Thanksgiving in the U.S.: Why It's the Fourth Thursday, What's Open and the Real Story of 1621

When is Thanksgiving

The next Thanksgiving is on Thursday, November 26, 2026. It is a federal holiday, set by law on the fourth Thursday of November (5 U.S.C. § 6103), so it always falls between November 22 and 28.

Because it's always on a Thursday, many people take Friday off and turn it into a four-day weekend. The day after, Black Friday, isn't a federal holiday, although some states give state employees the day off.

Canada also celebrates Thanksgiving, but on the second Monday of October.

Why the fourth Thursday

George Washington proclaimed the first national day of thanksgiving under the Constitution for Thursday, November 26, 1789, but for decades the date changed from year to year. In 1863, during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln set the custom of celebrating on the last Thursday of November.

In 1939, the last Thursday fell on November 30. To give stores a longer Christmas shopping season, Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday one week earlier. Thirty-two states followed him and sixteen kept the old date, so for two years the country had two Thanksgivings.

Congress settled it with a joint resolution, signed by Roosevelt on December 26, 1941: Thanksgiving became the fourth Thursday of November, which is not always the last one, since some Novembers have five Thursdays.

What really happened in 1621

The feast that inspired the holiday took place in Plymouth, in what is now Massachusetts, sometime between late September and early November 1621, after the English colonists' first harvest. It lasted about three days.

Almost everything we know comes from one letter, written by colonist Edward Winslow that December. He describes a hunt for fowl and the arrival of the Wampanoag leader Massasoit (Ousamequin) with about 90 men, who went out and killed five deer for the feast. Only about 50 English colonists had survived the first year, so the Wampanoag outnumbered them.

The colonists didn't call it Thanksgiving, and Winslow's letter never mentions turkey, only "fowl" and venison. The link between that meal and the national holiday was made much later, in the 19th century.

A day of mourning, too

For many Native Americans, the day carries a different meaning. Since 1970, United American Indians of New England have held a National Day of Mourning on Thanksgiving, at noon on Cole's Hill, above Plymouth Rock, to remember Indigenous ancestors and the losses that followed colonization.

The traditions

The menu is close to fixed: roast turkey with stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and green beans, with pumpkin pie for dessert.

Television has its own rituals. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has marched in New York since 1924, with the giant helium balloons arriving a few years later. Football is the other one: the Detroit Lions have played on Thanksgiving since 1934, with a break only from 1939 to 1944. At the White House, the president "pardons" a turkey, which is then sent to live out its days on a farm.