#15: Where Did the Pilgrims Come from?
Thanksgiving is one of the most popular holidays in the United States. It became an official national holiday in 1863 thanks to President Abraham Lincoln. However, the romanticized stories that we heard in school were never explicitly mentioned by President Lincoln or anyone else. The history of Thanksgiving has roots in 17th-century pilgrims colonizing indigenous land, but it wasn’t a widespread story until much later.
It’s kind of interesting that there was never a continuous, consistent history of Thanksgiving throughout the centuries. Once Lincoln made it a national holiday, Thanksgiving was officially held on the last Thursday of November every year. It’s been that way ever since. It will be interesting to see how the stories around Thanksgiving will adapt with the times.