5 ~(at~ 
 
The person charging this material is re¬ 
 sponsible for its return to the library from 
 which it was withdrawn on or before the 
 Latest Date stamped below. 
 
 Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons 
 for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from 
 the University. 
 
 To renew call Telephone Center, 333-8400 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 
 
 L161—0-1096 
 
THANKSGIVING DAY 
 
 PREPARED BY THE 
 
 FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF JERSEY CITY 
 
 The observance of days of Thanks¬ 
 giving dates back to the most remote 
 ages, and is found among almost all na¬ 
 tions. These celebrations usually took 
 the form of festivals of thanksgiving for 
 the gathering of the harvest. Among the 
 ancient Egyptians these occasions were 
 observed with sacrifices and other cere¬ 
 monies. The inhabitants of ancient India 
 also had their harvest festivals which are 
 still observed in many parts of India. 
 
 One of the earliest harvest festivals on 
 record is that mentioned in the Bible as be¬ 
 ing observed by the Canaanites. The He¬ 
 brews celebrated a similar festival called the 
 “Feastof the Tabernacles.” This occurred 
 each year at the end of the harvest. Dur¬ 
 ing the festival the people assembled in 
 enormous numbers at Jerusalem. No work 
 was done, and the time was given up to 
 feasting and celebration. The Feast of the 
 Tabernacles is still partially observed by 
 the Jews in all lands. 
 
 The harvest festival of the ancient 
 Greeks was the feast of Demeter, the god¬ 
 dess of agriculture, which was celebrated in 
 November. The Romans worshipped the 
 same deity under the name Ceres, and ob¬ 
 served the festival each year on October the 
 4th. The Druids of ancient Britain cele¬ 
 brated their harvest festival on the first of 
 November. Among the American Indians 
 there -was an autumnal festival somewhat 
 resembling these. 
 
 In England the festival was known as 
 the “Harvest Home.” This was observed 
 as far back as the time of the Saxons and is 
 still celebrated in many of the rural parts of 
 England. A general festival is held for the 
 whole parish, to which all the farmers are 
 expected to contribute. It begins with a 
 special service at the village church, which 
 is decorated for the occasion. T his is fol¬ 
 
 lowed by a dinner in a tent or some large 
 building. There are usually rustic sports 
 and games. In Scotland the festival was 
 observed under the name of “ Kern.” 
 
 Days of thanksgiving for special occa¬ 
 sions have been common in all Christian 
 countries in all ages. A number of such 
 celebrations have been held in England, one 
 of which was for the defeat of the Spanish 
 Armada in 1588. The inhabitants of Ley¬ 
 den, Holland, for many years observed 
 October 3rd, as a day of thanksgiving in 
 memory of the deliverance of that city from 
 the Spaniards in 1574. This was a popu¬ 
 lar festival among the Dutch during the ten 
 years the Pilgrims lived in Holland and 
 may have suggested to them the Thanks¬ 
 giving celebrations which were afterward 
 held at Plymouth. 
 
 Thanksgiving in America. 
 
 Probably the first thanksgiving service 
 in America was that held on May 27, 1578, 
 by the members of the expedition under 
 Frobisher, on the shores of Newfoundland. 
 This was conducted by an English minister 
 named Wolfall, who preached a thanks¬ 
 giving sermon. The first record of a 
 thanksgiving service within the limits of 
 the present United States was that held by 
 the members of the Popharn colony who 
 settled on the coast of Maine in August, 
 1607. According to some authorities a 
 thanksgiving service was held by the Pil¬ 
 grims as early as December, 1620, soon after 
 the landing of the Mayflower. 
 
 Those, however, were merely thanksgiv¬ 
 ing services, and the origin of a day of 
 thanksgiving such as we now celebrate 
 must be attributed to Governor Bradford of 
 Plymouth. In November, 1620, the Pilgrims 
 landed on the desolate coast of New Eng¬ 
 land and passed the following winter with 
 
great suffering and privation. In the 
 spring seed was sown and its growth was 
 watched with great anxiety, for on the re¬ 
 sult depended the lives of the colonists. 
 When the grain was cut and the harvest 
 was found to be abundant, there was great 
 rejoicing, and the governor proclaimed a 
 day of thanksgiving. He sent out four 
 men in search of game, and they soon re¬ 
 turned with a large number of wild fowl, 
 most of which were turkeys. It is doubt¬ 
 less due to this incident that the turkey has 
 always been considered a necessary feature 
 of Thanksgiving feasts. 
 
