The Assumption of Mary: The custom of celebrating Thanksgiving, an annual celebration held after the harvest began around 1621 when the Pilgrims fulfilled a successful and bountiful harvest in the New World. The first Thanksgiving Proclamation was made in 1675. In the late 1700's a day of national Thanksgiving was proposed by the Continental Congress. In 1817 New York State adopted Thanksgiving Day as an annual custom. By the middle of the 19th century many other states also celebrated a Thanksgiving Day. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln appointed a national day of thanksgiving. Since then each president has issued a Thanksgiving Day proclamation, usually designating the fourth Thursday of each November as the holiday.

 

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The Assumption of Mary: The custom of celebrating Thanksgiving, an annual celebration held after the harvest began around 1621 when the Pilgrims fulfilled a successful and bountiful harvest in the New World. The fi . . . View Full Definition

Primary Control Tide Station: A tide station at which continuous observations have been made over a minimum of 19 years. Its purpose is to provide data for computing accepted values of the harmonic and non-harmonic const . . . View Full Definition

Primary Dealer: Usually refers to the select list of securities firms that are authorized to deal in new issues of government bonds.

Primary Consumer: A heterotrophic, herbivorous organism that feeds directly on a primary producer. Urchins are a primary consumer as they feed on kelp. See also heterotroph, food chain; compare secondary consumer.