When is Thanksgiving this year? In 2026, U.S. Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26. The holiday always falls on the fourth Thursday of November, so the date moves each year between November 22 and November 28.
That rule took 152 years to settle. Presidents set the day by proclamation from 1789 onward, Lincoln fixed it to the last Thursday in 1863, and Congress finally wrote the fourth Thursday into law in 1941. Here are the dates through 2035, the documents that shaped them, and what is planned for Thanksgiving week in 2026.
When Is Thanksgiving This Year?
Thanksgiving Day 2026 is Thursday, November 26. It is one of 11 federal holidays, Black Friday follows on November 27, and the New York Stock Exchange closes early at 1:00 p.m. Eastern that Friday. Canada held its Thanksgiving on Monday, October 12, 2026.
Every Thanksgiving Date Through 2035
The table also shows how many Thursdays each November has. In five-Thursday years, the fourth Thursday comes a week before the last one, which is the case the 1941 law was written to handle:
| Year | Thanksgiving (Thursday) | Thursdays in November | Canada (Monday) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | November 26 | Four | October 12 |
| 2027 | November 25 | Four | October 11 |
| 2028 | November 23 | Five (last Thursday is Nov 30) | October 9 |
| 2029 | November 22 | Five (last Thursday is Nov 29) | October 8 |
| 2030 | November 28 | Four | October 14 |
| 2031 | November 27 | Four | October 13 |
| 2032 | November 25 | Four | October 11 |
| 2033 | November 24 | Four | October 10 |
| 2034 | November 23 | Five (last Thursday is Nov 30) | October 9 |
| 2035 | November 22 | Five (last Thursday is Nov 29) | October 8 |
Each of the seven possible dates, November 22 through 28, comes up roughly once every seven years. The latest possible date, November 28, next falls in 2030.
Washington’s 1789 Proclamation: The First National Day
The first Thanksgiving under the Constitution came from Congress. On September 28, 1789, the first Federal Congress asked President George Washington to recommend a day of public thanksgiving. His proclamation, signed in New York on October 3, 1789 and shown above, set “Thursday the 26th day of November next.”
It did not create a habit. Later presidents proclaimed days of thanks irregularly, in months as different as February and April. The Continental Congress had issued one even earlier, for Thursday, December 18, 1777.
Sarah Josepha Hale and Lincoln’s 1863 Proclamation
The fixed November holiday owes most to one editor. Sarah Josepha Hale, who wrote “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and later edited Godey’s Lady’s Book, began writing essays for a national Thanksgiving in 1827 and launched a letter-writing campaign in 1846. The National Park Service calls it a 36-year quest.
On September 28, 1863, in the middle of the Civil War, she wrote to Abraham Lincoln. On October 3 he issued the proclamation above, written by Secretary of State William Seward, naming “the last Thursday of November next.” It was one of nine thanksgiving proclamations Lincoln issued, and presidents kept the last Thursday for the next 75 years, apart from Andrew Johnson’s first proclamation, which named a Thursday in December.
How Congress Fixed the Fourth Thursday in 1941
The last-Thursday habit broke in 1939. That year November had five Thursdays, and with the holiday due on November 30, business leaders worried about a short Christmas shopping season. Franklin Roosevelt moved it to November 23. Thirty-two states followed and 16 refused, so for two years the country held two Thanksgivings.
Congress stepped in. The National Archives’ record of the vote shows the sequence:
- October 6, 1941: the House passes House Joint Resolution 41, naming the last Thursday in November.
- December 9, 1941: the Senate amends it to the fourth Thursday, to cover years with five Thursdays.
- The House agrees to the Senate version.
- December 26, 1941: Roosevelt signs it, and it takes effect for 1942.
The result is today’s rule in 5 U.S.C. 6103: “Thanksgiving Day, the fourth Thursday in November.” In 1942 the whole country celebrated on November 26, though a few governors kept the last Thursday as late as 1951.
What Happened at the 1621 Harvest in Plymouth
Only two primary sources describe the event remembered as the first Thanksgiving, as Pilgrim Hall Museum notes: a letter by Edward Winslow and the journal of William Bradford. Winslow wrote that the governor sent four men fowling, and that the Wampanoag leader Massasoit, also known as Ousamequin, came “with some 90 men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted.” The Wampanoag killed five deer.
