{"id":45392,"date":"2019-11-21T14:45:32","date_gmt":"2019-11-21T19:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=45392"},"modified":"2019-11-21T14:45:51","modified_gmt":"2019-11-21T19:45:51","slug":"nation-celebrates-its-399th-annual-feast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2019\/11\/nation-celebrates-its-399th-annual-feast\/","title":{"rendered":"Nation Celebrates Its 399th Annual Feast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims \u2014 early settlers of\nPlymouth Colony \u2014 held a three-day feast to celebrate a bountiful harvest. Many\nregard this event as the nation\u2019s first Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Wampanoag Indians in attendance played a key role but\nhistorians have recorded harvest ceremonies of thanks among other groups of\nEuropean settlers in North America, including the British colonists in Virginia\nas early as 1619.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legacy of thanks\nand the feast have survived centuries since the event became a national holiday\non Oct. 3, 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of\nNovember as a national day of thanksgiving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decades later, President Franklin Roosevelt officially\ndeclared that Thanksgiving should always be celebrated on the fourth Thursday\nof the month to encourage earlier holiday shopping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fun Facts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are several places in the United States that have the\nsame names as either the holiday\u2019s traditional feast or the early\ncolonists\u2019 arrival to the New World.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seven share the name of\u00a0the centerpiece of most Thanksgiving meals<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 the turkey \u2014 and have tiny populations:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey city, Texas, (pop. 339)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey Creek Census Designated Place (CDP), Ariz., (489)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey Creek township, Stone County, Ark., (316)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey Creek township, McPherson County, Kan., (343)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey Creek village, La., (424)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey town, N.C., (242)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey Valley township, Yankton County, S.D., (167)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five places are\u00a0named after the popular Thanksgiving side dish of cranberries:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cranberry Lake CDP, N.Y., (157)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cranberry township, Alleghany County, N.C., (155)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cranberry township, Avery County, N.C., (534)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cranberry township, Butler County, Pa., (30,132)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cranberry township, Venango County, Pa., (6,465)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three are\u00a0named after the Mayflower, the English ship that brought the first Pilgrims to the New World:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayflower Census County Division (CCD), Pike County, Ky.,\n(3,191)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayflower, city, Ark.,  (2,218)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayflower Village CDP, Calif., (5,828)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two counties have\u00a0Plymouth in their names<\/a>\u00a0as in Plymouth Rock, the landing site of the first Pilgrims:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plymouth County, Iowa, (25,027)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plymouth County, Mass., (509,114)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two places are\u00a0named Pilgrim:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pilgrim CDP, Mich., (52)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pilgrim township, Dade County, Mo., (79)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims \u2014 early settlers of Plymouth Colony \u2014 held a three-day feast to celebrate a bountiful harvest. Many regard this event as the nation\u2019s… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":45393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45392"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}