Thanksgiving for Kids

Welcome to this Thanksgiving video for

kids

! But to be honest, anyone could enjoy this! You know, I see you looking! Alright, this is going to be a great video! I'm going to share some really interesting things with you, okay? You'll learn things you'll want to share with others, and they'll say, "Wow, how do you know so much about Thanksgiving?" So if you're ready, let's take a serious look at this wonderful vacation! It's a fun turkey! Okay, so what is Thanksgiving? That's a great place to start! What is Thanksgiving? Well, Thanksgiving is a special holiday celebrated in the United States, Canada, Liberia, and some Caribbean islands!

Let's look at these places on the world map! Canada is right here and south of Canada: the United States of America. Then over here, the Caribbean islands. And then in West Africa, the country of Liberia! All of these places celebrate Thanksgiving! The interesting thing is that these places don't celebrate Thanksgiving on the same day! For example, Thanksgiving is celebrated in Canada on the second Monday in October! It's true! In Liberia, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the first Thursday of November, and in the United States, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November! Here's the thing: While traditions may vary, all Thanksgiving celebrations have certain things in common!

Regardless of where in the world they happen, there are certain things that make a Thanksgiving celebration a Thanksgiving celebration! For example, Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks for all the blessings of the past year! Without that, it's not a Thanksgiving celebration! No matter where in the world it is celebrated, Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful, and we have a lot to be thankful for! Regardless of where it is celebrated, Thanksgiving is also a time for family, loved ones, friends, and those we care about. Which makes sense, because Thanksgiving is about being grateful for the blessings of the past year, and you want to celebrate and be grateful for those who mean the most to you!

And of course, food! You know, you can't celebrate Thanksgiving without a wonderful feast and you don't eat this, okay? What do you eat on Thanksgiving? Yeah! In Canada and the United States, turkey is normally eaten for Thanksgiving! A turkey dinner is the tradition for most people celebrating Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada. However, that's not the case everywhere! In Liberia, for example, instead of eating turkey for Thanksgiving, chicken is the center of their Thanksgiving feast! This adds up to a lot of food! Take the United States as an example. Believe it or not, 46 million turkeys are eaten at Thanksgiving in the United States every year!

Wow! 46 million bucks! Look at this! About 50 million pumpkin pies are eaten for Thanksgiving in the United States every year! Nearly 50 million pumpkin pies! Wow! Of course, there's cranberry sauce, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and casseroles! There are so many delicious foods we eat at Thanksgiving! But where did all this start? Well, interestingly enough, in England during the days of King Henry VIII. It was common for people to have days of gratitude! In fact, they would call them Thanksgiving days! Then there was this guy called Martin Frobisher. He was an English explorer who explored Canada. Just 31 years into the reign of King Henry VIII in 1578, Martin Frobisher celebrated a Thanksgiving in Canada.

They were celebrating his arrival in Newfoundland. You can see it in the photo here! Martin Frobisher was from Great Britain and would have been familiar with the days of

thanksgiving

that occurred during the reign of King Henry VIII. They were grateful to have arrived safely in Newfoundland and enjoyed a steak and peas dinner! Tasty! Another group familiar with these days of Thanksgiving were the Pilgrims, a group of English settlers who came to the United States in search of religious freedom. They had different religious beliefs than many people in England and did not want to be part of the state church of England.

On a ship called the Mayflower, the Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic Ocean and arrived in present-day Massachusetts, in a place called Plymouth. This colony became known as Plymouth Colony. The thing is, life was difficult in Plymouth. And it wasn't until a Native American named Squanto helped them that they finally had their first successful harvest. Your first successful harvest! So to celebrate this first successful harvest in 1621, the Pilgrims invited the Wampanoag people, including Squanto and their leader named Massasoit, to celebrate a day of Thanksgiving. The celebration lasted three days! We know they ate a lot, but what did they eat?

Well, the governor of Plymouth Colony, named William Bradford, wrote that they ate birds and deer during the feast. And we know from his writings that they hunted turkeys. Could the turkey have been one of those birds they ate during the Thanksgiving feast? There is a great possibility! But, to be honest, we don't know for sure. What's interesting about the celebration of Thanksgiving in 1621 is that it brought together the traditions of Thanksgivings during the years of King Henry VIII and the Harvest Festivals, which were festivals that celebrated a successful harvest. That day the two traditions were combined!

You see, long before the Pilgrims, Martin Frobisher, or King Henry VIII, Native Americans celebrated the harvest! They would gather with their loved ones, enjoy good food in gratitude and thanks for all the wonderful things that were happening! Thanksgiving is special because we should all be thankful! Celebrating with family and friends with good food and grateful hearts is an amazing tradition!