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Members discussing and researching current issues facing the congregations of God today

Introduction to the History of Thanksgiving

The history of Thanksgiving is complex and spans hundreds of years. From the late 1800s until recently many references and historical resources have reported that the origins of Thanksgiving came from the Pilgrims and their "first thanksgiving" in 1621.  But this has changed recently, and it is now common to find that the origins of Thanksgiving goes back further than the Pilgrims and American history.
 

1. Tracing the roots of Thanksgiving

The real historical roots of Thanksgiving go back to the Puritans in England, and further yet back to Roman and Greek harvest celebrations. But finding this information is very difficult and time consuming. Historian James Baker takes us back through the real roots of Thanksgiving in an abridged article titled The American Thanksgiving Holiday from the Encyclopedia of American Holidays and National Days.

Read more: The Origins of Thanksgiving

 

2. Popular understanding of Thanksgiving is inaccurate

We need to reevaluate the merits of observing Thanksgiving. The historical evidence is now readily available to us, and it can be proved that Thanksgiving is based on American mythology.

Read more: The Truth about Thanksgiving Day

 

3. The Pilgrims didn't create Thanksgiving

The Pilgrims didn't leave England for America, they left Holland. They didn't come here for religious freedom, they came here primarily for social and economic reasons. They didn't land on Plymouth rock or eat pie and cranberry sauce on the "first thanksgiving". They didn't even call the "first thanksgiving" a "thanksgiving". Thanksgiving had been observed in America for hundreds of years before the Pilgrims were even associated with Thanksgiving.

Read more: Why the Pilgrims? Mythology and Thanksgiving Day.

 

4. The definition of "Thanksgiving" is controversial

Comparing the definitions of Thanksgiving in modern references leads to a core conflict with the holiday. Is Thanksgiving day a religious holiday or a secular national holiday? It really can't be both, as these are contrary definitions. 

Read more: Defining Thanksgiving Day. What is it?

 

5. Thanksgiving, a harvest festival and a religious event

Two key events (among a few others) merged into what has become our modern Thanksgiving holiday, the Puritan's "days of thanksgiving" and the English harvest festival "thanksgivings". The key separation between these two was when and how often they were observed.

The Puritans set aside a "day of thanksgiving" any time of the year, and were in response to divine intervention. Harvest thanksgivings were single annual events observed after the harvest was completed.

Read more: Thanksgiving vs thanksgiving, The Thanksgiving Dichotomy

 

6. Kings, Presidents and Governors proclaim Thanksgiving is religious

Thanksgiving proclamations were sent out by the religious or civil authorities for the purpose of setting aside a day for expressing "thanksgiving to God". This is still the case today. Presidential proclamations clearly demonstrate the religious nature of this holiday. 

Read more: Religious Thanksgiving Proclamations

 

7. Thanksgiving and Freedom of Religion

In the first two centuries of colonial America, Thanksgiving was forced on the people by the King of England. These acts are part of what motivated James Madison to write freedom of religion into the Bill of Rights.

Read more: Religious oppression and the political landscape

 

8. Founding Fathers get rid of Thanksgiving

Because of the religious nature of Thanksgivings, Thomas Jefferson was motivated to write the famous line "separation of church and state" in response to religion being used in politics. Ironically, James Madison (who had expressed opposition to thanksgivings) proclaims the final Presidential Thanksgiving in 1815, and two years later details exactly why government lead Thanksgivings are detrimental to society.

Read more: The Founding Fathers and an end to government Thanksgiving

 

9. The real "creator" of Thanksgiving is Sarah Hale

Sarah Hale, an accomplished magazine editor, writer and Freemason, deserves most of the credit for our modern holiday Thanksgiving. But she is often overshadowed by larger than life myths, like the story of the Pilgrims. Understanding who she was is vital to understanding Thanksgiving.

Read more: Sarah Hale, The Mother of Thanksgiving

 

10. Synergism and Thanksgiving

Sarah Hale was very open about her ideas of combining multiple religions and politics together to create Thanksgiving Day. She frequently referred to scriptures that described God's harvest festivals and suggested we combine them with other religious and social activities. Sarah Hale actively promoted the same methods of synergism that created Christmas and Easter.

Read more: Sarah Hale's Thanksgiving campaign

 

11. The date of Thanksgiving

Sarah Hale was extremely specific and emphatic on which day Thanksgiving should take place. Her core reason was to find a date that allowed as many people as possible across the country to be able to keep Thanksgiving.

Read more: Why the “last Thursday of November”?

 

12. Christmas, New Years, 4th of July & Thanksgivings and Fast Days, all made holidays at the same time.

The first legal document to declare Thanksgiving(s) to be a holiday was an Act of Congress in 1870. This was the first step towards a permanent national holiday that Sarah Hale had been working towards for decades. And it's creation coincided with three of the most popular other holidays of the nation, Christmas, New Years and Independence Day. But it took another 70 years before Thanksgiving was permanently made a legal annual holiday without Presidential involvement.

Read more: When did Thanksgiving Day become a national legal holiday?

 

13. Thanksgiving Day called "holy"

Preachers have equated Thanksgiving to God's holy days, Presidents have called it "holy" and Sarah Hale sought to combine God's feasts into one single American festival.

Read more: Is Thanksgiving Day Holy?

 

14. The Pilgrims would not observe "Thanksgiving Day"

There is a bit of irony in the fact that the Pilgrims did not believe man had the ability to create their own "holy days", like Christmas. The Pilgrims documented their beliefs, and thanks to the printing press in the 1600's and the internet today, we have access to them first hand.

Read more: The Pilgrim leaders on religious anniversaries and holy days


 

15. Holidays vs. Holy Days, a new deception

Just 400 years ago, the Pilgrims made no distinction between a "holiday" and a "holy day", and neither should we. The etymology of the word "holiday" is "holy day".

Read more: Holy Days or Holidays?

 

16. The Romans and Greeks created the Cornucopia

Member's of God's congregations are unwittingly decorating their walls with symbols from Roman and Greek mythology in the name of Thanksgiving Day.

The cornucopia is a common religious symbol that is used by many gods in Roman and Greek mythology. A goat's horn that was given power by Zeus, it represented prosperity and abundance, a core idea of Thanksgiving.

Cornucopias were used as religious symbols on the temples and on the money when Jesus was on the earth. Based on the timing of circumstances, it's possible a cornucopia was on the back side of the denarius Jesus referenced in Mattew 22:19-21. And it was most certainly visible in the architecture that still exists today.

Read more: The Cornucopia