 This festival lasted nearly a week and 
 a large party of friendly Indians, including 
 the chief Massasoit, shared in the festivi¬ 
 ties. The “bill of fare” for this first 
 Thanksgiving feast has not been handed 
 down to us, but it doubtless consisted of 
 turkeys, ducks and geese. The Indians 
 furnished venison and probably other game. 
 The vegetables appear to have been the 
 same as those now used at Thanksgiving. 
 The native squash and pumpkin were used 
 and it is not unlikely that they had pump¬ 
 kin pie. The provisions must have been 
 abundant, for about 140 persons, including 
 90 Indians, were entertained for three days. 
 The exact date of this festival is not known, 
 but according to the records it must have 
 occurred between September 23rd and No¬ 
 vember 11th, probably in October, 1621. 
 
 The Pilgrims appointed similar festi¬ 
 vals of Thanksgiving on various occasions, 
 but it does not appear that it was regularly 
 observed. In July, 1623, a day of thanks¬ 
 giving was appointed and mention is made 
 of similar observances in 1633 and 1651. 
 In 1668 the 25th day of November was ap¬ 
 pointed and similar days were observed in 
 1680 and 1690. In 1692 the Plymouth 
 Colony was united to Massachusetts and 
 lost its separate identity* 
 
 In the Colony of Massachusetts Bay 
 the appointment of days of thanksgiving 
 was quite common. One was observed in 
 July, 1630, for the safe arrival of the ships 
 which left England with Governor Win- 
 throp in the spring of that year. During 
 the following winter the little colony was on 
 
 Tn^^pPge of starvation. By midwinter the 
 prospect was so gloomy that a day of fast¬ 
 ing and prayer was appointed. The exact 
 date is not known, but it was probably 
 about the middle of February. Just before 
 that time, however, a ship laden with pro¬ 
 visions arrived and the fast day was 
 changed to one of thanksgiving, which was 
 observed on February 22, 1631. 
 
 In the year 1633 two days of thanks¬ 
 giving were appointed, one on the 19th of 
 June, and one on the 16th of October, “for 
 a beautiful harvest.” This seems to have 
 been the beginning in the Bay Colony for 
 the day as it was afterwards observed. But 
 after this the matter dropped for some years. 
 In June, 1637, there was a thanksgiving for 
 “victory over the Pequods.” In 1638 and 
 1639 autumnal thanksgivings were held. 
 Then there is a lapse until 1646. In 1654, 
 1656, 1659 and 1661 festivals of thanksgiv¬ 
 ing were appointed in which the “blessings 
 of the harvest’ ’ were remembered. It is evi¬ 
 dent that the festival was approaching a 
 fixed and regular appointment, though it 
 was a long time before that result was fully 
 reached. Every little while a year or two 
 would be passed over, for reasons that are 
 not known now. 
 
 In the Connecticut colonies the first 
 appointment of a day of thanksgiving was 
 made in 1639. This was followed by festi¬ 
 vals in 1644 and 1649. From 1649 onward 
 the observance was quite regular and the 
 festival had evidently come to stay. 
 
 In the Rhode Island colonies not much 
 was made of thanksgiving. The first 
 record is in 1687 when Governor Andros 
 appointed a day of thanksgiving for New 
 England. This was generally disregarded 
 in Rhode Island, and several persons were 
 brought before the courts fordoing business 
 on that day. After the administration of 
 Governor Andros the observance of Thanks¬ 
 giving appears to have been dropped en¬ 
 tirely in the colony of Rhode Island until 
 the French and Indian wars, when several 
 public thanksgivings was held. This prac¬ 
 tice was not taken up again until the Rev¬ 
 olution when the Colony observed the days 
 appointed by the Continental Congress. 
 
In Virginia there appears to have^ 
 
 <• little observance of days of Thanksgiving, 
 v but the days appointed for special occasions 
 the English government were of course 
 celebrated in the colony. 
 
