Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - The U.S. Embassy in Jordan will be closed on Thursday, November 27, in observance of Thanksgiving Day. The Embassy will resume normal hours of operation on Sunday, November 30.

Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the fourth Thursday of November. The holiday’s celebration began in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621 when colonists invited the local Wampanoag people to celebrate the harvest after a harsh winter. President George Washington declared it a holiday in 1789. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln gave his Thanksgiving Proclamation, declaring the last Thursday in November a day of Thanksgiving, and on Dec. 26, 1941, Congress passed a law making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday of November.

In his 2013 Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, President Obama observed, “This Thanksgiving Day, let us forge deeper connections with our loved ones. Let us extend our gratitude and our compassion. And let us lift each other up and recognize, in the oldest spirit of this tradition, that we rise or fall as one Nation, under God. I encourage the people of the United States to join together whether in our homes, places of worship, community centers, or any place of fellowship for friends and neighbors and give thanks for all we have received in the past year, express appreciation to those whose lives enrich our own, and share our bounty with others.