 Each year , the United States celebrates a holiday known as Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November . It is a federal holiday and frequently involves a family gathering with a large feast , traditionally featuring a turkey . Civic recognitions of the holiday typically include parades and football games . The holiday is meant to honor the First Thanksgiving , which was a harvest feast held in Plymouth in 1621 , as first recorded in the book New England 's Memorial by Nathaniel Morton , secretary of Plymouth Colony and nephew of Governor William Bradford . 
