 As presented by Kristopher Jordan to the 6th graders at CEIP Ramón Gómez de la Serna

 Thanksgiving Day is an American holiday that originated in order to celebrate the harvest of the crops in autumn, and to ask for a blessing for the upcoming year.  The holiday originated in England and was brought to the United States by English settlers that left England and brought their traditions with them

 Giving thanks for the harvesting of crops is a very common tradition in many cultures, although the traditions, the way things are celebrated, and the time of the celebration may be different

 The first Thanksgiving was November 26, George Washington, the first president of the United States, made Thanksgiving Day an official holiday in the U.S. after this first celebration.  Now it is celebrated the fourth Thursday of November.

 The tradition of Thanksgiving in the United States is commonly linked to a feast that was held between the pilgrims who had just arrived to what is now the United States, and the Indians who lived nearby.

 The pilgrims had arrived with insufficient supplies and for this reason, almost half of them died.

 The Indians, who had a lot of knowledge about farming and living off the land, donated supplies to the new European settlers and taught them how to farm and live off the land.

 So, in order to “give thanks” to the Indians, the settlers organized a feast and invited their new friends to join them so they could celebrate their new harvest and thank their new friends for all that they had done to help them.

 Thanksgiving now has become a holiday to spend time with family, eat good food, relax, and remember all of the things we are thankful for in our lives- and to remember not to take anything for granted

 The most common Thanksgiving food is turkey. Everyone eats turkey. As sort of a nickname, some people even call it “Turkey Day”. Of course, every family’s traditions are different, but Turkey is THE Thanksgiving staple. Other common items include: mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, sweet potatoes, corn, pumpkin pie, and cranberry sauce among other things.

 Turkeys are native to the Americas, however the Spaniards were the first to bring turkeys back to Europe, where they soon became popular all over.

 Another common tradition of Thanksgiving is having parades. The biggest parade is the Macy´s Thanksgiving Day parade which takes place in New York City and is on television every year for all people to see.

 The MOST American tradition on Thanksgiving Day is American football. Every year there are three professional football games that are played on Thanksgiving Day. The Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys always play games on Thanksgiving Day. This year, the games are the Chicago Bears vs. the Detroit Lions, the Philadelphia Eagles vs. the Dallas Cowboys, and the San Fransisco 49ers vs. the Seattle Seahawks.

 In my family, we always get together for Thanksgiving to celebrate and be with one another. We eat turkey, mashed potatoes with noodles on top, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie. It is my favorite holiday because I love to eat! But more importantly, it is a great day to remember how lucky we are to be alive and to have all of the people and things that we have in our lives. After we eat, we usually watch the football games that are on while we play a card game called “euchre”. As I said, every family has their own traditions, this is just what my family does. I love Thanksgiving and I am sad that I will not get to spend it with my family this year.

 The day after Thanksgiving Day is known in the U.S. as “Black Friday”. Although it is not a holiday, most people do not have to work on Black Friday because it is the day after Thanksgiving and it makes an extended weekend, much like the “Puentes” that you are very used to having here in Spain. Many people also have the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off of work as well.  Black Friday is widely known as the biggest shopping day of the year in the U.S. because Thanksgiving is the last major holiday before Christmas. On Black Friday, the stores open very early in the morning and offer huge deals and discounts on all of their things. For this reason, many people go shopping on this day, and that is how it got the name Black Friday.