Thanksgiving really was just that

The oldest American Holiday is called “Thanksgiving” for a good reason.  It was originally established for just that purpose — giving thanks.

Sadly, its meaning has been largely lost in modern culture and even in modern education, where some have been taught that the origins of the term were because the Pilgrims “gave thanks” to the Indians for teaching them how to plant corn.

While it’s true that the Holiday’s deepest roots date back to that feast celebrated by Pilgrims and the Native Americans they met and befriended in the early days of making their home in the New World (modern-day Massachusetts), the purpose of that famous event was quite different.

It did have overtones of friendship and gratitude toward their new friends, to be sure, but the Pilgrims invited their new friendly neighbors to join them in a feast in order to thank God for His sustenance and many blessings.

A deeply religious Christian sect, the Pilgrims came to America for religious freedom while maintaining their British culture. Their first attempt to pursue the initial goal had led them to Holland, where they were free from the Anglican Church and could practice their own faith. But they grew concerned that their children were being steeped in Dutch language and culture, there, and they preferred to speak English and retain their British cultural distinctions.

That led them to the promise they envisioned in the New World and emboldened them to endure a long, tumultuous journey, fraught with danger, sea sickness, disease and death in order to pursue their dream of freedom. Those who made it through the journey landed well off course in a strange place which brought more challenges.

Their first harsh winter in Plymouth saw many more of their number succumb to hunger, disease, and weather. If not for Squanto, who spoke their language, and the Native Americans who befriended them and taught them many of the skills of survival, none may have endured. 

That led to the first Thanksgiving feast—a kind invitation and act of hospitality, but most importantly to an opportunity to thank God and invite their friends to join them in doing so.

The roots of the Thanksgiving tradition can be traced back even further—to Texas in 1541 and Cape Henry, Virginia in 1607, but it is that 1620 Pilgrim feast which is most familiar to us and most celebrated as the Holiday’s beginning.

The theme of giving thanks to God was so prevalent in early America that the Continental Congress set aside a day “for solemn thanksgiving and praise, that with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts and …and their humble and earnest supplication that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and…prosper…”.

Historic observations bore no resemblance to its modern trappings, which center on the pardoning a turkey, a day of full bellies and an afternoon watching football.

So engrained in American history is the Holiday that a long line of presidents have issued Thanksgiving proclamations. They’ve centered on its true meaning and actually called upon Americans to ponder what they’re truly thankful for and to express their gratitude to the One to whom they owe their thanks.

In the very first, George Washington said “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor,” while encouraging those in the new nation to “unite” in offering their thanks.

Thomas Jefferson proclaimed that “It be recommended to the several states…a day of public and solemn thanksgiving to Almighty God…to beseech Him that He would…pour out His Holy Spirit on all ministers of the Gospel, that He would…spread the light of Christian knowledge through the remotest corners of the earth… (and) establish these United States upon the basis of religion and virtue.”—quite remarkable statements from the Founding Father widely regarded as one of the least religious of the lot.

More than a century later, Abraham Lincoln wrote “The year that is drawing towards it close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies…We are prone to forget the Source from which they come…They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God…I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens…(to) observe…a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer to our beneficent Father, Who dwellers in the heavens.”

The forgotten Holiday

There’s no escaping the history of this Holiday, nor of the powerful role that faith has played in our American history. Today, sadly, it’s become a nearly forgotten holiday.

As our culture pulls us to enlarge Halloween and jump, immediately thereafter, to Christmas, let’s not forget to pause, this year, to remember the Holiday that was so meaningful to those who founded this nation and those who came before us. Let’s pause amidst the fine, wonderful traditions of a plump turkey, family gatherings and, yes, … football, to remember to actually give thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving!