-promotions-boosts-projections-2010-holiday-seaso) (Nov. 16, 2010).

[2] International Council of Shopping Centers. "Daily Sales Comparison Top Ten Holiday Shopping Days (1996 - 2001)" (http:/ / www. icsc.

org/ TopTen02. pdf) (PDF). .. [3] E.g., Albert R. Karr, "Downtown Firms Aid Transit Systems To Promote Sales and Build Good Will," Wall St. J., p. 6 (Nov. 26, 1982); Associated Press, "Holiday Shoppers Jam U.S. Stores," N.Y. Times, p. 30 (Nov. 28, 1981).

[4] Martin L. Apfelbaum, Philadelphia's "Black Friday," (http:/ / listserv. linguistlist. org/ cgi-bin/ wa?A2=ind0804D& L=ADS-L& P=R5955& I=-3) American Philatelist, vol. 69, no. 4, p. 239 (Jan. 1966).

[5] Kevin Drum (November 26, 2010). "Black Friday" (http:/ / motherjones. com/ kevin-drum/ 2010/ 11/ black-friday). ..

[6] "Black Friday deals for Target, H&M, Forever21, Old Navy, Radio Shack, and more" (http:/ / www. nydailynews. com/ money/ 2010/ 11/ 23/

2010-11-23_black_friday_deals_for_target_hm_forever21_old_navy_radio_shack_and_more. html). Daily News (New York). .

[7] Yahoo! Finance - Financially Fit (http:/ / financiallyfit. yahoo. com/ finance/

article-111402-7507-6-post-thanksgiving-shopping-starts-earlier?ywaad=ad0035& nc) Black Friday (shopping) 62

[8] "Canadian retailers test their own Black Friday" (http:/ / www. cbc. ca/ money/ story/ 2009/ 11/ 27/ consumer-black-friday. html). CBC News. November 27, 2009. .

[9] "Amazon brings Black Friday to the UK" (http:/ / www. blu-ray. com/ news/ ?id=5493). blu-ray.com. November 21, 2010. .

[10] "Apple's Australian Store discounts most things by around 10 percent, foreshadows Black Friday deals" (http:/ / www. engadget. com/ 2010/

11/ 25/ apples-australian-store-discounts-everything-by-around-10-perce/ ). engadget.com. November 25, 2010. .

[11] Martin L. Apfelbaum, Philadelphia's "Black Friday," (http:/ / listserv. linguistlist. org/ cgi-bin/ wa?A2=ind0804D& L=ADS-L& P=R5955& I=-3) American Philatelist, vol. 69, no. 4, p. 239 (Jan. 1966).

[12] Jennifer Lin, Why the Name Black Friday? Uh . . . Well . . . (http:/ / listserv. linguistlist. org/ cgi-bin/ wa?A2=ind0804D& L=ADS-L&

P=R7698& I=-3), Philadelphia Inquirer (Nov. 30, 1985).

[13] Black Friday FAQ (http:/ / bfads. net/ Black-Friday-FAQ), BFAds.net.

[14] Shoppers Flood Stores for "Black Friday," (http:/ / listserv. linguistlist. org/ cgi-bin/ wa?A2=ind0804D& L=ADS-L& P=R7698& I=-3) Philadelphia Inquirer (Nov. 28, 1981).

[15] E.g., Toys "R" Us, Inc., Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Feb. 2, 2008 (http:/ / www. sec. gov/ Archives/ edgar/ data/

1005414/ 000119312508100880/ d10k. htm), p. 91.

[16] Consumers Gone Wild: Roundup Of Black Friday Violence - The Consumerist (http:/ / consumerist. com/ 2006/ 11/

consumers-gone-wild-roundup-of-black-friday-violence. html)

[17] Barbaro, Michael (November 25, 2006). "Attention, Holiday Shoppers: We Have Fisticuffs in Aisle 2" (http:/ / www. nytimes. com/ 2006/

11/ 25/ business/ 25shop. html?ex=1322110800& en=3b12a854964d3445& ei=5090& partner=rssuserland& emc=rss). The New York Times. .

[18] http:/ / www. mercurynews. com/ mld/ mercurynews/ news/ local/ states/ california/ northern_california/ 16095281. htm

[19] "Wal-Mart Worker Dies When Shoppers Break Down Doors" (http:/ / www. foxnews. com/ story/ 0,2933,458744,00. html). Fox News. November 28, 2008. .

[20] "Worker dies at Long Island Wal-Mart after being trampled in Black Friday stampede" (http:/ / www. nydailynews. com/ ny_local/ 2008/

11/ 28/ 2008-11-28_worker_dies_at_long_island_walmart_after. html). Daily News (New York). .

[21] "Wal-Mart worker dies in rush; two killed at toy store" (http:/ / www. cnn. com/ 2008/ US/ 11/ 28/ black. friday. violence/ index. html). CNN. November 28, 2008. .

[22] "Black Friday shopper accused of gun threat" (http:/ / www. cnn. com/ 2010/ CRIME/ 11/ 26/ wisconsin. shopper. threat/ ). CNN. November 26, 2010. .

[23] http:/ / www. wrdw. com/ home/ headlines/ Black_Friday_and_a_stabbing_a_Best_Buy_110864544. html

[24] Woman Arrested In Walmart Black Friday Dispute - Indiana News Story - WRTV Indianapolis (http:/ / www. theindychannel. com/ news/

25926942/ detail. html) [25] Black Friday shopper arrested on weapons, drug charges in Boynton Beach | boynton, arrested, beach - Top Story - WPEC 12 West Palm

Beach (http:/ / www. cbs12. com/ news/ boynton-4729776-arrested-beach. html)

[26] "Black Friday shoppers trampled in New York" (http:/ / www. cnn. com/ 2010/ US/ 11/ 26/ new. york. shoppers/ index. html). CNN. November 28, 2010. .

[27] "Congress Establishes Thanksgiving" (http:/ / www. archives. gov/ legislative/ features/ thanksgiving/ ). . Retrieved 2009-11-15.

[28] "Hitwise: Retail traffic up throughout holidays" (http:/ / weblogs. hitwise. com/ heather-dougherty/ 2010/ 12/

retail_traffic_up_throughout_h_1. html). December 28, 2010. . [29] "Sale fight no fright for area Web site," Charleston Gazette & Daily Mail (Nov. 26, 2002). [30] Feist Publications, Inc., v. Rural Telephone Service Co., 499 U.S. 340 (1991). [31] Fatwallet, Inc. v. Best Buy Enterprises Services, 2004 WL 793548 (N.D.Ill. 2004).

