This European Country Has Started Observing Thanksgiving, Too

Thanksgiving Day is right around the corner, and if you live in the United States, you probably already know that this is a longstanding tradition. Although, there's quite a bit of legend surrounding the first Thanksgiving — after all, our knowledge of it comes from just one eyewitness account written in 1621, the year the feast was first observed — but it's generally agreed that there really was a meal shared between early colonists and the Wampanoag tribe that inhabited Plymouth Colony, now known as modern-day Massachusetts (via History). It wasn't until 240-plus years later, in 1863, that then-President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday (via Town & Country), and Americans have been sitting down to feast together on the last Thursday of November ever since.

But, did you know that some other countries celebrate Thanksgiving, too? Most of us know that Canadians observe their own version of the holiday – celebrated on a Monday, per Time. But, according to The Guardian, now more and more Brits across the pond are also starting to observe Thanksgiving.

In the United States, Thanksgiving is a big, big deal: The national holiday means that most workers get to have the final Thursday of November off, and 95% of Americans polled by SmartAsset said that they spend the day with family members. All throughout the 50 states, folks gather together around tables typically laden with turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie.

But, some may not know that across the pond, Thanksgiving is happening, too. According to The Guardian, one in six Britons in the U.K. celebrate what is sometimes termed "Britsgiving," in which many of the same traditions are observed. At the Waitrose chain of grocery stores, sales of turkeys go way up in November, and the hashtag #happythanksgiving trends on British Twitter, according to The Guardian.

So, what makes Britons want to celebrate the day? According to Jonathan Moore, an executive chef who works for Waitrose, "We take a lot of our food trend cues from America so it makes sense that we would give Thanksgiving foods a try" (via The Guardian). Plus, the U.K. is chock-full of U.S. natives — around 200,000, according to Experts for Expats — so it makes sense that they would want to celebrate the holiday, and might influence their friends to do so. After all, it's a day of feasting and being thankful — and who wouldn't like that?