Thanksgiving is a favorite among holidays.And why not? Who doesn't love (2024)

FAQs

Why don't people like Thanksgiving? ›

Like Columbus Day, the holiday is viewed by many to be a celebration of the conquest of Native Americans by colonists, or an embellished narrative of “Pilgrims and Natives looking past their differences” to break bread.

EVERY AMERICAN CELEBRATES

Sure, it's an American holiday, but we love sharing this marathon-eating, gratitude-giving fest with anyone and everyone. This might be what we love most about Thanksgiving. It's a holiday that looks past everything but acceptance and appreciation. It's about community and home.

For those who suffer from loneliness, live far way from families, or find that family gatherings spark painful memories or trigger tension, Thanksgiving may be one of the most challenging days of the year. There is a great variation in people's ability to experience and express appreciation.

Traditions. Whether it's having each person at the table say what they're most thankful for, a competitive family football game in the yard, a post-dessert board game, or sitting around the TV to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Thanksgiving is full of family traditions that make it a hard holiday to beat.

To many people, Thanksgiving isn't a big deal. Reasons can vary from entertainment, financial, or even just aesthetic. The entertainment industry highly promotes Halloween and Christmas by dedicating movies and songs just to those holidays.

The New England colonists were accustomed to regularly celebrating “Thanksgivings,” days of prayer thanking God for blessings such as military victory or the end of a drought. The U.S. Continental Congress proclaimed a national Thanksgiving upon the enactment of the Constitution, for example.

For many in the Indigenous community, the annual holiday actually serves as a harmful reminder of how their land was stolen from them during colonization, how many of their people were killed, and how their culture was almost entirely stripped from them.

You get to be with family.

Whether you see your family all the time or just a few times a year, Thanksgiving is a great time to reunite with loved ones and catch up — over a delicious meal, of course.

After doing research about why Americans feel stressed during Thanksgiving, the top reasons included family dynamics, culinary pressure, financial concerns, travel woes, dietary challenges, emotional impact, and social anxiety.

What does Thanksgiving mean to most people? ›

Thanksgiving in the United States is a time to gather with family and friends, share a traditional meal and express gratitude for the good things in life. It can also be a time of service to others in the community. Celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, Thanksgiving traces its origins to harvest festivals.

Share of Americans who say they will celebrate Thanksgiving this year U.S. 2023. According to a survey conducted in 2023, 83 percent of Americans said that they will celebrate Thanksgiving this year. In comparison, eight percent of Americans said that they would not be celebrating Thanksgiving in 2023.

Thanksgiving is truly the most important of American holidays because, more than even Christmas or the Fourth of July, it is a time when American families reunite, express gratitude for one another, and feel closer to one another than at any other time.

The Themes

Thanksgiving also scores big when it comes to things we celebrate on the holiday—in both words and deeds. We gather with family and friends to do three things—celebrate our nation's earliest days, share a great meal, and give thanks for what we have (including said food).

Thanksgiving isn't just a day — it's many emotions wrapped up like an early Christmas gift, reminding us that no matter what's good or bad, today will change and it will be okay. It's a day to give thanks to those who make a difference and to be thankful they choose to do it with you.

"Thanksgiving day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of Native people, the theft of Native lands, and the relentless assault on Native culture," says the United American Indians of New England.

Our modern definition of Thanksgiving revolves around eating turkey, but this was more of an occasion for religious observance in past centuries. The Pilgrims would most likely consider their sober 1623 day of prayer the first actual Thanksgiving, according to the History of Massachusetts Blog.

According to a survey conducted in 2023, 83 percent of Americans said that they will celebrate Thanksgiving this year. In comparison, eight percent of Americans said that they would not be celebrating Thanksgiving in 2023.

Our participation in the Thanksgiving holiday reinforces the marginalization of Native Peoples who have never had adequate representation in the United States. According to Raphael Lemkin, there are two phases of genocide, destruction and imposition.