[32] "Online Shopping Savvy vs. Black Friday Online Shopping Savvy among the States" (http:/ / blackfriday. become. com/ news/ 2010/

black-friday-online-shopping-savvy. html). BlackFriday.Become.com News. November 15, 2010. .

[33] Stats Can: "Canadian Economic Observer" (http:/ / www. statcan. gc. ca/ pub/ 11-010-x/ 01207/ 10464-eng. htm). . Retrieved Mar 18 2010.

[34] Wishabi: "cross-border shopping" (http:/ / www. wishabi. ca). . Retrieved Mar 18 2010.

[35] (http:/ / www. northjersey. com/ news/ business/ 112509_Cyber_shopping_on_Thanksgiving_Day_a_growing_tradition. html), Cyber shopping on Thanksgiving Day a growing tradition. Article Sources and Contributors 63 Article Sources and Contributors

Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=458946408 Contributors: (:yodudeimbrian, 2009138434sarah09, 21655, A.L. Boon, ABF, Abarry, Abeg92, Aided, Aitias, Ajraddatz, Alansohn, Alatari, Alex S, Anonymous Dissident, Antandrus, Antonio Lopez, Arbitrarily0, ArglebargleIV, Asfreeas, Atlant, Aude, BSTemple, Beland, Bkwillwm, Bluemoose, Bobet, Bobo192, Bogey97, Bongwarrior, Bornintheguz, Brianski, Bwolper, CWY2190, Calixte, Caltas, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, Canderson7, Capricorn42, Captain panda, CarTick, Carlaude, Caza Macd, Ccirulli, Charles Matthews, Chris-gore, Chrislk02, Chzz, Civil Engineer III, Clonetrooper1998, Cnyborg, Colonies Chris, Cometstyles, Cowboytone, Cureden, Cwoyte, DTParker1000, Dachshund, Dangerous-Boy, Danski14, Darrenm540, Davemcle, Davewild, Dbachmann, Deb, Delldot, Dendeb, DerHexer, Dewey000, Dgies, Dhp1080, Dillard421, Dismas, Dreadstar, Dreamafter, Dw, Eoghanacht, Epbr123, Euchiasmus, Everyking, Exwhysee, FF2010, FeanorStar7, Fieldday-sunday, Fjbfour, Flewis, Flux.books, Flyguy33, Forestgarden, FrancoGG, Fred Bradstadt, Fredbauder, Funky Monkey, GRBerry, Gaius Cornelius, Geoff.green, Ghfj007, GhostPirate, Gilliam, Glenncheney, Gmax123, Gracenotes, GraemeLeggett, Grafen, Grenney, Grubel, Gwernol, Hayleym58, Hdt83, Hi Moto, Historical Perspective, Hmains, Hopiakuta, Ice Cold Beer, Ilyushka88, Indon, Ineffable3000, Infrogmation, Iridescent, Irishguy, Irvink56, Isis, Ixfd64, J.delanoy, JGHowes, JMK, JW1805, JaGa, Jahs, Jake Wartenberg, Janetellie, Jaqua79, Jaxl, Jennavecia, Jeterrocks374, Jftsang, JillandJack, Jm3106jr, Jmkleeberg, John Quiggin, JonHarder, Jonathanbrickman0000, Jonrock, Joshua Issac, JuJube, Jw 193, KC109, Kahzenu, Keith D, Keith-264, Ken Gallager, Kenyon, Khukri, Kinston eagle, Kinu, Kitia, Kmg90, Ktotam, KudukGirl, Kuru, L Kensington, Leandro Prudencio, LeaveSleaves, Leon7, Ligulem, Little Mountain 5, LouI, LtPowers, Lupo, Luxury-Yacht, MPS, Maddie!, Magicpiano, Magnus Manske, Mais oui!, Majorly, MarcK, Marcbela, Marek69, Martin451, MattieTK, Mav, Mayfly may fly, McSly, Megaman en m, Mentifisto, Mets501, Mgdurand, Michael Snow, MichaelBillington, Mike Doughney, Mikeabond, Mileschen, Minnime2k6, Mlouns, Moonraker, Musphot, Mygerardromance, NameIsRon, Nareek, Natl1, NawlinWiki, Neddyseagoon, NekoDaemon, Nesnad, NewEnglandYankee, Noctibus, Ohnoitsjamie, Olie1993, Olivier, Omicronpersei8, PCHS-NJROTC, Parkwells, Paste, Perfect Proposal, Peyre, Pgk, Piledhigheranddeeper, Pill, Pitt the elder, Plasticup, Plumber, Pody911, Portillo, Prashanthns, Proofreader77, Pseudomonas, Psycho Kirby, Ptolemy Caesarion, Qeff, Quintote, Qxz, R'n'B, RJP, Raime, Random User 937494, Razer64, Redfarmer, Redmarkviolinist, Rgough, Rhopkins8, Rjd0060, Rjwilmsi, Rmhermen, Roadrunner, RobertG, Rory096, Rosamindy, Roscelese, Rosiestep, Roundrupert, RoyBoy, Rozth, Ryulong, SMC89, Saga City, SaintFearxz, Saturn star, Scarian, Scewing, Schumi555, Scipius, Sciurinæ, Seb az86556, Shane craig, Sharkface217, Shauni, Shoeofdeath, SidP, Sifaka, SimonMayer, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, Sjc, Sm8900, Smalljim, Smartybutt1234, Smiggle16, Snailworld, SoWhy, Soccerchamp9804, Soliloquial, Spellbinder, Squeeze me, Stan Shebs, Starblind, Stephen C. Carlson, Steve802, SteveCrook, Stivo, Storm Rider, Stwalkerster, Suisui, Sunderland06, Superweapons, Swampyank, Swaq, TAKBALLER, TAKDAPiMPiNP0PiNPiMP, THEN WHO WAS PHONE?, TJDay, Tassedethe, Tempodivalse, The Thing That Should Not Be, The Wordsmith, TheSuave, TheUnforgiven, Thingg, Thurstonaw, Tide rolls, TimBentley, Titoxd, Tohd8BohaithuGh1, TommyBoi6439, TonyDodson, Trevor MacInnis, Tualha, TutterMouse, Ukexpat, Ulric1313, Uncle Dick, Unschool, Ussrvusa, Utcursch, Vanished User 1004, Vanished user 39948282, Vassyana, Veinor, Viajero, Vicki Rosenzweig, Viridian, Vsmith, Vstar3000, Wabesada, Walor, Wasabe3543, Wesley, Wgoodson, WhaleyTim, Wham2001, Why Not A Duck, Wiggster, Wiki alf, Will Beback, WillC, William Avery, Willking1979, Wimt, Witchkraut, WojPob, Wperdue, Wsiegmund, Wst, X!, Xavier86, Yanksox, Ydorb, ZX81, Zerbey, Zidane tribal, 894 anonymous edits

