Lance Matheson Ms. Thomas English 10b12/15/13Thanksgiving Many Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, but very few know why they celebrate it. Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks and be grateful for what you have. Whether it's giving to your community or eating with family, Thanksgiving is a very humbling holiday. Thanksgiving dates back to the early settlers and is traditionally an American holiday. This article will address three main topics: the origin, the purpose and of course the practices. You may think you know the facts and basics about Thanksgiving, but this article will delve deeper into these three topics. To learn more about Thanksgiving, you need to know where the holiday came from and why it is the holiday we know today. In 1621, the Wampanoag Indians and Plymouth settlers held a fall harvest festival that is one of the earliest Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, Thanksgiving Days were celebrated by the colonies and states. It wasn't until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln decided that a national day of Thanksgiving should be held every November. Thanksgiving is one of the major holidays of the year. Since 1863, Thanksgiving has been an annual holiday in the United States. Not everyone considers Thanksgiving Day to be a happy day and a day of thanksgiving. Every year since 1970, a group of Native Americans and their supporters demonstrate for a National Day of Mourning at Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on Thanksgiving Day. They're protesting Thanksgiving because it's a reminder of all the bad things the settlers did to the Indians so we could celebrate Thanksgiving. The settlers killed and drove the Indians off their land so they could expand their territory. Native American Heritage Day is also celebrated around this time of