Celebrating Thanksgiving in American culture

Celebrating Thanksgiving in 
American Culture

The tradition is primarily from the Pilgrim's Thanksgiving celebration of 1621 that we derive 
the current tradition of Thanksgiving Day.

The Pilgrims set sail for America on September 6, 
1620, and for two months braved the harsh elements 
of a storm-tossed sea. Upon disembarking at Plymouth Rock, they held a prayer service and then hastily began building shelters; however, unprepared for such 
a harsh New England winter, nearly half of them died before spring.Emerging from that grueling winter, 
the Pilgrims were surprised when an Indian named Samoset approached them and greeted them in 
their own language, explaining to them that he had learned English from fishermen and traders. A week later, Samoset returned with a friend named Squanto, who lived with the Pilgrims and accepted 
their Christian faith. Squanto taught the Pilgrims 
much about how to live in the New World, and he 
and Samoset helped forge a long-lasting peace treaty between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians. Pilgrim Governor William Bradford described 
Squanto as 'a special instrument sent of God for 
[our] good . . . and never left [us] till he died." 

That summer, the Pilgrims, still persevering in prayer and assisted by helpful Indians, reaped a bountiful harvest. As Pilgrim Edward Winslow (later to become 
the Governor) affirmed, 'God be praised, we had 
a good increase of corn'; 'by the goodness of God, 
we are far from want.' The grateful Pilgrims therefore declared a three-day feast in December 1621 to thank God and to celebrate with their Indian friends - America's first Thanksgiving Festival. Ninety Wampanoag Indians joined the fifty Pilgrims for 
three days of feasting (which included shellfish, lobsters, turkey, corn bread, berries, deer, and other foods), of play (the young Pilgrim and Wampanoag 
men engaged in races, wrestling matches, and 
athletic events), and of prayer. This celebration and 
its accompanying activities were the origin of 
the holiday that Americans now celebrate each November.

However, while the Pilgrims enjoyed times of 
prosperity for which they thanked God, they also suffered extreme hardships. In fact, in 1623 they experienced an extended and prolonged drought. Knowing that without a change in the weather there would be no harvest and the winter would be filled 
with death and starvation, Governor Bradford called 
the Pilgrims to a time of prayer and fasting to seek 
God's direct intervention. Significantly, shortly after 
that time of prayer - and to the great amazement of 
the Indian who witnessed the scene - clouds appeared 
in the sky and a gentle and steady rain began to fall. 
As Governor Bradford explained:

'It came without either wind or thunder or any 
violence, and by degrees in abundance, as that  earth was thoroughly wet and soaked therewith, which did 
so apparently revive and quicken decayed corn and other fruits as was wonderful to see, and made Indians astonished to behold; and afterwards the Lord sent 
them such seasonable showers, with interchange of 
fair warm weather as, through His blessing, caused 
a fruitful and liberal harvest, to their no small comfort and rejoicing. 

'The drought had been broken; the fall therefore produced an abundant harvest; there was cause for another thanksgiving. The Pilgrim practice of designating an official time of Thanksgiving spread 
into neighboring colonies and became an annual tradition. And just as those neighboring colonies followed the Pilgrims' example of calling for days of thanksgiving, so, too, did they adopt their practice 
of calling for a time of prayer and fasting. The New England Colonies therefore developed a practice of calling for a day of prayer and fasting in the spring, 
and a day of prayer and thanksgiving in the fall.

The Thanksgiving celebrations so common throughout New England did not begin to spread southward until the American Revolution, when Congress issued eight separate national Thanksgiving Proclamations. 

America's first national Thanksgiving occurred in 
1789 with the commencement of the federal government. According to the Congressional Record for September 25 of that year, the first act after the Framers completed the framing of the Bill of Rights was that:

'Mr. [Elias] Boudinot said he could not think of letting the session pass without offering an opportunity to 
all the citizens of the United States of joining with 
one voice in returning to Almighty God their sincere thanks for the many blessings He had poured down upon them. With this view, therefore, he would move 
the following resolution:


'Whereas 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...Now, therefore, I do 
appoint Thursday, the 26th day of November 1789...
that we may all unite to render unto Him our sincere 
and humble thanks for His kind care and protection.'