Plymouth, Massachusetts Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=458711051 Contributors: 7, Acntx, Acroterion, Ajd, Alanscottwalker, Alr5111, Amovrvs, Appraiser, ArnoldReinhold, Astanhope, Astral, Attilios, Badbilltucker, BanyanTree, Bellenion, Big iron, Bostonian Mike, Butters833, C628, CMags13, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, Canglesea, CapitalR, Catinator, Cg41386, Chris the speller, Clariosophic, Cmr08, CookieMonster69, Curtholr, CutOffTies, Dalmatian Mommy, Daniel Case, Devohawks75, DigbyDalton, Docu, DrAwesome, Dratman, Droll, Dropkickmurph14, EarthPerson, Emw, Eoghanacht, Erasmussen, Eric Amthos, Escape Orbit, Fang Aili, Faolin42, Flyguy33, Frankenpuppy, Gaius Cornelius, Gkullberg, Goptex, GordonUS, Graham87, GreatWhiteNortherner, Greenshed, Guitar Hero Overlord Connor, Gurch, Gwil, Henry the heron, Hmains, Hooperbloob, Howcheng, Hugh Manatee, IRP, Intelati, Ixfd64, J.delanoy, JCpatriots, Jbergste, Jdorn, Jeeny, JeremyTraub, Jhoisington, Jm1106, Jmbcomms, Jmk4u14, Joelr31, John254, Jpittman, Jrcrin001, Ju66l3r, Jusdafax, Jza84, Ken Gallager, Khatru2, Kintetsubuffalo, Kkjkearney, Koavf, LGagnon, LOL, LarryQ, Lb34, Leftshore, Lightmouse, LilHelpa, Lindum, Luna Santin, Lzz, M2545, Marcbela, Mart572, Meaty Weenies, Metricopolus, Midori, Monty845, Morgan Riley, Mudson, Nancy, Naniwako, Nehrams2020, Neuropower, Neutrality, Nk, Notdamon, Nyttend, OldPine, Oldmaccy, Oldmangimper, Osmo250, Owen, Paukrus, Pentawing, Pepso, Petros63, Phoenixrod, Plastikspork, Plimoth, Postdlf, Purplemouse, R, RJN, Raime, Rancorbeast, RandomXYZb, Ravenswing, Refriedm, Rexodus, Rgoodermote, Rjwilmsi, Rossdegenstein, Rrius, Ruthiedee, Sahasrahla, Sapphire, Scjenne, Sk5893, Skopelos-slim, Snowmanpeachy, Southparkdude03, SpK, Special-T, Sportsjam3, Stilgar135, Tanthalas39, The Evil IP address, TheJazzDalek, TheNumberOneResource, Thingg, Tide rolls, Tjmather, ToddC4176, Tony1, Tuleytula, UniReb, Versageek, Welsh, Wickedlocal, Willjay, Xocutypie344xo, Zomic13, 295 anonymous edits

