And tomorrow is... Thanksgiving Day « English is fun!

Thanksgiving Day is the fourth Thursday in November, that is tomorrrow.

It is a federal holiday, so schools, banks, post offices, and government offices are closed.

Thanksgiving was the first holiday celebrated in America. It was first celebrated in the autumn of 1621 when the Wampanoag Indians and the pilgrims got together for a three-day feast and festival of fun.

Today, families celebrate Thanksgiving by eating turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, yams, corn, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and an NFL football game are special Thanksgiving Day events.

FOOD

In the United States, certain kinds of food are traditionally served at Thanksgiving meals. Firstly, baked or roasted turkey . Stuffing, mashed potatoes withgravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet corn, other fall vegetables, and pumpkin pie are commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner. Most of these are actually native to the Americans or were introduced as a new food source to the Europeans when they arrived.

THANKS

At home, it is a holiday tradition in many families to begin the Thanksgiving dinner by saying grace (a prayer before or after a meal).

VACATION AND TRAVEL

During Thanksgiving Day families and friends usually gather for a large meal or dinner. Consequently the Thanksgiving holiday weekend is one of the busiest travel periods of the year.^[

Thanksgiving is a four-day or five-day weekend vacation for schools and colleges. Most business and government workers are given Thanksgiving and the day after as paid holidays.^[Thanksgiving Eve, the night before Thanksgiving, is one of the busiest nights of the year for bars and clubs, as many college students and others return to their hometowns to reunite with friends and family.

PARADES

Since 1924, in New York City, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is held annually every Thanksgiving Day from the Upper West Side of Manhattan to Macy's flagship store in Herald Square, and televised nationally by NBC.

The parade features parade floats with specific themes, scenes from Broadway plays, large balloons of cartoon characters and TV personalities, and high school marching bands.

The float that traditionally ends the Macy's Parade is the Santa Claus float, the arrival of which is an unofficial sign of the beginning of the Christmas season.

There are Thanksgiving parades in many other cities.

SPORTS

American football is an important part of many Thanksgiving celebrations in the United States.

Professional football games are often held on Thanksgiving Day; until recently, these were the only games played during the week apart from Sunday or Monday night.

The National Football League has played games on Thanksgiving every year since its creation.