A full menu of dates for ‘first’ Arizona Thanksgiving

From Nov. 22, 2007:

When was the first Thanksgiving in Arizona celebrated?

That’s a good question, which is another way of saying, I don’t know.

I guess it depends on how you define a thanksgiving. Many Native American cultures had harvest celebrations, although not necessarily on any particular Thursday of November.

In 1542, Francisco Coronado called for a feast of thanksgiving, but he was in what is now Texas, and it never became an annual thing.

In 1598, Don Juan de Onate, leader of an expedition into what is now Texas and New Mexico, told his party to take a break for a thanksgiving day, but that wasn’t a celebration of the harvest as we think of Thanksgiving today. You know, like: “Come ye thankful people come. Raise the song of harvest home, etc.”

During and after the Revolutionary War days, the Continental Congress and some of our early presidents declared days of thanksgiving, but they weren’t necessarily the harvest kind of thing.

In 1863, Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November a day of thanksgiving because the year had been “been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies.”

In 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt, moved the date to the second-to-last Thursday in November in hopes of stimulating Christmas sales.

So the first Thanksgiving in Arizona? Like I said, good question.

There’s no question that, as you prepare to give thanks this week, Clay would ask you to include The Republic’s Season for Sharing in your thoughts. It’s a way, Clay always said, to stop goobers, those who know people need help, who are able to help but don’t.

To donate in Clay’s memory: Fill out the form at sharing.azcentral.com. Go to facebook.com/seasonforsharing and find the “DONATE HERE” post. Text “SHARING” to 91-999 and click on the link in the reply. Or clip the coupon on Page 4A and mail it to the address shown. Make sure to mention “goobers.”