Thabksgiving Festival

Thanksgiving is the festival that all Americans take part in. It is always on a Thursday, the third Thursday in November. It celebrates the survival (not arrival) of the Pilgrim Fathers to Americas shores. They arrived and would have starved in the cold if winter if they had not been supported by the local Indian tribes. So after they had survived the winter and gathered food the next year they gave thanks for everything they had (a bit like our Harvest Festival). This has now become a huge festival, like taking a deep breath before the run up to Christmas. The concentration is on food and eating, not on giving presents. The centrepiece is always turkey and all the trimmings. With time with the family a high priority, it also has undertones of celebrating the huge and diverse family that is the U.S.A.