So what are you doing today? Visiting family? Eating more than you need to eat? Watching football? (Any hopeful Lions fans out there?) Watching movies? Going through the Black Friday ads and plotting your route?
In the United States, the tradition of Thanksgiving is said to have begun with the colonists at Plymouth, who celebrated a successful harvest with a feast. The first Thanksgiving holiday proclamation was given by President George Washington in 1789. Abraham Lincoln officially established the Thanksgiving holiday in the midst of the Civil War in 1863. In 1941, President Roosevelt signed the bill establishing the last Thursday of November as the official day of the Thanksgiving holiday.
This tradition of celebrating a successful harvest with a feast, however, goes back centuries. Most ancient peoples celebrated successful growing seasons. The Native American tribes of the Cherokee, Seminole, Yuchi, Iriquois and others celebrated the Green Corn Festival on the first full moon when the first corn crop was ready to harvest.
The Celts celebrated three festivals of harvest. The first was observed with Lughnasadh (LOO nah saw) on the first of August. Mabon was celebrated on the Autumn equinox, the day of equal day and night, on the twenty-first of September. The third and final harvest festival was the three day celebration of Samhain (SOW inn), October 31-November 2.
The ancient Romans celebrated Ceresia on the fourth of October. This celebration was dedicated to Ceres, the goddess of corn. This autumnal festival included the offerings of the first fruits of the harvest along with parades, music, games and sports, and a thanksgiving feast.
The Hebrew people celebrate Sukkot, the Festival of Booths or Tabernacles, outlined in Leviticus 23:42-43 and Deuteronomy 16:13-15. This festival is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the seventh month (Tishri,September-October), after the gathering of the harvest. They erect booths to commemorate their ancestor's 40-year wandering in the desert of Sinai. The first and last days of the festival are Sabbath days, on which they do no work. For seven days they present food offerings to the Lord. On the eighth day, they gather in assembly and present food offerings to the Lord.
It is only natural for us to celebrate the gifts given to us by Creator. Everything that we have comes from God. In the agrarian societies of our ancestors, the harvest festival was a natural reminder that all food - and everything they had - was a gift from Creator. They knew that they would not have the food and supplies that they needed to get through the winter months if it weren't for the gifts of sunshine, rain, soil, and seed, as well as animals for hunting. They recognized that all of these gifts were provided for them through the goodness of the Creator.
It is a little more difficult for those of us in post-industrial societies to remember that everything we have comes from God. If we need or want anything, we just drive to the store and pick it up. We get our food already processed and packaged from groceries. We buy clothes from our favorite retailers. We fill our houses with furniture and stuff that we get from furniture stores, chain stores, and malls. We must make an intentional effort to remember from where all that we have comes.
On this Thanksgiving day, as you are feasting with your family, remember your ancestors who physically labored for all that they had. Give thanks to Creator for the ease with which you can get food, clothing, and other things that you want and need.
And if you're going out to get more stuff tomorrow, Black Friday, go about your shopping with an attitude of gratitude, giving thanks to God for all the bargains you get. And remember, nothing matters more than family and love...nothing!
Give thanks to God, bless God's name; good indeed is the Lord, whose love endures forever, whose faithfulness lasts through every age. (Psalm 100:4-5)