--- description: A few facts about the history of Thanksgiving that just might give you a few more things to be thankful for this season. title: 5 Things You Didn't Know About the History of Thanksgiving image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt791301b52b8214fb/69876b4b5f570f2bafb13d48/thanksgiving_history_1280.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Thanksgiving](/tag/thanksgiving/) ## Thanksgiving Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 5 Things You Didn't Know About the History of Thanksgiving  by [Diane Tsai](/author/diane-tsai/)  ## Diane Tsai Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 26, 2014 5:55 PM CUT  Illustration depicting the Pilgrims serving food to American Indians at the first Thanksgiving dinner in 1621. Illustration depicting the Pilgrims serving food to American Indians at the first Thanksgiving dinner in 1621.American Stock Archive/Getty Images  by [Diane Tsai](/author/diane-tsai/)  ## Diane Tsai Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 26, 2014 5:55 PM CUT If not for some fortunate circumstances, Thanksgiving could have been a holiday of fasting — rather than feasting — every fourth Thursday of November. And though it’s a well-cherished occasion today, it was met with some disapproval in past centuries. In the video above, we present you with a few facts about the history of Thanksgiving that just might give you a few more things to be thankful for this season. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3607887/thanksgiving-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3607887/thanksgiving-history/"},"headline":"5 Things You Didn't Know About the History of Thanksgiving","datePublished":"2014-11-26T17:55:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:24:51.645Z","description":"Some tidbits about the holiday you can use to impress everyone around the Thanksgiving dinner table","url":"https://time.com/3607887/thanksgiving-history/","keywords":["Thanksgiving","Turkey","Dinner","Abraham Lincoln","Thomas Jefferson","holiday","George H.W. Bush"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt791301b52b8214fb/69876b4b5f570f2bafb13d48/thanksgiving_history_1280.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Diane Tsai","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/diane-tsai/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt791301b52b8214fb/69876b4b5f570f2bafb13d48/thanksgiving_history_1280.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"First Thanksgiving Dinner Illustration","caption":"First Thanksgiving Dinner Illustration","creditText":"American Stock Archive/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/thanksgiving/","name":"Thanksgiving"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3607887/thanksgiving-history/","name":"5 Things You Didn't Know About the History of Thanksgiving"}}]}] ```