The gathering was as much diplomacy as dinner. The two groups had agreed an alliance that April, and the surrounding Indigenous population had been devastated by the “Great Dying” of about 1616 to 1619, which killed roughly 90 percent of the Indigenous population along the Northeast coast. Plimoth Patuxet counts at least 140 people at the harvest, including little more than 50 English colonists.
Thanksgiving Week 2026: What Is Scheduled
- Wednesday, November 25: Macy’s balloon inflation on the Upper West Side, and the NFL’s first Thanksgiving Eve game, Packers at Rams, on Netflix.
- Thursday, November 26, 8:30 a.m.: the 100th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC, Peacock and Telemundo, with a record 100 inflatables along a 2.5-mile route to Herald Square.
- Thursday afternoon and night: Bears at Lions, Eagles at Cowboys, then Chiefs vs. Bills at night.
- Friday, November 27: Black Friday, plus a Broncos at Steelers game, the NFL’s fourth Black Friday matchup.
Expect crowded roads. AAA projected a record 81.8 million Thanksgiving travelers in 2025, about 73 million of them by car. Flyers should review the TSA liquid rules before packing sauces or gravy, and check carry-on luggage size limits if gifts are going in the overhead bin.
The Macy’s Parade at 100: From Zoo Animals to Giant Balloons
The parade that opens Thanksgiving morning began as a store promotion. Macy’s employees staged the first one in 1924, calling it the Macy’s Christmas Parade, and marched more than five miles from 145th Street and Convent Avenue in Harlem to Herald Square with live animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo.
Balloons replaced the animals in 1927, starting with Felix the Cat, carried on sticks; helium arrived the next year. The parade was canceled from 1942 to 1944, when rubber went to the war effort. By 2025 it had grown to more than 5,000 volunteers, 32 balloons, 27 floats and 11 marching bands, and the 2026 edition marks the 100th parade with Underdog’s first flight since 1984.
Football on Thanksgiving Since 1934
Detroit’s game is the oldest of the NFL’s Thanksgiving traditions. The first, in 1934, saw the Chicago Bears beat the Lions 19-16 at University of Detroit Stadium; all 26,000 tickets sold out two weeks ahead, and NBC Radio carried it on 94 stations. The game paused from 1939 to 1944 and has been played every year since 1945.
Dallas joined in 1966 and has missed only 1975 and 1977. The 2026 matchup, Bears at Lions, is Detroit’s 86th Thanksgiving game, 92 years after the first.
Presidents, Turkeys and the Pardon
The turkey tradition grew slowly. Starting in 1873, a Rhode Island poultry dealer, Horace Vose, sent the White House its Thanksgiving bird, and the National Turkey Federation became the official supplier in 1947. In the photo above, from November 19, 1963, John F. Kennedy received a turkey and sent it back: “We’ll just let this one grow.”
The first formal pardon came from George H.W. Bush on November 14, 1989. Gerald Ford, by contrast, attended turkey presentations from 1974 to 1976 without pardoning any.
The turkey itself has become a smaller part of the American diet. USDA figures show U.S. farms raised about 200 million turkeys in 2024, led by Minnesota with 32 million and North Carolina with 27 million, while consumption fell from 15.9 pounds per person in 2019 to a projected 13.1 pounds in 2025.
Canadian Thanksgiving: The Second Monday in October
Canada’s holiday follows a different rule: the second Monday in October, set as an annual date in 1957. That puts it on October 12 in 2026 and October 11 in 2027. Earlier Canadian Thanksgivings moved around widely, starting with April 5, 1872, the first after Confederation, and for a decade from 1921 it shared a date with Armistice Day.
Canadian Thanksgiving is a statutory holiday in most of the country, but not in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick or Nova Scotia.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the earliest and latest date for Thanksgiving?
The earliest is November 22 and the latest is November 28, since the fourth Thursday always falls in that window. The next November 22 Thanksgiving is in 2029.
Is Thanksgiving a federal holiday?
Yes. It is one of 11 legal public holidays in 5 U.S.C. 6103. The day after Thanksgiving is not a federal holiday.
Why did FDR change Thanksgiving?
In 1939 the last Thursday fell on November 30, and business leaders feared a short Christmas shopping season. Roosevelt moved it to November 23, which led Congress to set the fourth Thursday by law in 1941.
When was the first Thanksgiving?
The 1621 Plymouth harvest took place sometime between September 21 and November 9, 1621. The first national Thanksgiving under the Constitution was November 26, 1789.
