Back in 1941, President Roosevelt made it official:

Thanksgiving became an annual custom throughout New England in the 17th century, and in 1777 the Continental Congress declared the first national American Thanksgiving following the Patriot victory at Saratoga.

In 1789, President George Washington became the first president to proclaim a Thanksgiving holiday, when, at the request of Congress, he proclaimed November 26, a Tuesday, as a day of national thanksgiving for the U.S. Constitution.

However, it was not until 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving to fall on the last Thursday of November, that the modern holiday was celebrated nationally. 

With a few deviations, Lincoln’s precedent was followed annually by every subsequent president -- until 1939. In 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt departed from tradition by declaring November 23, the next to last Thursday that year, as Thanksgiving Day. Considerable controversy surrounded this deviation, and some Americans refused to honor Roosevelt’s declaration.

For the next two years, Roosevelt repeated the unpopular proclamation, but on November 26, 1941, he admitted his mistake and signed a bill into law officially making the fourth Thursday in November the national holiday of Thanksgiving Day.

Down in Cuba, we had no idea of Thanksgiving.  The closest thing was cartoons about Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck celebrating a special day or Pluto stealing a turkey leg.  So my brother, sister and I started school and noticing that the kids were posting drawings of turkeys and Puritans praying.  

Finally, Miss Jones, that wonderful 6th-grade teacher I was blessed with, sat me down and explained the story, from the ship crossing the ocean, to the landing at Plymouth Rock, to the terrible first winter and eventually a day to say thanks for everything.   

So I went home and explained the whole thing to my mother who thought that it was a nice story.  She had that look of "what a country" or said something in Spanish like "wow these people pray and say thanks once a year.  Why didn't we do that Cuba?  Maybe we wouldn't have a communist dictator if we had prayed more?"

It did not take long for me to get into the Thanksgiving mood.  

Today, it’s my favorite American holiday for two reasons:

1) It demonstrates the role of faith in the early days of what would become the United States.

2) It confirms that this land was settled by self-reliant people who faced adversity and grew stronger.
Last, but not least, my parents could not pronounce Thanksgiving.  So the Cubans of their generation started to say something like San Givin.  It went on for a couple of years until my aunt finally said:  "Who is that Saint Giving anyway."  Nobody told us about that in Catholic schools.

Anyway, "Feliz San Givin" is now a Cuban tradition that we all laugh about.  There was no Saint Givin but that's what happens when your mother can't pronounce Thanksgiving.

So Happy Thanksgiving everybody.  Thanks for the comments and reading the posts.  Enjoy your family and see you soon.

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

Image: Jenny A. Brownscombe