 In the colony of New York the ob¬ 
 servance was not regular and seems to 
 have been only held for special events. 
 Under the Dutch rule there were several 
 thanksgiving festivals held. One was pro¬ 
 claimed by Governor Kieft in February, 
 1644, for victory over the Indians. The 
 6th of September, 1645, was appointed by 
 Governor Kieft as a day of thanksgiving 
 for the signing of a treaty of peace which 
 brought the Indian war to a close. In 
 1654 a festival of thanks was held for the 
 establishment of peace between Holland 
 and England. Similar festivals were held 
 in 1655, 1659 and 1664. In 1665 New Am¬ 
 sterdam changed hands, and the English 
 kept a day of thanksgiving for the con¬ 
 quest. Other thanksgiving celebrations 
 were held in New York on various occa¬ 
 sions, including several during the French 
 and Indian war. 
 
 In New Jersey during the Colonial period 
 there appears to have been little regularity 
 in the observance of thanksgiving days. 
 While under the control of the Dutch the 
 colony undoubtedly observed the same fes¬ 
 tivals as did the other parts of New Neth- 
 erland. The festival of September, 1645, in 
 particular, must have been observed with 
 the most heartfelt thanks by the inhabi¬ 
 tants of Pavonia, now Jersey City. They 
 had suffered most severely during the In¬ 
 dian war just closed, and were now able to 
 return to their homes in Pavonia, from 
 which they had been exiled for over two 
 years. After New Jersey became an English 
 colony, there are a number of days of 
 thanksgiving recorded, most of which were 
 held because of special events, though a few 
 seem to have resembled the New England 
 festivals. In 1676 the General Assembly 
 of the province appointed the second 
 Wednesday in November of that year as a 
 day of public thanksgiving. A similar fes¬ 
 tival was observed on November 26, 1678, 
 and again on June 11, 1696. In 1749 the 
 
 Governor appointed Thursday, 
 
 23, as a day of public thanksgiving 
 28th of November, 1750, was similar 
 pointed. During the French and 
 wars several such festivals were observed^ 
 
 Thanksgiving Since Colonial Times. 
 
 During the Revolution Thanksgiving 
 lost some of its local character. The Con¬ 
 tinental Congress recommended the follow¬ 
 ing dates to be observed as days of thanks¬ 
 giving :—Thursday, July 20, 1775 ; Friday, 
 May 17, 1776 ; Wednesday, April 22, 1778; 
 Thursday, May 6, 1779 ; Wednesday, April 
 6, 1780 ; Thursday, May 3, 1781 ; Thurs¬ 
 day, April 25, 1782 ; and another day the 
 date of which was to be fixed by the sev¬ 
 eral states, was ordered by a resolution 
 adopted December 11, 1776. With only 
 one exception the Continental Congress 
 suspended business on all these days. 
 Washington issued a proclamation for a 
 general thanksgiving by the Continental 
 Army on Thursday, December 18, 1777, 
 and also at Valley Forge May 7, 1778. 
 
 A few days before Congress adjourned in 
 September, 1789, Elias Boudinot moved in 
 the House of Representatives, that Presi¬ 
 dent Washington be requested to recom¬ 
 mend “ a day of thanksgiving and prayer 
 to be observed by the people of the 
 United States in acknowledgment of 
 the favors of the Almighty God, and 
 especially His affording them the oppor¬ 
 tunity, peaceably to establish a constitution 
 of government for their safety and happi¬ 
 ness.” There was some objection, but the 
 motion was carried and on October 3, 1789, 
 Washington issued a proclamation appoint¬ 
 ing Thursday, November 26, 1789, as a day 
 of general thanksgiving. This w r as the 
 first Thanksgiving proclamation issued by 
 a United States president, and this day 
 may be considered the first national 
 Thanksgiving Day. 
 
