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Thanksgiving Holiday – Conference Offices Closed

November 24, 2016 - November 25, 2016

If you think Americans have been celebrating Thanksgiving annually since 1621, guess again. Nobody at the time thought of it as the start of a new tradition, and there had been similar gatherings elsewhere earlier. Historians know there was another feast in the colony in 1623 — but it was held earlier in the year. Different colonies celebrated their own days of thanksgiving during the year.

In 1789, George Washington declared Thursday, Nov. 26, a Thanksgiving holiday, but only for that year, and it wasn’t connected to the Pilgrim feast but rather intended as a “public thanksgiving and prayer” devoted to “the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be.”

In that spirit, the Illinois Conference Offices are closed for this national holiday, to allow our staff members to gather with family and friends and celebrate the many blessings of life.

Learn more about Thanksgiving’s history in this Washington Post article.

Details

Start:
November 24, 2016
End:
November 25, 2016
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