Thanksgiving – for what?

On Thursday 27 November, Americans will enjoy their annual Thanksgiving. But what’s its background? Who started it? And when? How has it evolved?

The oft-repeated myth is that Thanksgiving – an annual celebration of harvest – dates back to the first harvest following the arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers in what today is the state of Massachusetts. True, there was a three-day harvest celebration in 1621, but this really cannot be regarded as the start of Americans’ modern-day tradition. The link between the thankful pilgrims and the modern-day Thanksgiving is really pretty tenuous and more the creation of some romanticised teaching of American history in the second half of the 19th century.

It’s also worth reminding ourselves that American history is replete with examples of “days of thanksgiving” for a number of significant national events. George Washington declared one in December 1777 to give thanks for his army’s victory over the British. And, as president, George Washington, John Adams and James Madison all declared various days of thanksgiving.

The regular observance of a national Thanksgiving Day in the late autumn (or “fall” as our transatlantic cousins would say) dates from 1863 and the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. In 1863, in the midst of the American Civil War, Lincoln ordered a Day of Thanksgiving to be observed throughout the nation on the last Thursday of November – 26 November 1863. Lincoln’s edict proclaimed: “The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. These bounties are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come. But no human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Highest God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.”

Thus began the national tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving on the last Thursday in November. By the way, lest one offends any of our Canadian friends, it is well worth knowing that Canada celebrates its Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October – a good six weeks before their neighbours to the south.

But astute scholars of America will know that today Thanksgiving is celebrated in the United States not on the last Thursday in November but on the fourth Thursday in November, a subtle change introduced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939. In that year, November had five Thursdays and the holiday was due to fall on the last day of the month. To get the Christmas shopping season started earlier, Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday. Not everyone approved, and a number of states dubbed the new date “Franksgiving” and kept to the later date for some years. Indeed, Texas didn’t finally change until 1956!

Lincoln’s admirable sentiments have, for most Americans, been sadly lost. Today, Thanksgiving is more regarded as a time for overcrowded roads, airports and shopping malls, overindulgence on food and drink, along with sports events and commercially-sponsored Thanksgiving parades.

To regain a right balance, Psalm 65 is a great Scripture to read at this time of year. The psalmist, speaking of God, reminds us that:

You visit the earth and water it,
You greatly enrich it …
You water its ridges abundantly,
You settle its furrows;
You make it soft with showers,
You bless its growth.
You crown the year with your goodness,
And your paths drip with abundance. (Ps. 65v9-11, NKJV)

We of the supermarket culture need to be reminded that the food we enjoy is not sent from a popular chain which rhymes with UNESCO, nor from any of its equally renowned rivals, but that, as we sing in our churches:

All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above,

So thank the Lord, O thank the Lord, for all His love.

To any readers with American connections – wishing you a truly thankful Thanksgiving!