Thanksgiving Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=458635409 Contributors: 0g1o2i3k4e5n6, 13acl13oy, 2D, 2fs, 72Dino, A Nobody, AJR, ARCitect, Abce2, Abfabmedia, Acalamari, Acroterion, Adambalmer27, Adamschneider, Ahoerstemeier, Aitias, Ajd, Akuindo, Alan Liefting, Alansohn, Alexander lau, AlexiusHoratius, Allstarecho, AlphaDogma, Alsd2, Altenhofen, Altzinn, AmericaIsNumberOne, Andredwane, Andrew Levine, Andrew c, Andrewpmk, AndySimpson, Andycjp, Animension, Animum, Anna Lincoln, Anonymous Dissident, Antandrus, Anupam, Arctic.gnome, Ari Rahikkala, ArielGold, Aristides, Arjun01, Arman Cagle, Arthree, Arunkumarbalakrishnan, Aseire, Avenged Eightfold, Avono, Aymatth2, B, BTH, Bdiddy, Bearnfæder, BeastmasterGeneral, BeebLee, Beetstra, Before My Ken, Ben Lunsford, Bhill2011, BigHaz, Bkonrad, Blaster009, Bobo192, Boffob, Bongwarrior, Bpg1968, Branddobbe, Brandmeister (old), Brjusa, Btjnark, Bushytails, Bxmuchacho, C8755, CIS, Calarch78, Calmer Waters, Caltas, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, CanadianLinuxUser, Canterbury Tail, Captain Phoebus, Careful With That Axe, Eugene, Carl.bunderson, Casualtie, Catgut, CaveyCoUk, Cdojo78, Cedarkey1, Cgingold, [email protected], Chatsphilly, Cheesisgood, Cheezwzl, Chrisrlucas, Christian75, Chuck Sirloin, Clayoquot, Cmadler, Cogswobble, ComradeBilbo, Coriander, Cplbeaudoin, Cratbro, Cremepuff222, Crystal whacker, CuffX, Cymru.lass, D, DOSGuy, Daniel J. Leivick, DanielVonEhren, Dark Mage, Darkwind, Darth Panda, Darthsco, Dasani, Davewho2, David Beals, Debresser, December21st2012Freak, Decltype, Deipnosopher, Denisarona, Der Falke, DerHexer, Desthc, Diannaa, Diego Grez, Diligent Terrier, Dinsdagskind, Discospinster, Dj manton, Djomac, Dlohcierekim, Dmacw6, DocWatson42, DoctorEric, Dolejh, DoubleBlue, Doug, Download, Downwitherror, Doytch, Dr. Whooves, Dreamyblue96, Drmies, DroEsperanto, Dugo, EKindig, ESkog, EVula, East718, Edward321, Electrosaurus, Elenseel, Elisa Woods, Eliteman00, Elixer022, Eliz81, Elmer Clark, Englishnerd, Enigmaman, Enzo Aquarius, Epbr123, Eric Wester, Erik, Eskimospy, Eternal.sojourn, Ethangobetz, Eurosong, Evercat, Evidence-based, Ewlyahoocom, FAB12UCB, FHSerkland, Fableauthor, FaerieInGrey, Famfan, Farosdaughter, FastLizard4, Favonian, FeralDruid, Fhgdfbdfbdfbdfbdfbsdfb, Fleddy, Fluffernutter, Flyer22, Fran Rogers, Frecklefoot, Froid, Frtillman, Funandtrvl, Funnyhat, Futurer, GB fan, GDF Slugo, GL, GTBacchus, Gabs1234, Gaelen S., Gargabook, Ged UK, GeneMoser, Gerbleguh, Gherson2, Ghramurnauhtzee, Gilliam, Giraffedata, Glacier109, Glassbreaker5791, Glenncheney, Glopsodash, Gogo Dodo, GoingBatty, Goldkingtut5, Gracehoper, Gracenotes, Grafixchick, Greenman, Gromlakh, Gun4hire, Gurch, HAL(Old), HJ Mitchell, HJKeats, HappyPandaBear, Hardyplants, Hawesinsky, Hayden120, Hdt83, Hell Hawk, Heramboak, HexaChord, Hmains, Hobartimus, Home2000, Homely, Howard035, Howcheng, Hrseay, Huangdi, Hut 8.5, Icarusgeek, Ichormosquito, Idahobucharest, Iheartmichelangelo, IllaZilla, Ilyushka88, Imagine Reason, Insanity Incarnate, Internet neighbor, Invertzoo, Iridescent, J-beda, J.delanoy, JForget, JMyrleFuller, JSpung, Jagun, Jarpy, Jason Leach, Jazz457, Jcrocker15, Jeandré du Toit, Jeff G., Jeff79, Jengod, Jenny1999, Jersyko, Jezmck, Jhf, Jiminy pop, Jimp, Jlujan69, Jm3, Jmlk17, JoJoUK2007, John254, Jojhutton, Jonbelanger, Jonkerz, KAPITALIST88, KGasso, Kaelar, Kaihsu, Kathleen5454, KathrynLybarger, Kbh3rd, KdeK2, Keegan, Keithkml, Kellie-pickler, Ken l lee, Kendal Ozzel, Keneckert, Kenyon, Keraunoscopia, Kikos, Kilesa-chan, Killy mcgee, Kinema, King Lopez, Kingpin13, Kip922, Kjaer, Knghtshade, Knight of Truth, KnowledgeOfSelf, Knverma, Korky Day, Krupo, Krusty627, Kukini, Kumioko, Kurasu, Kuru, L33TxTCY, LADave, LaidOff, Lambiam, Las vegas12, Laslovarga, Lear's Fool, Leftsixe, Leon7, Lhahn, Lightmouse, Lights, Lily2enme, LinguistAtLarge, LizardJr8, Lockesdonkey, Logan, Loonymonkey, Lotje, Lovely Daughter, Lukep913, MECU, MER-C, Madcat87, Madhero88, Magendavid, Maheshkumaryadav, Mahewa, Malik Shabazz, Malo, Marek69, MarkBrooks, Mattjduffy, Mattl2001, Maury Markowitz, Maxis ftw, MaxxFordham, Mcgllhistmjr, Meaghan, Memory Prime, Mentifisto, MetsFan76, MiG, Michael Hardy, Michaelas10, Midgrid, Midnightdreary, Mightyjew, Mike27112, Mindmatrix, Minna Sora no Shita, Mister Alcohol, Mlauzon, Mononomic, Monty845, Moonriddengirl, Morningside Clio, Mr. Comodor, Mrbeardy, Mschel, MusicTree3, Mwalimu59, Mygerardromance, NYDMT, Nalam nalam, Nasnema, NawlinWiki, Nebula07, NerdyScienceDude, NewEnglandYankee, Nfutvol, Nick Levine, Nihiltres, Nikkimaria, Nikpapag, Ninetyone, Ninjassain557, Nkocharh, Nonagonal Spider, Nopetro, Nrubhsam, Nsaa, Nucleusboy, Nuttycoconut, O`Schrull's, Obi777, Ocanter, Ogambear, Ohnoitsjamie, OlEnglish, Oldekop, Ole Eivind, OllieFury, Oreo Priest, Owl 2, Oxymoron83, PKT, Pah21, Palehorse02, Palironsat, PamD, Pedroscherer, Penguin3895, Penubag, Peter Napkin , Peyre, Pharos04, Phgao, Philosopher, PhnomPencil, Phospheros, Piano non troppo, PinchasC, Pinethicket, Pol098, Porkies84, PranksterTurtle, Presidentman, PrestonH, PrincessofLlyr, Priyanath, Pseudoanonymous, Psiphiorg, Ptal78, PurpleRain, Qtakhisis, Quiescen, Quinsareth, RA0808, RDPW, RVJ, Radio4Disco, Radon210, Raime, Rajneshavon, Rat at WikiFur, Raymondwinn, Rchamberlain, Reach Out to the Truth, Reapermage1990, Rebelkass, Redreth, RegardedDog, Rejectwater, Remember, Riana, Rich Farmbrough, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), Rjd0060, Robbie098, Robblatt, Robinjbr, Rochelimit, Rockstone35, Rogerfgay, Ronebofh, Ronhjones, Rsweeney, Rtkat3, Ruby Rhod., RucasHost, RudyB, Ruhrfisch, Russeasby, RyanCross, S8333631, SJP, SNIyer12, Sad Hippopotamus, Salsburg, Salvidrim, Sandstein, SchutteGod, ScienceEXPERIMENT, Sciprogrammer, ScottSteiner, Seaphoto, Seb az86556, Seeyardee, Sfmammamia, SimonP, Sjakkalle, Skier Dude, Skulslayer94, Skyy Train, Slakr, Slntprdtr1, Smarmon, Snek01, SoWhy, Sohale SHARIFAN, Some jerk on the Internet, Some thing, Sonicsuns, Spock35, Srleffler, Srmcfa, Srosenstock, Stephenb, Stickee, Stkncheese, Str1977, Stwalkerster, Suffusion of Yellow, Sugarfatpie, Swampyank, Swtaugal, Sympleko, TBHecht, TaggedJC, Tanthalas39, TastyPoutine, Tbhotch, Teh Rote, Thaclient, The Coldwood, The Thing That Should Not Be, The Utahraptor, TheCatalyst31, TheJammingYam, Thebigman, Theda, Thenderson1, Thesmatestguy, Thingg, Thomas Blomberg, Thumperward, Tide rolls, Timothy Titus, Tinton5, Tito151, Tlesher, Tocino, Tommy2010, Topaz kitsune, Tpbradbury, TravisAF, Trivialist, True Pagan Warrior, Trusilver, Tulkoju, Tvindy, Twas Now, UDScott, Uruiamme, Utcursch, Vagsim, Van helsing, Vanished User 1004, Vanished user 39948282, Vaoverland, Varlaam, Vary, Vegaswikian, Velho, VirtualDelight, Voidvector, Voyageur, Vt357, Wassupwestcoast, Watercleanerperson, Weaponbb7, Wenli, Wesley M. Curtus, White Shadows, Wideangle, Wikiain, Wikidewiking, Wikidudeman, Wikiklrsc, Wikineer, Wikipelli, Wikitiki89, Wikiuser100, WildlifeAnalysis, Wimt, Wjl2, Wkboonec, Woilorio, Wolfrock, Woohookitty, Wordtrueword, Wormcast, Xargon666x6, Xenonice, Xeonnyle, Xiahou, Yamamoto Ichiro, Yuanchosaan, Zap Rowsdower, Znx, Zosimus, Zzymyn, Zzyzx11, 1198 anonymous edits

