To Who Am I Thankful?

[Lanya]

Doesn't sound like a very religious holiday to me....

[.......]
In 1641, the Dutch governor of Manhattan offered the first scalp bounty; a common practice in many European countries. This was broadened by the Puritans to include a bounty for Natives fit to be sold for slavery. The Dutch and Puritans joined forces to exterminate all Natives from New England, and village after village fell. Following an especially successful raid against the Pequot in what is now Stamford, Connecticut, the churches of Manhattan announced a day of "thanksgiving" to celebrate victory over the heathen savages. This was the 2nd Thanksgiving. During the feasting, the hacked off heads of Natives were kicked through the streets of Manhattan like soccer balls.

The killing took on a frenzy, with days of thanksgiving being held after each successful massacre. Even the friendly Wampanoag did not escape. Their chief was beheaded, and his head placed on a pole in Plymouth, Massachusetts -- where it remained for 24 years. Each town held days of thanksgiving to celebrate their own victories over the Natives until it became clear that there needed to be an order for these special occasions. It was George Washington who finally brought a system and a schedule to thanksgiving when he declared one day to be celebrated across the nation as Thanksgiving Day.
[...............]
http://www.meyna.com/thanksg.html

[Plane]

by the President of the United States of America



The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful years 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.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the field of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than theretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

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.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

In testimony wherof I have herunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

[Signed]
A. Lincoln



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http://www.christiananswers.net/q-wall/wal-alincoln-tgiving.html

[yellow_crane]

by the President of the United States of America



The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful years 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.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the field of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than theretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

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.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

In testimony wherof I have herunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

[Signed]
A. Lincoln



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http://www.christiananswers.net/q-wall/wal-alincoln-tgiving.html

It is clear that this day is a grateful recognition of bounty bestowed.

It is also clear that even Puritans can do something right.

It is clear, too, that many leading Christians today, folks like Pat Robertson, are turkeys.

I do not consider Pat Robertson as bounty bestowed, but rather as a Puritan who doesn't do much right.

[Brassmask]

I am curious, Brass, if you read this.  Do you have the big family get-together and turkey-fest?  If so - and assuming you have some family members who view this holiday in the more traditional sense - is a prayer offered?  Is it specific (said, for example, in the name of Jesus Christ or addressed to "Our Father in Heaven") or do you opt for a more generic prayer or expression of gratitude?   If the prayer is specific, how do you deal with it?

 


Stray,

Sorry about the delay in replying.

Usually, my wife, son and I attend Thanksgiving dinner at my mother's house with my sister's family and anyone that we invite.  (Sometimes even my dad is there with his current wife.)

There is ALWAYS a prayer at that event and generally we hold hands along with everyone else but my wife and I rarely bow our heads but I have been known to do so out of (gasp) respect.

My mother usually does the prayer and she always says something like "in our heavenly father's name" and so on and so forth.

I have had the big T-day dinner at my house twice, once pre-son and once post, and both times I "allowed" someone to say a "blessing" replete with heavenly fathers and in his names.

In addition to that, though, we also have a little thing we do where we all say what it is that we are thankful for.  One year, my mother gave everyone a little notepad with our names on it and everyone wrote in each other's pad what we were thankful to that person for.  We still have those notepads.

When the wife and I have another big T-day dinner at our house again, we'll have a prayer for those that like that sort of thing and we'll have some sort secular ceremony as well.

In thinking about Thanksgiving, I really don't think of it as a religious holiday.  My head fills with images of Puritans and Indians sitting down (pre-Native American holocaust) to eat together in order to celebrate unity and peace and the bounty of the harvest and not starving to death.

I've NEVER in my life thought of Thanksgiving as something to do with a god other than the obligatory "blessing".

[Xavier_Onassis]

Will we ever have a president who refuses to pardon the Thanksgiving turkey, and then slaughters a second, unnamed turkey and eats it?

There is actually a special farm for pardoned Thanksgiving turkeys somewhere in VA or MD, with a staff and everything.

[Stray Pooch]

Sorry about the delay in replying.

NP, but I have to say this IS stretching Thanksgiving leftovers to the limit!

Usually, my wife, son and I attend Thanksgiving dinner at my mother's house with my sister's family and anyone that we invite.  (Sometimes even my dad is there with his current wife.)

There is ALWAYS a prayer at that event and generally we hold hands along with everyone else but my wife and I rarely bow our heads but I have been known to do so out of (gasp) respect.

This is one of the great untold secrets of real families.  It's called "getting along" and it involves equal amounts of respect, tolerance, compromise and a touch of benign denial.  In theory, it sounds like a cop out, but it is actually facing differences head on.  A lot of civilized societies have used that method on a culture-wide basis, but it seems to be out of vogue.  It's simply a case of recognizing that some irreconcilable differences do not require reconciliation. 

In addition to that, though, we also have a little thing we do where we all say what it is that we are thankful for.  One year, my mother gave everyone a little notepad with our names on it and everyone wrote in each other's pad what we were thankful to that person for.  We still have those notepads.

I absolutley LOVE that idea.  I will be stealing it!

When the wife and I have another big T-day dinner at our house again, we'll have a prayer for those that like that sort of thing and we'll have some sort secular ceremony as well.

Sounds likely that you'll be building new traditions while respecting the old.  Loving that.

Thanks for the comeback.  Next year I'm asking my Thanksgiving questions on Halloween!

[_JS]

I missed this thread 

I agree with those who do not consider Thanksgiving a religious holiday. I certainly do not. It is strictly an American invention (though Canada has a similar holiday).

Interestingly, since Stray brought it up, Halloween is a day of religious significance in that it is All Hallow's Eve, the day before All Soul's Day. 1 November or 8 December as examples, have far more religious meaning to me than Thanksgiving ever will. (Though I enjoy the food, family, and football  ).