TODAY, as families across America gather around tables laden with turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie, millions pause to reflect on blessings and express gratitude. But Thanksgiving isn’t just an American tradition—it’s a universal human impulse to acknowledge abundance and share it with others. This spirit of thankfulness transcends borders, finding expression in cultures worldwide, including India.

The Origins of Thanksgiving

The story most Americans know begins in 1621, when Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony shared a harvest feast with the Wampanoag people. After a brutal winter that claimed half their number, the surviving colonists celebrated their first successful harvest with a three-day festival. This gathering symbolised cooperation, survival, and gratitude for the earth’s bounty.

However, the tradition we recognise today took centuries to formalise. President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863, during the Civil War, hoping to unite a fractured nation. He designated the last Thursday of November as a day of “Thanksgiving and Praise.” In 1941, Congress officially established the fourth Thursday of November as the federal holiday we celebrate today.

Yet the impulse to celebrate harvest and give thanks predates the Pilgrims by millennia. Ancient civilisations from Greece to China held harvest festivals. The Jewish tradition of Sukkot, the Christian practice of Harvest Festival, and countless indigenous ceremonies worldwide all share this common thread: recognising that we depend on forces beyond ourselves and expressing gratitude for what sustains us.

Thanksgiving Beyond American Borders

While Americans claim Thanksgiving as distinctly theirs, similar celebrations exist globally. Canada celebrates Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October, marking their earlier harvest season. In Germany, Erntedankfest (Harvest Thanks Festival) features church services and parades with decorated harvest crowns. Japan’s Labour Thanksgiving Day (Kinro Kansha no Hi) honours workers and productivity. Liberia, influenced by freed American slaves who settled there, celebrates Thanksgiving on the first Thursday of November.

Thanksgiving in India: A Growing Tradition

In India, Thanksgiving isn’t a traditional holiday, but its spirit resonates deeply with cultural values already embedded in Indian philosophy. The concept of gratitude—”kritagya” in Sanskrit—is foundational to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, and Jain teachings. Harvest festivals like Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Baisakhi in Punjab, Onam in Kerala, and Makar Sankranti across northern India all celebrate abundance and community sharing.

In recent years, urban Indians—particularly those with connections to American culture through work, education, or media—have begun celebrating Thanksgiving. International schools host Thanksgiving assemblies. Restaurants offer turkey dinners. Expatriate communities gather for potlucks. Indian families adapt the holiday, blending American traditions with local flavours—perhaps serving tandoori turkey or ending the meal with gulab jamun instead of pumpkin pie.

More importantly, many Indians embrace Thanksgiving’s core message: pausing amid busy lives to acknowledge blessings and express gratitude. In a nation where spirituality emphasises thankfulness to the divine, to parents, to teachers, and to nature, Thanksgiving fits naturally into existing value systems.

From Gratitude to Giving: The True Spirit of Thanksgiving

The most meaningful way to express gratitude isn’t just feeling thankful—it’s extending our blessings to others. Thanksgiving reminds us that abundance isn’t meant to be hoarded but shared. When we’ve been fortunate, we have an opportunity and responsibility to lift others.

This Thanksgiving, as you count your blessings—health, family, food on your table, a roof over your head—consider those who lack these basics. Across India, millions of children go to bed hungry, families lack access to healthcare, and individuals struggle without shelter or education. Your gratitude can become their hope.

Celebrate Thanksgiving by Giving Back on Give.do

Give.do, one of India’s largest crowdfunding platforms, makes it easy to transform thankfulness into tangible impact. Here are meaningful ways to celebrate Thanksgiving through giving:

Feed the Hungry: If you’re grateful for the meal on your table today, help ensure children don’t go to school on empty stomachs. Support organisations like Prasanna Trust in Bangalore, which serves nutritious breakfasts to nearly 2,000 government school students daily, or Voice of Slum in Noida, which has distributed 29,000 meals to 600 children in slum communities. Your donation ensures no child learns while hungry.

Provide Shelter and Care for the blind: Thousands of blind and disabled children across India need safe shelter, education, and specialised care. Organisations like Bharatiya Netraheen Kalyan Parishad provide free accommodation, computer training, and career development to blind girls, transforming lives like Rekha’s—an orphan who went on to secure a government position with the Ministry of Railways through the support she received.

Fight Childhood Cancer: For families facing a child’s cancer diagnosis, the financial burden can be as devastating as the disease itself. CanKids provides free cancer care to children whose parents cannot afford treatment, giving them not just medical care but hope and a fighting chance at life.

Protect Vulnerable Children: Support heroes like Girish who work to protect children rescued from red-light areas, providing them safety, education, and a future free from abuse and exploitation.

Make This Thanksgiving Count

Thanksgiving teaches us that gratitude without action is incomplete. This year, let your thankfulness flow outward. Visit give.do to explore causes that resonate with your heart. Whether you donate ₹500 or ₹5,000, you’re participating in a chain of compassion that transforms lives.

The beauty of giving is that it creates a circle—your gratitude becomes someone else’s blessing, which inspires more gratitude and more giving. This Thanksgiving, whether you’re in New York or New Delhi, celebrate the universal human capacity for generosity.

After all, the first Thanksgiving wasn’t just about feasting—it was about community, sharing, and recognising our interdependence. Today, we honour that spirit by ensuring our abundance reaches those who need it most.

Visit Give.do today and turn your gratitude into impact. Because the best way to give thanks is to give hope.