Thanksgiving (United States) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=459001228 Contributors: 041744, 1exec1, Aaronspook, Abductive, Acapelli, Ahuebner2004, Aidsoooo, AirdishStraus, AjaxSmack, Ajraddatz, Al-Nofi, Aladdinsane3, Alansohn, AlbertSM, Aleenf1, Alenux, AlexWolfx, Alyssapvr, Andy Marchbanks, AndyM1928, Anupam, Araveugnitsuga, Art Carlson, Arx Fortis, Aspensti, Attackoftheclones, Aubee91, Aubreyclark, Aus17, Avicennasis, Avoided, Awayforawhile, Awolf58, Azior, Azumanga1, B1atv, Backslash Forwardslash, Beetstra, Ben James Ben, BenFranske, Bencherlite, Between My Ken, Billy Hathorn, Blehfu, Blue-Haired Lawyer, Bobo192, Boffob, Bongwarrior, Brbigam, Brjusa, Brndnchpln, Bsherr, Bubba ditto, BuffaloChip97, Bunraku, CIS, Capricorn42, Captainkirk3, Centrx, Cgingold, Chopstickkitty, ChrisP2K5, Christopher Mann McKay, Chuck Sirloin, Chuunen Baka, Cimicifugia, Closedmouth, Courcelles, Craig Butz, Ctjf83, Cunno, Czrisher, DARTH SIDIOUS 2, DGtal, DK4, Dale Arnett, Dalexwats, Darp-a-parp, Dasani, Dathangy, DavidOaks, Davidboldt, Debresser, DeltaQuad, Article Sources and Contributors 64

Deltabeignet, DerHexer, Dhp1080, Dicklyon, Digitallib, Discospinster, Dismas, Dlohcierekim, Doctorindy, Dojotony, Dougweller, DrAvery, DragonHawk, Dutch-Bostonian, Dysepsion, DéRahier, Długosz, ESkog, EamonnPKeane, Edward321, Efrafra, Ejl, Ekhaya2000, Electrolite, Elemesh, Elkman, Emeraldcityserendipity, Emmisa, Enigmaman, Epbr123, Erianna, Eric outdoors, EronMain, Escape Orbit, Exert, Faithlessthewonderboy, Faradayplank, Favonian, Ferdblivid, Finngall, ForeignQ, Francis Ocoma, Frecklefoot, Froid, Frozenevolution, Frtillman, Funandtrvl, Funnyfarmofdoom, Future2008, Fuze44, Ghostexorcist, Giraffedata, Glenncheney, Gobonobo, Gracehoper, Grahamec, Group29, Gzkn, Gökhan, HalfShadow, Halgin, Harveydrone, Hires an editor, Hmains, Hmwith, Hohum, HolyT, Howard035, Howcheng, Hugobone, Ibtreerock, IceCreamAntisocial, Ichormosquito, Igoruha, Intelligentsium, Internet neighbor, InternetResearcher, Invertzoo, IronGargoyle, Itheodore, J.delanoy, JMyrleFuller, JNW, JaGa, Jab843, Jazz457, Jbl1975, Jconner999, Jcrocker15, Jdavidb, Jeffconn, Jennica, Jeremiestrother, Jessemv, Jevansen, JigsyQ, JimWae, Jimp, Jiu9, Jm3106jr, Jmcentire, Jnestorius, Joe Tremors, John M Baker, John.kraemer, John254, JohnCD, Jojhutton, Jonkerz, Jotomicron, JudahH, Julesd, Juliancolton, Jwc8, Kafziel, Kartano, Kazvorpal, Kellie-pickler, Keraunos, Killiondude, Kilonum, Kinema, Kingpin13, Kitfoxxe, Knthrak1982, Kontar, Kukini, Kumioko, Kylelovesyou, L Kensington, LADave, La Pianista, Ladyofwar, Lammidhania, Lazulilasher, Legokid, Levineps, Lightmouse, LightningMan, LilHelpa, Londonjackbooks, Lotje, MER-C, Machoking6, Malone23kid, Manassehkatz, Marcus Brute, Mardetanha, Marek69, Markadampeirano, Markb, Martin451, Master of Puppets, MattieTK, Maxamegalon2000, Mclosers, Mcorazao, Mdumas43073, MemeGeneScene, Mespejel2767, Mileage, Miller17CU94, MithraUnconquered, Mixsynth, Moby-Dick3000, Mr. Comodor, Mr. Prez, MrMontag, MrMoonshine, MrOllie, Mrquizzical, Mufka, Mwalimu59, Mwanner, Mário e Dário, NJGW, Naniwako, Natty4bumpo, NawlinWiki, NickPenguin, Nina928, Noneedone, Notedgrant, Novioboy, OCNative, Ocanter, OlEnglish, Opheicus, Ophion, Owl-2011, PCHS-NJROTC, PJonDevelopment, Pats1, Paul August, Paul Bonneau, Petersam, Phil Strucely, Philip Trueman, Piledhigheranddeeper, PinchasC, Pinecar, Pinethicket, Pizzagoliath, Pol098, Prashanthns, Preslethe, Prlambert76, Prothonotar, Puchiko, PurpleChez, PurpleRain, Pwt898, RK, RSStockdale, Raime, Rairden, RandorXeus, Rannynm, Ravenswing, Ravi12346, Reaper Eternal, RedSoxFan274, RedSublime, Remember, ResearchExpert, Retired username, Reywas92, Ronhjones, Ronz, Roy Brumback, Rsl12, Ruby Rhod., RumliusIV, Ryan4314, RyguyMN, SGGH, SNIyer12, Sara.everywhere, SchuminWeb, SchutteGod, Scmtech, Scook2, Scottveirs, Seaphoto, Seb az86556, Servicio, Shane grindey, Shoaler, Simishag, Simon Peter Hughes, Skarebo, Skew-t, Smallbones, SoWhy, Socialservice, Sollosonic, Some thing, Spencer, Spidey3, Squirtlez, Ssilvers, Stepshep, Steve98052, SteveRamone, Steven Evens, Stewy5714, Stormwatch, Stratadrake, Sunkism, Swampyank, T2000tjt, Tbhotch, Tbolls, ThaddeusFrye, The Bay Area Lover, The Letter J, The Obento Musubi, The Thing That Should Not Be, The machine512, The-Scriptorium, TheAlmightyGuru, TheBaron0530, TheNewPhobia, TheWeakWilled, Thelmo, Thiseye, Thomas Blomberg, Tobei, Tom harrison, Triangular, Tulkoju, Turgan, TurtleCharlie, Ulric1313, Underpants, UnicornTapestry, UrbanGrill, Uruiamme, Vagsim, Van helsing, VernoWhitney, Very silly cat, VictorianMutant, Voidvector, Vranak, Vrenator, Walloon, Warrenmass, Wayne Slam, Websurfer246, Welsh, West wikipedia, Wideangle, Wikipe-tan, Wikipelli, Will Beback, William Avery, Willking1979, Willthacheerleader18, Wknight94, Woohookitty, Writer@Large, Xeonnyle, Xhaoz, Xtopherous, Zach82, Zappa26, Zeroicon, Zim64, Zomputer, Ztp912, Zvika, Zzyzx11, Тиверополник, 812 anonymous edits