'That same year, the Protestant Episcopal Church announced that the first Thursday in November 
would become its regular day for giving thanks, 
'unless another day be appointed by the civil authorities." Following President Washington's initial proclamation, national Thanksgiving Proclamations occurred only sporadically; most official Thanksgiving observances occurred at the state level. In fact, by 
1815, the various state governments had issued 
at least 1,400 official prayer proclamations, almost 
half for times of thanksgiving and prayer and 
the other half for times of fasting and prayer. 

Much of the credit for the adoption of Thanksgiving 
as an annual national holiday may be attributed to 
Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale, the editor of Godey's Lady's Book, a popular lady's books containing poetry, art work, and articles by America's leading authors. For nearly three decades, she promoted the idea of
a national Thanksgiving Day, contacting president 
after president until Abraham Lincoln responded 
in 1863 by setting aside the last Thursday of that November. The Thanksgiving proclamation issued 
by Lincoln was remarkable not only for its strong religious content but also for its timing, for it was delivered in the midst of the darkest days of the Civil War, with the Union having lost battle after battle throughout the first three years of that conflict. 
Yet, despite those dark circumstances, Lincoln nevertheless called Americans to prayer with 
an air of positive optimism and genuine 
thankfulness, noting that:

'The year that is drawing toward its close has been 
filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the Source from which they come, others have been added which are 
of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God...No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are 
the gracious gifts of the Most High God, Who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath 
nevertheless remembered mercy.

'That remarkable Thanksgiving Proclamation came 
at a pivotal point in Lincoln's spiritual life. 
Three months earlier, the Battle of Gettysburg had occurred, resulting in the loss of some 60,000 
American lives. It had been while Lincoln was 
walking among the thousands of graves there at Gettysburg that he first committed his life to Christ. 
As he later explained to a clergyman:

'When I left Springfield, I asked the people to pray 
for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, 
the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. 
But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves 
of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ. 

'The dramatic spiritual impact resulting from that experience was not only visible in Lincoln's Thanksgiving Day proclamation (and also his 1864 call for a day of prayer and fasting) but especially in 
his 1865 Second Inaugural Address.

Over the seventy-five years following Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation, presidents faithfully followed Lincoln's precedent, annually declaring 
a national Thanksgiving Day. In 1933, President 
Franklin D. Roosevelt began celebrating Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of each November, and 
in 1941, Congress permanently established that 
day as the national Thanksgiving holiday. 

As you celebrate Thanksgiving this year, remember 
to retain the original gratefulness to God that has 
always been the spirit of this - the oldest of all 
American holidays. 

'[Congress] recommended [a day of]...thanksgiving 
and praise [so] that 'the good people may express 
the grateful feelings of their hearts and join...
their supplication that it may please God, through 
the merits of Jesus Christ, to forgive [our sins] and...
to enlarge [His] kingdom which consisteth in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.' 

[I] appoint...a day of public Thanksgiving to Almighty God...to [ask] 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 that He would establish these United States upon the basis of 
religion and virtue.

[I] appoint...a day of public thanksgiving and praise...
to render to God the tribute of praise for His unmerited goodness towards us...[by giving to] us...the Holy Scriptures which are able to enlighten and make 
us wise to eternal salvation. And [to] present our supplications...that He would forgive our manifold 
sins and...cause the benign religion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to be known, understood, and practiced among all the inhabitants of the earth.

                                                                         

                                                                                          Written by David Barton

One of the greatest celebration in American Tradition 

is a day of Thanksgiving. Nine out of ten Americans 

eat turkey on Thanksgiving, and most do so around 

a family table. Food and tradition are the heart and 

soul of this most-loved, most-observed holiday. Thanksgiving has become the original myth of 

America and the expression of deeply held American cultural ideals. As it considers the evolution of Thanksgiving, from the 'First Thanksgiving' in 1621 

to the present day.