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Thanksgiving Day is a US federal holiday observed annually on the fourth Thursday of November. Traced to a 1621 harvest feast in the Plymouth Colony and made a national holiday by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, it is the largest US travel and family-gathering holiday of the year.
When does Thanksgiving fall?
US Thanksgiving is a floating holiday on the fourth Thursday of November — not the last Thursday, despite the popular saying. The rule was set by Congress on December 26, 1941 (Public Law 77-379) and codified in 5 U.S.C. §6103. Because November has either four or five Thursdays, the calendar date drifts between November 22 and November 28.
Canadian Thanksgiving is a different holiday on a different date: the second Monday of October, set by Canadian Parliament in 1957. It is observed about six weeks earlier than US Thanksgiving and is a more low-key family meal rather than a major commercial event.
Upcoming US Thanksgiving dates
| Year | Date | Day of week |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | November 26, 2026 | Thursday |
| 2027 | November 25, 2027 | Thursday |
| 2028 | November 23, 2028 | Thursday |
| 2029 | November 22, 2029 | Thursday |
| 2030 | November 28, 2030 | Thursday |
The earliest possible Thanksgiving date is November 22 (when November 1 is a Sunday, as in 2029); the latest is November 28 (when November 1 is a Thursday, as in 2030).
A short history of Thanksgiving
1621 — the “First Thanksgiving” at Plymouth. The 1621 Plymouth harvest celebration is the event traditionally identified as the first Thanksgiving. After a brutal first winter that killed about half of the 102 Mayflower passengers, the surviving colonists shared a three-day feast with around 90 Wampanoag people, led by their sachem Massasoit. The principal eyewitness source is a December 1621 letter by Edward Winslow describing the meal, which included venison, wildfowl, and corn. Turkey is not specifically mentioned. The Wampanoag were the dominant indigenous polity in the region and had taught the colonists how to plant corn earlier that year.
1789 — Washington’s first national proclamation. President George Washington issued the first federal Thanksgiving proclamation on October 3, 1789, designating Thursday, November 26 as a day of public thanksgiving. Subsequent presidents issued occasional thanksgiving proclamations but the practice was inconsistent through the early 1800s.
1863 — Lincoln’s proclamation. Magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale spent 17 years campaigning for a unified national Thanksgiving holiday, writing to four successive presidents. President Lincoln issued the foundational proclamation on October 3, 1863, fixing the last Thursday of November as a national day of thanksgiving — in the midst of the Civil War, three months after the Battle of Gettysburg. Every president since has issued an annual proclamation.
1939–1941 — Franksgiving and the fourth-Thursday rule. In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving one week earlier to lengthen the Christmas shopping season during the Depression recovery. Twenty-three states followed FDR’s earlier date (“Franksgiving”); 22 stuck with the traditional last Thursday (“Republican Thanksgiving”); Texas and Colorado observed both. Congress resolved the chaos with House Joint Resolution 41 on December 26, 1941, fixing the fourth Thursday of November as the official national holiday.
Modern traditions and observance
- Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade — held in New York City since 1924; an estimated 3.5 million people line the route and around 30 million watch on TV. Features helium-balloon characters (since 1927), marching bands, and a procession that ends with Santa Claus signalling the official start of the US Christmas shopping season.
- NFL games — the Detroit Lions have played a Thanksgiving home game every year since 1934 (except WWII). The Dallas Cowboys joined in 1966. A third prime-time game was added in 2006.
- Presidential turkey pardon — an annual White House ceremony in which the president “pardons” a turkey, sparing it from being eaten. The modern ceremony dates from 1989 (George H. W. Bush) with informal precedents back to Lincoln.
- Travel — the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is consistently the busiest US travel day of the year. AAA forecast around 80 million Americans would travel 50+ miles in 2024.
- Black Friday — the day after Thanksgiving has been treated as the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season since the 1960s. Around $9.8 billion was spent online on Black Friday 2024 according to Adobe Analytics.
- Friendsgiving — a casual non-traditional Thanksgiving meal among friends rather than family, the term first appearing in print around 2007 and now widely observed in the days before or after the federal holiday.
Sources & references
- US House of Representatives — Establishment of Thanksgiving Day — the 1941 joint resolution.
- National Archives — Lincoln’s 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation
- Plimoth Patuxet Museums — The 1621 Harvest Feast — living-history museum at the site of Plymouth Colony.
- 5 U.S.C. §6103 — the federal holiday statute.
FAQs
US Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of November, set by Congress in 1941. Because November has either four or five Thursdays, the date drifts between November 22 and November 28. The day of the week is fixed (always a Thursday); the calendar date varies. Most US federal holidays are fixed-date (July 4, December 25); a handful (Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving) are fixed-weekday.
In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving from the last Thursday (then November 30) to the second-to-last Thursday (November 23) to lengthen the Christmas shopping season during the Great Depression. The change was controversial — states split between “Republican Thanksgiving” (the traditional last Thursday) and “Franksgiving” (FDR’s earlier date). Congress resolved the dispute in 1941 with a joint resolution fixing Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday of November — usually but not always the last.
No — Canadian Thanksgiving falls on the second Monday of October, about six weeks earlier than US Thanksgiving. It was set by Canadian Parliament in 1957. The earlier date reflects Canada’s shorter, earlier harvest season. Canadian Thanksgiving is also a less commercial holiday than its US counterpart — no equivalent of Black Friday, less travel, and less centred on family migration.
The traditional “first Thanksgiving” is the 1621 Plymouth harvest celebration, when the Plymouth colonists shared a three-day harvest feast with about 90 Wampanoag people led by Massasoit. The earliest surviving account is in a 1621 letter by Edward Winslow. It was a one-off harvest meal, not an annual tradition; there are also strong claims for earlier thanksgivings — including a 1619 service in Berkeley Hundred, Virginia and a 1565 Spanish Thanksgiving Mass in St Augustine, Florida.
President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, following a campaign by magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale (author of “Mary Had a Little Lamb”). Every subsequent president issued an annual proclamation. The fourth-Thursday convention was made law by Congress in 1941.
Thanksgiving is the busiest travel period of the year in the US. AAA forecast around 80 million Americans would travel 50 or more miles between Tuesday and Sunday of Thanksgiving week 2024 — of which roughly 72 million by car, 5.8 million by plane, and about 2 million by other modes. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is consistently the single busiest US travel day of the year; the Sunday after is the busiest day for airline travel.