Thanksgiving (Canada) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=458295111 Contributors: 21stCenturyGreenstuff, 5mil5, ACEOREVIVED, Aladdinsane3, Alansohn, Allisongryski, Amchow78, Americanpatriot911, Andycjp, Angel caboodle, Anupam, Arthena, Arthurian Legend, Auntof6, Bamsefar75, Baseballhedges, Bdoserror, Bearspirit, Bentonia School, Bhill2011, Black1987, Bob bobato, Bobblehead, Bobo192, Boffob, Brianann MacAmhlaidh, CIS, Cahk, Calvinhrn, CanadianLinuxUser, Capricorn42, Chang772, Cplbeaudoin, CuffX, Cunard, DJ Clayworth, Discospinster, Djsasso, Dpu, Dredel of clay, Dub8lad1, Edward321, El aprendelenguas, Epbr123, Eric-Wester, Esrever, EuclidR, EvanProdromou, Eveningmist, FFM784, Faradayplank, Farmerman, Fetchcomms, Funandtrvl, Fæ, GateKeeper, George2001hi, Gilliam, Ginsengbomb, Glane23, Gr8wight, Grampasandgrandmaswrinkly, Gurch, HappyGoLuckyClear, Homely, Imaninjapirate, InternetResearcher, J.delanoy, JMyrleFuller, Jane Bennet, Jeff G., Jessegajer, Jlin, Jmac099, Jruderman, Judgeking, Julesd, Juliancolton, Justin W Smith, KJS77, KdeK2, Kevlar67, Krm500, Krupo, Kudret abi, Kukini, Lando1212121, Lawlmeup, LeadSongDog, Lightmouse, Lilac Soul, Lotje, Ludwigs2, Luk, MER-C, Mausy5043, Maxamegalon2000, Mcorazao, Mebden, Mecandes, Michaelkourlas, MiltonP Ottawa, Mindmatrix, Moonlight Mile, Morgan.johns, Moxy, Mrfroddo, Ms2150, Mshanson, MySemenIsMagic, N5iln, NYArtsnWords, Ncmvocalist, Neurolysis, NewEnglandYankee, NiZhiDao, NorthernThunder, OlEnglish, Oogabooga007, Palaeozoic99, PaulNovitski, Pepper, Persian Poet Gal, Petersam, Pharaoh of the Wizards, Philip Trueman, PinchasC, Pinecar, Plastikspork, Possum, Preslethe, PurpleRain, Quantling, RUL3R, Radagast, Remember, Rmsst62, Rrburke, SchuminWeb, Secretsquirrelle, Shirik, Skeezix1000, Slp1, Soliloquial, Some thing, SquidSK, Stfx kid, Ted.invictus, TheTruthiness, Thingg, Thirty-seven, Trafford09, Trevor MacInnis, Trivialist, Trusilver, Ttaawow, Tyrol5, Wantnot, Wavelength, Wayne Slam, Whileupper, William Avery, Willscaldwell, Woohookitty, Zidonuke, Zzyzx11, АлександрВв, 329 anonymous edits

Thanksgiving dinner Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=458663900 Contributors: 2D, 4twenty42o, 8th best thing, AaronPaige, Alansohn, Alcinoe, Alexabat, Alexisrios1976, Alexius08, Amin10, Andycjp, Angr, Annoyance134, Antandrus, Atrian, Beetstra, Big iron, Bobo192, Bongwarrior, Brianmacian, Califman831, Capricorn42, CarDepot, Carnildo, Ckatz, Daniel J. Leivick, December21st2012Freak, Dekimasu, Denni, Dgies, Doc9871, Dominus, Dpbsmith, Drawn Some, Durova, DutchECK, Emersoni, Eoswald, Epbr123, Erianna, Euchiasmus, Excirial, Fayenatic london, Fram, Fremte, Funandtrvl, Galaxiaad, Glen, Glenncheney, Gurch, Guy Harris, Halgin, Helicoptor, Hu12, Iamsuspicious, Irayo, J.delanoy, JForget, JHunterJ, JMyrleFuller, JNW, Jeff3000, Jmiyake, Jmlk17, JohnI, Johnuniq, Jreconomy, Justitiasana, KFP, Kemet, Kevlar67, Koavf, L Kensington, Labinski, Leftsixe, Loonymonkey, LorenzoB, Maladroitmortal, Marek69, Materialscientist, Microcell, Mr.whiskers, Nburden, Noe, Nucleusboy, Nyjets1028, O^O, Ollie the Magic Skater, Suede Sofa, PatDaisyFlowers, Persian Poet Gal, Piano non troppo, PigFlu Oink, Polarbear97, Quagga82, QuesterLEJ, Reahad, Remember, Rjwilmsi, Rockfang, Romeisburning, S h i v a (Visnu), SK 1993, SMC, Science3456, Shadow Scythe of Strongbadia?!, Shadowcat60, Shadowkittie5460, Shadowpuppet23, Shookus1992, Soliloquial, Some jerk on the Internet, Some thing, Stephenb, SteveJothen, Sultec, Taco325i, ThaneofFife, The wub, TheWeakWilled, Tinton5, Tkynerd, Triangular, Trivialist, UberScienceNerd, UncleDouggie, Veinor, Voyageur, Vrenator, Wayne Slam, Webdrops, Woohookitty, Zeamays, Zzyzx11, 296 anonymous edits

