Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving Day. 

Thanksgiving Day (Jour de l'Action de grâce in Canadian French) is a national holidaycelebrated primarily in the United States and Canada as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Several other places around the world observe similar celebrations. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada. Thanksgiving has its historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, and has long been celebrated in asecular manner as well.

Observed by	United States  Canada  Liberia  Puerto Rico  Norfolk Island  Grenada[1]
Type	National, cultural
Date	2nd Monday in October (Canada) 1st Thursday in November (Liberia) Last Wednesday in November (Norfolk Island) Fourth Thursday in November (USA)
2013 date	October 14, 2013 (Canada); November 7, 2013 (Liberia); November 27, 2013 (Norfolk Island); November 28, 2013 (USA)
2014 date	October 13, 2014 (Canada); November 6, 2014 (Liberia); November 26, 2014 (Norfolk Island); November 27, 2014 (USA, Puerto Rico)

In the English tradition, days of thanksgiving and special thanksgiving religious services became important during the English Reformation in the reign of Henry VIII and in reaction to the large number of religious holidays on the Catholic calendar. Before 1536 there were 95 Church holidays, plus 52 Sundays, when people were required to attend church and forego work and sometimes pay for expensive celebrations. The 1536 reforms reduced the number of Church holidays to 27, but some Puritans, the radical reformers of their age, wished to completely eliminate all Church holidays, including Christmas and Easter. The holidays were to be replaced by specially called Days of Fasting or Days of Thanksgiving, in response to events that the Puritans viewed as acts of special providence. Unexpected disasters or threats of judgement from on high called for Days of Fasting. Special blessings, viewed as coming from God, called for Days of Thanksgiving. 

For example, Days of Fasting were called on account of drought in 1611, floods in 1613, and plagues in 1604 and 1622. Days of Thanksgiving were called following the victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588 and following the deliverance ofQueen Anne in 1705. An unusual annual Day of Thanksgiving began in 1606 following the failure of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 and developed into Guy Fawkes Day.

 “We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.” –Cynthia Ozick