Americans observe Thanksgiving Day on the fourth Thursday in November. This holiday began in 1621, a year after a group of English Pilgrims landed in present-day Massachusetts in search of religious freedom. The Pilgrims suffered from disease, death, and failing crops during their first year in the New World. The Native Americans soon taught them how to grow new crops and saved them from further despair. One of the most important crops introduced to the Pilgrims by the Native Americans was corn. In the autumn of 1621, the Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving in order to give thanks for their successful harvest. They invited the helpful Native Americans and their chief to join in a feast of deer, turkey, cranberries, and pumpkin. Today, Americans across the country celebrate Thanksgiving Day with friends and family. One household usually invites friends and family to join them for a turkey dinner with traditional Thanksgiving foods such as cranberries and pumpkin pie. Many charitable organizations hold feasts for the homeless on Thanksgiving Day. Elementary school students often participate in school plays about the hardships of the Pilgrims and the assistance given them by the Native Americans. In 1924, Macy’s department store organized the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. The parade featured floats, clowns, animals, music, and giant balloons. Today, millions of Americans continue to enjoy the Macy’s parade in New York and around the country through television broadcasts