When is Thanksgiving and why is it so late this year?

We’re a little more than a week away from Thanksgiving, the holiday centered around gratitude, family and, let’s face it, food.

But if it seems like the annual event is a little later this year, that’s because it is. Thanksgiving 2024 is November 28th, which is technically as late as it gets. The reason is all because of two “C’s” – Congress and the calendar.

The Story of Thanksgiving

To understand the date of Thanksgiving, you need to go back to the state.

On September 28, 1789, Congress passed a resolution asking the president to recommend a day of thanksgiving to the nation. A few days later, President George Washington issued a proclamation designating Thursday, November 26, 179 as the “Day of Publick Thanksgivin”, marking the first time Thanksgiving was celebrated under the new Constitution, explained the National Archives.

Successive presidents issued Thanksgiving proclamations, but the dates and even months of the celebration varied, and it wasn’t until President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation that Thanksgiving was regularly celebrated each year on the last Thursday in November.

It all worked well until 1939, when the last Thursday of the month fell on the last day of the month. Concerned that the shortened Christmas shopping season could hurt the nation’s economic recovery, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving to the second to last Thursday in November. 32 states followed suit, but 16 states did not, keeping Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of the month, creating a holiday.

The dual holiday system continued for the next two years – the president and part of the nation celebrated it on the penultimate Thursday in November, while the rest of the country celebrated it the following week.

Congress decided to step in. In 1941 Parliament passed a resolution declaring the last Thursday in November as the legal holiday. The Senate changed it to make Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday to account for years in which November has five Thursdays. The House agreed, President Roosevelt agreed, and Thanksgiving as we know it was established.

So why is Thanksgiving so late this year? This is where the second “C” comes in. The first of November was on a Friday, which meant that the fourth Thursday fell on the last possible week. There will be only two days – the 29th and 30th – before December 1st and only 27 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.