Small child with head down on highchair. Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. Thanksgiving was celebrated nationally in 1789, after a proclamation by George Washington. It has been celebrated as a federal holiday every year since 1863, when President Lincoln proclaimed it a national day of "Thanksgiving". In 1941, President Roosevelt signed a bill making the date of Thanksgiving a matter of federal law and fixing the day as the fourth Thursday of November. Together with Christmas and New Year, Thanksgiving is a part of the broader holiday season. Photographed by Martin H. Zahner, 1905.