11/21/2016
THE STORY OF OUR
NATIONAL DAY OF THANKSGIVING
Harvest Festivals
Long before Europeans arrived in North America, most, if not all, Native Tribes celebrated harvest festivals throughout the year. Along with singing, dancing, and feasting, these days consisted of prayers of thanks to their Creator for providing food and safety. This was true of the Wampanoag people whom the Separatists Pilgrims interacted with in the 1600s.
In European countries, the ancient harvest festival was called Harvest Home. This was a time also for feasting, singing, and dancing, after the last sheaf of grain was harvested and brought home and stored for the winter.
Proclaimed Days of Thanksgiving
These days were celebrated for special events, such as the end of a drought or an epidemic, a military victory, or safe arrival after a dangerous journey. This type of celebration was observed in many countries over the course of World History. Throughout the colonial and federal years of United States History, many proclaimed days of thanksgiving were observed following the survival of such events.
The First of Its Kind
When talking about the “first” Thanksgiving, we are talking about the Mayflower Pilgrims, or Separatists. The Separatists did not celebrate much. They rejected religious authorities and symbols, and they believed God controlled everything. In particularly bad times, they might hold a Day of Humiliation and Fasting. In better times, such as surviving in a new land, they might observe a Day of Thanks Giving and Praise. So, in 1623, after a 3 day fast and a 14 day rain, the Pilgrims with their English/European traditions blended with their Wampanoag friends harvest festival, and the first “American” Thanksgiving was celebrated. Some historians believe this day is historically significant because the event was proclaimed from civil authority, namely Governor Bradford, and not the church, thus, making it likely THE FIRST CIVIL RECOGNITION OF Thanksgiving in New England.
An American Holiday Is Born!
The idea for an Annual Day of Thanksgiving arose in the 1640s among the farming towns in the Connecticut River Valley. On the chosen day, folks gave thanks for the blessings of the past year and for the harvest they had brought in from their fields. This observance thus brought more solidly together the two old traditions.
Slowly, the idea of an annual Thanksgiving Day spread throughout the New England Colonies, though, without some debate. Religious leaders lamented whether people might start taking God’s blessings for granted if days of Thanksgiving were not linked to special events. But the people like the idea of gathering their family together, attending a church service and celebrating the annual harvest with a feast. The idea grew and become very popular. By the early 1700s, annual Thanksgiving Days had been proclaimed by three New England States.
This now popular annually observed day, which still did not have a set date, did not stop proclamations of “A Day of Thanksgiving” by religious and/or civil authorities. All throughout the American Revolution and into the 1800s, days of public gratitude and prayer were decreed and observed. In 1777, while the British occupied the national capital, the Continental Congress, as penned thru Samuel Adams, decreed the following day of Thanksgiving and Praise, in saying:
“That at one time and with one voice, the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts, and consecrate themselves to the service of their divine benefactor.”
Abraham Lincoln, in 1863, decreed:
“It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and 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 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.”
One Woman’s Dream
Despite the popularity, a national observance of Thanksgiving was never seriously considered. It wasn’t until mid-1800 when Sarah Josepha Hale, the editor of Godey’s Lady Book, began her campaign for a DAY OF NATIONAL THANKSGIVING FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
Sarah’s life and accomplishments fills a book – poems, novels, essays. She raised money for the Bunker Hill Memorial and worked to help preserve Mount Vernon. She put together craft fairs and bake sales that brought in money for various projects and worthwhile organizations. But, she is most notably known as one of the most powerful magazine editors in United States History. And she used her editorial position judiciously from 1846 to 1863 to advocate for a national Thanksgiving Day.
In one of her editorials, Sarah pointed out the United States had only two national holidays: Washington’s Birthday and the Fourth of July. Christmas was not a Federal Holiday until 1870.
“Are not the sounds of war borne on the breezes of those festivals? One comes in the cold of winter, the other in the heat of summer, while the glorious autumn of the year, when blessings are gathered in, has no day or remembrance for her gifts of peace.”
Sarah believed that a national Thanksgiving Day had much to offer the United States. Her vision was of all citizens “uniting as one Great Family Republic.” She believed that such a day would “awaken in American hearts the love of home and country, of thankfulness to God, and the peace between brethren.”
Sarah wanted to give the United States a traditional day, not a proclaimed day of thanksgiving decreed by churches, politicians, or the military. She wanted a day that centered on family, blessings, gratitude, and praise of the land and to the Lord.
Though Sarah dedicated much of her life to the official establishment of Thanksgiving, she never saw it declared a national holiday. Through a great deal of political drama over 50 plus years, it wasn’t until 1941 did Congress finally make the last Thursday in November our National Day of Thanksgiving. Sadly, this was done without acknowledgement of Sarah’s involvement.
Those that know of her story consider her the Mother of our Day of Thanksgiving.