 A second Thanksgiving proclamation 
 was issued by Washington in 1795 on the 
 suppression of the Whiskey Insurrection. 
 In April, 1815, at the conclusion of the 
 second war with England, President Madi¬ 
 son, by the request of Congress, appointed 
 
1 Thanksgiving of Peace. Several 
 
 presidents issued similar pro- 
 
 ■jLt.i'-'Btons on special occasions, but it was 
 
 WXy left to the governors of the states 
 P© decide if there should be a day of 
 thanksgiving and to fix the date of its 
 observance. 
 
 About 1830 the Governor of New York 
 appointed a Thanksgiving Day and the 
 custom was soon followed in the other 
 Northern States. In the South, Thanks¬ 
 giving was practically unknown until 1855. 
 In that year Governor Jones, of Virginia, 
 requested the State Legislature to recog¬ 
 nize the day. His request was not com¬ 
 plied with, but the matter aroused con¬ 
 siderable discussion and in 1857 Governor 
 Wise issued a Thanksgiving proclamation 
 and the day was generally observed through¬ 
 out the State. The following year eight 
 Southern States observed the day, the gov¬ 
 ernors having issued proclamations. The 
 Civil War, however, put an end to its cele¬ 
 bration in the South and also in many of 
 the Northern states. 
 
 In 1864, President Lincoln issued a proc¬ 
 lamation appointing the fourth Thursday 
 in November, with the view of having the 
 day observed every year thereafter. The 
 very next year, however, the assassination 
 of Lincoln almost caused a suspension of 
 this rule, but President Johnson was pre¬ 
 vailed upon to appoint the last Thursday 
 in November as Thanksgiving Day, and 
 since then each President has followed this 
 custom. On receiving the President’s proc¬ 
 lamation the governors of the several 
 states issue a proclamation of their own, 
 naming the same day. Thanksgiving Day 
 is now observed everywhere throughout the 
 United States and is kept as a legal holiday 
 in almost every state and territory. 
 
 The adoption of the last Thursday in 
 November as a uniform date for the observ¬ 
 ance of Thanksgiving was largely due to 
 
 m^Korts of Mrs. Sarah J. Hale, a prom¬ 
 inent American authoress of the last 
 century. About 1840 she began agitating 
 for a more general observance of the day 
 and the selection of a definite time, so that 
 the celebration might have A more national 
 character. Year after year she wrote to 
 the governors of the states asking them to 
 appoint the last Thursday in November. 
 The idea met with general approval and 
 this finally led to the adoption of the present 
 method of fixing the date. 
 
 Some Thanksgiving Customs. 
 
 Thanksgiving Day is observed by 
 feasting and general festivity, and has long 
 been one of the greatest home festivals of 
 the year, and a day of family reunions. 
 Among the customs formerly connected 
 with the celebration was the making of 
 calls, similar to the custom which was fol¬ 
 lowed on New Year’s Day. Fifty or sixty 
 years ago the custom of making calls on 
 Thanksgiving Day was very common, and 
 society people dined early and then held 
 receptions. 
 
 In New York City and its vicinity one 
 of the strange customs connected with the 
 celebration of Thanksgiving was the parades 
 of men and boys dressed in odd and fantas¬ 
 tic costumes. Twenty-five or thirty years 
 ago this custom was generally followed, 
 and the streets were crowded all day and 
 strangely dressed people were seen in pro¬ 
 cessions. These ragamuffin parades have 
 gradually fallen into disuse and are now 
 mostly confined to children, who dress up 
 in the cast-off clothes of their older 
 brothers and sisters and go around the 
 streets begging. This custom undoubtedly 
 had its origin from the mummeries and 
 masking taking place on Guy Fawke’s 
 Day, November 5th, which was observed 
 in the American colonies before the Rev¬ 
 olution, and is still celebrated in England. 
 
 The foregoing abstract has been compiled from tjedlcL records and documents contained in the Free Public 
 Library of Jersey City, by the Assistant Librariatv'' , fhe Library has a large and valuable collection of books and 
 magazine articles relating to the history and observance of Thanksgiving Day, and also many poems, stories, plays, etc., 
 suitable for Thanksgiving entertainments. These may be borrowed for home reading or consulted in the Ref< rence De¬ 
 partment. Lists of same may be obtained on application. 
 
GAYLORD BROS. 
 
 makers 
 SYRACUSE, - N.Y. 
 
 PAT. JAN. fti, 190*