The United States will celebrate this year’s Thanksgiving on Thursday 24, 2022. It is a federal holiday in the US celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.
It can also be referred to as American Thanksgiving (outside the US boundaries) to differentiate it from the Canadian holiday of the same name, which has the same festivities in other regions.
Thanksgiving originated as a day of thanksgiving and harvest festival, with the theme of the holiday revolving around giving thanks and the focus of Thanksgiving celebrations continuing a Thanksgiving dinner.
The festival’s dinner customarily consists of foods and dishes indigenous to the Americas, namely turkey, potatoes (usually mashed or sweet), stuffing, squash, corn (maize), green beans, cranberries (typically in sauce form), and pumpkin pie.
Other Thanksgiving traditions include charitable organisations offering Thanksgiving dinner for the poor, attending religious services, watching parades, and viewing football games.
In American culture, Thanksgiving is regarded as the beginning of the fall-winter holiday season, which includes Christmas and the New Year.
On Wednesday, the US President, Joe Biden urged American people to celebrate Thanksgiving by being appreciative of God as well as their family and friends. He asked them to rejoice as he declared Thursday as a holiday.
Biden said, “We are grateful for our family and friends and for all of our fellow Americans, even those whom we may never meet but rely upon nonetheless. We are thankful for the scientists, researchers, doctors, and nurses who have kept us safe through a pandemic, and for the frontline workers who have kept essential services going by growing and providing food for our tables.
“We are grateful to faith leaders for their counsel, comfort, and support. We thank our brave service members and veterans who sacrifice so much for our freedom, and the first responders who put so much on the line to keep us all safe.”
He said, “As Scripture says: “let us rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances.” This is a special time in the greatest country on Earth, so let us be grateful. America is a great Nation because we are a good people. This holiday, we celebrate all that brings us together, grounded in history and our shared hopes for the future.
“Now, therefore, I, Joseph R. Biden Jr., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 24, 2022, as a National Day of Thanksgiving.
“I encourage the people of the United States of America to join together and give thanks for the friends, neighbours, family members, and strangers who have supported each other over the past year in a reflection of goodwill and unity.
“In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-third day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-seventh.”