Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is a United States national holiday celebrated annually on the fourth Thursday of November (which is not always the last Thursday of November). It encompasses religious and secular aspects, being both a harvest festival and a festival of family. The origins of Thanksgiving Day are believed to lie in a first harvest celebration held in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621. It always falls between November 22 and November 28.

Thanksgiving Day is the day with the highest food consumption of the year. It is followed by Black Friday which marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season and has become the busiest shopping day and the day with the highest retail turnover of the year in the United States.

The date of US Thanksgiving differs from Canadian Thanksgiving, where it is celebrated on the second Monday of October (on the same day as Columbus Day in the US, meaning both countries have a public holiday on the same day, even if the two holidays are different).