Autumn harvest celebrations are a tradition in nearly every culture dating back to the very beginning of human civilization. Most historians agree, however, that the Wampanoag Native Americans and Mayflower colonists reached a tenuous peace to celebrate their first successful harvest with a Thanksgiving feast in 1621. Annual Thanksgiving festivities continued as an informal observance until 1863, when, during the height of our Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln implored Americans to help “heal the wounds of the nation” as he officially proclaimed a national holiday to be known as Thanksgiving Day, and to be held on the  last Thursday of each November. In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week to boost retail sales during the Great Depression - but his "Franksgiving" holiday was met with such passionate opposition that in 1941 he signed a bill to set the fourth Thursday of every November as Thanksgiving Day.

The major milestones surrounding the institutionalization of Thanksgiving as an official federal holiday that entreats everyone to give thanks for family, friends, food and good fortune were rife with conflict, struggle and strife. Even 399 years after the first autumn harvest celebration known as Thanksgiving, it seems very little has changed in that regard. It is also interesting, if not ironic, that today’s corporate executives and economic experts celebrate the commercialization of Thanksgiving as the start of the holiday shopping season, which is represented first by Black Friday (in person shopping) and then by Cyber Monday (online shopping).