Thanksgiving Day 2025

About Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving is a national U.S. holiday focused on gratitude, family, and a traditional meal usually centered on roast turkey. The holiday brings one of the heaviest travel weeks of the year, as millions of Americans return home for a four-day weekend.

History of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving traces its roots to a 1621 harvest feast shared by the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony and the Wampanoag people. Days of thanksgiving were observed irregularly during the colonial period and the early republic.

President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving holiday in 1863, set on the last Thursday of November. President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved it to the fourth Thursday in 1939, and Congress made the change federal law in 1941.

Thanksgiving Traditions

• A family meal of roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie
• Watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City
• NFL Thanksgiving Day football games, including the traditional Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys home games
• The presidential turkey pardon at the White House
• Volunteering at food banks and community meals

What's Open and Closed

• Closed: Federal offices, U.S. Postal Service, banks, most schools, the stock and bond markets, most retailers, and many restaurants
• Open: Drugstores like CVS and Walgreens (limited hours), some grocery stores, and gas stations
• Travel: Airports, Amtrak, and interstate highways are unusually busy in the days surrounding the holiday

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