Black Friday (shopping) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=458943229 Contributors: 007kz, 108Reliant, 4twenty42o, ABF, Abc kop l, AdjustShift, Aerotive, Agent-marge, Ahinks, Ahoerstemeier, Alansohn, Alphachimp, Amitch, Anskas, Antandrus, Arakunem, Aralvarez, Arjun01, Ark25, ArmadilloFromHell, Arthur Rubin, AshwiniKalantri, Atarisnerd, Atlas1977, Auric, AuthorityTam, Baron von Rassilon, BazookaJoe, Becritical, Ben James Ben, Bento00, Bertramanda, BhaiSaab, BigBadSanta, Billare, Billyjobilly, Birdhombre, Blanchardb, Blue Square Thing, BobTheMad, Bobblewik, Bobo192, Bokbok, Bradolson, BruceGrubb, Bryan Derksen, Bsherr, C.Fred, CIS, CRKingston, CSMR, Calamarain, Calliopejen, Calmer Waters, Caltas, CanadianNine, Canadiana, Capricorn42, Caspian, Caspian blue, Cedian, Cha5on, ChronoKinetic, Coffee, Commander Keane, Common Good, CommonsDelinker, Conmiro, Coralmizu, Coupcoup, Courcelles, Crumley, Curious Blue, Cvaneg, Cybercobra, Czj, Dadude3320, Dale Arnett, Damian Yerrick, Dan Parnell, Dasani, Davewild, DeanHarding, Deblock1376, Dennis Bratland, Digitallib, Dina, Dinidj, Discospinster, DividedByNegativeZero, Dlwh, Doc Strange, Dogposter, Dotforward, Dpparekh, Drmies, Dspuller, Duncan, Dycedarg, Dylan620, Dynamic1, Earle Martin, Echosmoke, Edward, Ehn, El C, Elassint, Elisa Woods, Elmyr, Elonka, Enviroboy, Epbr123, Evb-wiki, EveryDayJoe45, Everyking, Evice, Excirial, FF2010, Falcon9x5, Fancy steve, Fdg812000, Fleagle11, Flowanda, Friedo, Frscght, Fun Guy Fungi, Fyrael, Gary King, Gbcue, Gdola, Gekaap, Gemini 925, GeneLesterisaMan, Geni, Gfoley4, GhostPirate, Giftlite, GoldDragon, Graham87, Great Scott, Greenman, Gurch, Gustavb, Hairymon, HalfShadow, HamburgerRadio, He Who Laughs Last, Heckofit, Henryodell, Hmains, Hooriaj, HorsePunchKid, Howard035, Hstevens86, Hurricane111, Huseyx2, IRiteGood, Iaagteacher, Iceberg3k, Icydesign, Inogenius, Ironholds, Ithizar, J-beda, J.delanoy, J4lambert, JDoorjam, JMyrleFuller, JZH, JaGa, Jackflash23, Jag123, JameyBM, Jay Gatsby, Jbl1975, Jdbsa05, Jeff G., Jengod, Jhd, Jls038, Jmendez, John Broughton, John M Baker, Johnelwaq, JonathanDP81, Jorm (WMF), Joshritchie, Jpgordon, Jreferee, Jruderman, Jstohler, Juliancolton, Jusdafax, Justo, Jwikipro, Jwinters, KKL, Kaiba, Kawika, Kchishol1970, Kelly Martin, Keraunos, Kip the Dip, Kirkjerk, Kizor, Klicka8333, Kmg90, Kostmo, Kshuyler, Kvn8907, L Kensington, LGagnon, Leapday, LibLord, Lifung, LightAnkh, Linda robinett, Little Professor, Loren, Ltt26, Lu33, MJEH, Mahanga, Mandarax, ManekiNeko, Manicsleeper, Marek69, Mariordo, Markaci, Mattbrundage, Mattworld, MaxForce, McSly, Meadowbrook, Meaghan, Mecandes, Mercury McKinnon, Messy Thinking, Midnightcomm, Minimac, Mjrmtg, Mmmready, Modemac, Moeron, MrCodeDude, MrConstantin, MyBigFatButt, Myounesi, MyrddinEmrys, Narpole, NawlinWiki, Neiltheslayer, NellieBly, NocturneNoir, Nongubpalm, Nsteinberg, NuclearWarfare, Nuggetboy, Nyttend, O'Dea, OLP1999, OmniRaden, Onore Baka Sama, Ortzinator, Oxymoron83, PHDrillSergeant, Patrickjolliffe, Pb30, Pbaez, Petersam, Pgerrity, Philip Trueman, Pi zza314159, Pinethicket, PrivacyT, Qiq, Quantling, Quixotic Rick, R'n'B, RJFJR, Radagast, RanEagle, RattleandHum, Redthoreau, RegentsPark, Remember, Retired username, Rexhammock, Rhobite, Rholton, Rich Farmbrough, Richiekim, Richmeister, RideRallyFlyball, Rjwilmsi, Robby.is.on, Ronhjones, Rsm99833, SCEhardt, SD5, Sarner, SchfiftyThree, Schneelocke, Scottru, Seaphoto, Sebsmoot, Seresin, Sfphotocraft, Shepd, Shirik, Shirulashem, Shyran, Silver Edge, Silverwind, Skier Dude, Skomorokh, SlackerMom, Slowking Man, Smeans2, Sobreira, SolidVersed, Some jerk on the Internet, Sortior, Sportstdh, Student7, Suicidalhamster, SuperHamster, Superm401, Surachit, Swazland, SweynAsleiffson, Tariqabjotu, Tartan, Tdowns14, Tekgeek09, Teucer, That-Vela-Fella, The wub, TheHungryTiger, TheTruthiness, Theaveng, Theseven7, Thespian, Thomm1622, Thug3, Thumperward, Tide rolls, Tiki God, Tim1357, Timbudtwo, Timhood, Timmmahhhh, TimmmmCam, Tinss, Tom Randolph, Tom harrison, Too Human, Toropop, Tregoweth, Trickytruck, Triesault, Trivialist, Trulystand700, TutterMouse, Tutwabee, TwistOfCain, Ulric1313, Uncle G, Va girl2468, Victuallers, Vitamin b, Vlad788, Waggers, Walloon, Warrah, Wayne Slam, Wealjays, Webinvestor, Whitepaw, WikHead, Wiki-mod, Wikipedian314, Wikisofia, Woohookitty, WotherspoonSmith, Woudloper, X96lee15, Xanzzibar, Y2kcrazyjoker4, Yoda4peace, Zariane, Zzyzx11, 936 anonymous edits Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 65 Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

