In the United States, the Thanksgiving holiday is a four-day holiday over a weekend, starting on Thanksgiving Thursday and ending on Sunday. Families and friends usually eat a special meal together (usually with a turkey as the main dish). This meal also usually includes mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, several casseroles, and stuffing. The food eaten today for Thanksgiving is very different from the food that was eaten at the First Thanksgiving in 1621.