On the fourth Thursday of each November in the USA, we celebrate Thanksgiving Day.

In Canada, Thanksgiving is observed on the second Monday of October (this is because harvest time is earlier in Canada, since Canada is farther north than the USA). On Thanksgiving Day, people express their gratitude and have a Thanksgiving feast with their family and friends. Thanksgiving dinner often features turkey with stuffing, cranberry sauce, yams, potatoes, rolls, green beans, and pumpkin pie. The first Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims and Native Americans in 1621in colonial New England. The Pilgrims had sailed from Europe to the New World, settling in what is now the state of Massachussets. They had a difficult first year and food was scarce. The local Indians (the Wampanoag tribe) helped the Pilgrims by showing them how to fertilize corn plants with a fish, how to harvest local berries, and how to hunt game. At the first Thanksgiving feast the Indians brought food for the Pilgrims. The first Thanksgiving feast featured fish, lobster, goose, deer, squash, wild turkey, corn, onions, and berries. This first feast was not repeated until over a decade later. In 1863, US President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving Day to be a national holiday.