Thanksgiving is one of the only American holidays that solely focuses on bringing people together. It also importantly serves as a segue into the Christmas season, a reason to overeat and a fantastic opportunity to practice “disagreeing better” about politics as advocated by Gov. Spencer Cox.
But when is Thanksgiving, again?
Thanksgiving always occurs on the fourth Thursday in November and this year will happen on Nov. 23.
Why was the 4th Thursday in November picked for Thanksgiving?
These days, everyone seems to know Thanksgiving’s origin story, but it wasn’t always common knowledge. The unsung hero who really told the story of Thanksgiving is the 18th-century writer, Sarah Josepha Hale.
Allegedly, Hale possessed William Bradford’s diary, which contained one of the only two primary accounts of the original Thanksgiving, per Country Living. She was so moved by the story that she dedicated much of her time writing editorials for Godey’s Magazine lobbying for the holiday, History reported. Hale also wrote letters to five American presidents about the matter.
Politicians paid Hale’s letters little attention until 1863, when the U.S. was in the middle of the Civil War. In an attempt to unify the United States during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln declared in an 1863 proclamation that Thanksgiving would occur on the last Thursday of November. “Hale’s letter to Lincoln is often cited as the main factor in his decision,” the National Women’s History Museum reported.
A second presidential proclamation was issued in 1939 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, moving Thanksgiving to the second to last Thursday in November. It was mid-Depression, and the president was worried the economy would suffer from a shortened Christmas season.
That year, 32 states celebrated Thanksgiving with Roosevelt on the second to last Thursday, and 16 celebrated it on the “traditional” date. This divide persisted for the next two years until Congress officially set the holiday’s date as the fourth Thursday in November, per the National Archives.