Image:Brewster COE Treatise.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Brewster_COE_Treatise.png License: Public Domain Contributors: William Brewster (1567-1644), publisher Image:17th-century-merchantman.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:17th-century-merchantman.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Musphot File:Embarkation of the Pilgrims.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Embarkation_of_the_Pilgrims.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Robert W. Weir (photograph courtesy Architect of the Capitol) File:Landing of the Pilgrims by Cornè - circa 1805.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Landing_of_the_Pilgrims_by_Cornè_-_circa_1805.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Scewing Image:Cape Cod 1620.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Cape_Cod_1620.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: User:IMeowbot Image:Port St Louis Annotated.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Port_St_Louis_Annotated.png License: Public Domain Contributors: - File:Court Street Plymouth MA2.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Court_Street_Plymouth_MA2.JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Raime File:Flag of Plymouth, Massachusetts.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Plymouth,_Massachusetts.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Original uploader was Raime at en.wikipedia File:Seal of Plymouth, Massachusetts.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Seal_of_Plymouth,_Massachusetts.gif License: Public Domain Contributors: Original uploader was Henry the heron at en.wikipedia Later versions were uploaded by Pharos04 at en.wikipedia. File:Plymouth_ma_highlight.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Plymouth_ma_highlight.png License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Deadstar, Olivier2, Petros63 File:Landing-Bacon.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Landing-Bacon.PNG License: Public Domain Contributors: Henry A. Bacon File:The First Thanksgiving cph.3g04961.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:The_First_Thanksgiving_cph.3g04961.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Docu, Howcheng, 5 anonymous edits File:Cordage Park Tower.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Cordage_Park_Tower.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Marcbela File:Plymouth Landsat.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Plymouth_Landsat.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Raime File:Plymouth Beach, Massachusetts.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Plymouth_Beach,_Massachusetts.JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Raime File:Town Square Plymouth.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Town_Square_Plymouth.JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Raime File:Monument to the Forefathers 1.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Monument_to_the_Forefathers_1.jpg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: T.S. Custadio aka ToddC4176 at en.wikipedia File:Plymouth County Courthouse.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Plymouth_County_Courthouse.JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Raime File:The Pinehills Village Green.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:The_Pinehills_Village_Green.JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Raime File:Nathaniel Morton Elementary School.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Nathaniel_Morton_Elementary_School.JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Raime File:Jordan Hospital Plymouth, MA Cropped Version.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Jordan_Hospital_Plymouth,_MA_Cropped_Version.JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Raime File:Plymouth MBTA Station.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Plymouth_MBTA_Station.JPG License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Raime File:Plymouth Airport2.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Plymouth_Airport2.JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Raime File:Plymouth Rock Monument.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Plymouth_Rock_Monument.JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Raime File:Plimoth Plantation 2002.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Plimoth_Plantation_2002.JPG License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Nancy File:Plymouth Mayflower II.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Plymouth_Mayflower_II.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Docu, Ibn Battuta, Jérôme, OldPine, Trycatch, Verica Atrebatum, 2 anonymous edits File:Dick Gregory.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Dick_Gregory.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Herman Hiller, World Telegram staff photographer File:Plymouth House at Shichigahama Kokusai-mura.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Plymouth_House_at_Shichigahama_Kokusai-mura.JPG License: Public Domain Contributors: neuropower File:Thanksgiving grace 1942.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Thanksgiving_grace_1942.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Marjory Collins, photographer for Farm Security Administration. File:Flag of Canada.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Canada.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Anomie File:Leiden flag.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Leiden_flag.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: John-c File:Flag of Liberia.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Liberia.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Government of Liberia File:Flag of Norfolk Island.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Norfolk_Island.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Avala, Bapho, ChongDae, David Kernow, Dbenbenn, Denniss, George McFinnigan, Himasaram, Homo lupus, Nightstallion, Ninane, Pumbaa80, Slomox, Telim tor, Zscout370, 2 anonymous edits File:Flag of the United States.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_the_United_States.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Anomie File:CW Jefferys The Order of Good Cheer.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:CW_Jefferys_The_Order_of_Good_Cheer.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Asclepias, Dr Wilson, Jeangagnon, Skeezix1000, 4 anonymous edits File:RoastTurkey.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:RoastTurkey.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Contributors: Photo by M. Rehemtulla File:Thanksgiving-Brownscombe.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Thanksgiving-Brownscombe.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Jennie A. Brownscombe (1850-1936) File:Thanksgiving 1861 croped.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Thanksgiving_1861_croped.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Waud, Alfred R. (Alfred Rudolph), 1828-1891, artist. File:Home To Thanksgiving, Currier and Ives.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Home_To_Thanksgiving,_Currier_and_Ives.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: FloNight, Jarekt, M2545, P. S. Burton, Skeezix1000, Wutsje File:John F. Kennedy, turkey pardon.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:John_F._Kennedy,_turkey_pardon.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Docu, Infrogmation, Jatkins, Steven Walling, TCY File:TraditionalThanksgiving.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:TraditionalThanksgiving.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike Contributors: Ben Franske File:Shopping for pumpkins in Ottawa.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shopping_for_pumpkins_in_Ottawa.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Lars Plougmann from United Kingdom File:A Thanksgiving Service Attended by Canadian Troops Being Held in the Cambrai Cathedral.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:A_Thanksgiving_Service_Attended_by_Canadian_Troops_Being_Held_in_the_Cambrai_Cathedral.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Canadian Expeditionary Force albums - Unknown photographer Image:TraditionalThanksgiving.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:TraditionalThanksgiving.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike Contributors: Ben Franske Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 66

Image:Thanksgiving 1918.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Thanksgiving_1918.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Underwood & Underwood. (War Dept.) File:New England Thanksgiving Dinner.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:New_England_Thanksgiving_Dinner.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Original uploader was Alcinoe at en.wikipedia File:Black-friday-walmart-bfcom.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Black-friday-walmart-bfcom.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Dustin License 67 License

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/