This caught my interest because (a) I had been zoning out, wondering what I could do on my extra-long weekend, and (b) I've always been interested in if there was anything more interesting to do with Thanksgiving than what our teachers have been telling us since Kindergarten about Pilgrims and Indians, etc.

Well, hopefully I won't blab on and on like I usually do in describing what he said. Thanksgiving was made into a national holiday by Abraham Lincoln, our 16th president, because we had been fighting the Civil War (the one over slavery). While they were fighting the war, the North basically became too proud of themselves and forgot to be humble and didn't thank God (no offense to people who believe in other gods, this is just what they decided back then) for the good things that happened to them. Thus, God was taking his wrath upon them and making them lose the war.

Then good ole' Honest Abe gave his troops a few days to relax and become humble again. At the time, if you heard an adult saying it, they would tell you that that was why the North won the Civil War.


P.S. I know this is kind of late, but I thought you should know why Thanksgiving was created, for umm... just the purpose of knowing it, and so you can amaze your teachers (I'm just kidding about that last one).

Editor's Note: Here's a really in-depth article at the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A28419-2003Nov11¬Found=true. You may need to sign up for the Post online, but it's free -- check with your parents first, of course.