Thanksgiving

We had an excited American assistant priest at mass today!

Religion is just one aspect of the day that celebrates the beginnings of prosperity in America

Christopher Lingle

One aspect of globalization is that some holidays have become internationalized. That is certainly the case with Thanksgiving Day, a distinctly North American feast day that is often celebrated around the world on the fourth Thursday of each November.

Photo: StockXpert

Many people consider Thanksgiving to be a religious holiday since the first celebration involved worshipful praise for an abundant harvest within a colony of devout Christians. In its modern manifestation, it is a day with broad secular appeal that unites all Americans of all faiths and even those with none at all.

In all events, divine intervention may not have been at work on the first occasion of a celebration of bountiful harvest that marks this day of feasting. As it turns out, the worldly basis for the first day of Thanksgiving involved changes in the economic system that had guided activities in a colony of pilgrims.

To fully understand this assertion, one has to consider an accurate account of the pilgrim’s progress. In the first instance, some historical misperceptions must be cleared up.

Every American schoolchild knows that in November 1620, a small band of pilgrims landed in Massachusetts and founded New Plymouth. Many Americans seem to recollect, or were taught incorrectly, that these pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving with their Indian friends.

While there was a three-day feast that took place after a shooting party in the fall of 1621, it was not the first Thanksgiving Day. Although many of the pilgrims owed thanks to local Indians who taught them indigenous practices such as fertilizing corn with fish, the original Thanksgiving did not include their aboriginal friends.

The harvest celebrated at the first Thanksgiving occurred later, after the pilgrims abandoned a form of agricultural socialism they had implemented upon their arrival. In large part, the first Thanksgiving was a celebration of the bounty arising from the pursuit of individualism and incentives associated with free markets.

The background for understanding Thanksgiving Day is found in records kept by the governor of the colony, William Bradford. He informs us that the pilgrims’ English sponsors arranged for all crops and goods to be held “in the common stock” from which they would be supplied, reflecting the religious beliefs of the colony.

As with many other recorded applications of communalism, there were disastrous results. Governor Bradford wrote that this experiment reflected a belief that common ownership of property would allow the colony to flourish. Instead, it was soon found that communal sharing resulted in unintended consequences. The pilgrims, as the Soviets discovered several centuries later, found that individuals work harder within an incentive system that allows them to maintain and enjoy the fruits of their labour.

The pilgrims’ initial experience mirrored the unfortunate experiment in Jamestown, where half of the original settlers either starved or fell victim to disease. With the pilgrims facing the prospect of a famine in the early months of 1623, they called a meeting to look into ways to escape near-certain death by starvation.

Their decision was to abandon their communist arrangement for the distribution of goods on the basis of “from each according to their means, to each according to their needs”. Instead, according to Bradford, from then on, “they should set corn every man for his own particular need.”

These new arrangements provided only a limited form of property rights, since land continued to be held commonly. Nonetheless, each family had a parcel of land to cultivate and they could keep what they grew, even if they could not deed the land to their heirs (similar agricultural reforms were initiated in China in 1978 under the direction of Deng Xiaoping. After centuries of cycles of famine, China has become self-sufficient in many foods and a net exporter of others).

Although it was recorded that the American colonists exhibited a dramatic increase in industriousness, these were offset the following summer by the effects of a drought. Following the convictions of their religious beliefs, they offered appropriate contrition for their sins. The drought ended and the harvest was saved.

And so it was that the pilgrims set about to celebrate a “day of thanksgiving” that Americans continue to celebrate to this day. Their new economic system that relied on individual efforts ensured they would be able to produce enough food for the future. This system continues to thrive within the freedoms enshrined in America’s national heritage.

Remembrances on Thanksgiving Day should not be limited to the pilgrims’ offering of thanks to God for the rain that saved their crops. It also provides an opportunity to praise the institutions of individualism, private property and liberty that make the US such a rich and welcoming country.

In fact, all wealthy and advanced industrial economies possess similar institutional arrangements that underpin their success and lay the groundwork for continued good fortune. And for that, they should all be thankful.

Something for the weekend

Today is the feast of St Francis in the universal church and tomorrow Harvest Thanksgiving in the local churches. Here are some non PC views for the weekend from a local clergyman in his parish magazine (Cayton):

Fighting the Forces of Nature

Someone once likened me to Saint Francis of Assisi. The facial resemblance might be striking but there it ends. Since keeping poultry, I have considered that foxes should be hunted to extinction. I hate pigeons, rabbits, moles, and every animal that is a vegitarian. Hedgehogs are OK because they eat slugs.

Many years ago I bought a house with no garden. So began the long experience of having an allotment and fighting the forces of nature. I've seen it all; pigeons that ate the tops of the sprouts,pheasants that ate the bottoms, rabbits that devoured the lot. Slugs, snails, eelworm, caterpillars, a mole that burrowed under the onions and destroyed the whole row, a rampaging herd of pigs that escaped from the farm, a Billy goat that chomped through the brassicas, and thieves who came in the night and pulled up a whole row of potatoes.

How lovely, people say, to be able to eat vegetables fresh from the garden. They don't know the half of it. Supermarkets sell perfect stuff; no holes in the potatoes, where the slugs have had a go, no carrots infested with carrot fly, no cabbages with a hawk moth caterpillar in the middle, blinking in the sudden light, no sprouts with cabbage white droppings, no parsnips with rust, no broccoli bristling with white flies. I once had an orchard. I learnt not to bite into a juicy apple because the odds were that there would be a wasp in it. Farmers spray with herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, and anything else that they can lay their hands on so that we have unblemished produce.

October is the month of Harvest Thanksgivings. People with twee middle class gardens with serried rows of pretty flowers, and who buy their food from a shop, really have no idea of what we should be thankful for, but I do. Every potato that comes up undamaged is a cause for celebration. When I see a thrush in the garden I know that the snails are in for a battering, and rejoice. The sound of a wood pigeon cooing anywhere near my greens throws me into paroxysms of rage, and sends me out, wildly waving my arms. People who feed these rats with wings should be put in the stocks. We can be heartily grateful that we are so well fed, and thank God for it.

May God bless you all,

Fr Allan.

Celebrating Thanksgiving

Today our American cousins celebrate Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a traditional North American holiday to give thanks to God at the conclusion of the harvest season. Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada.

First Thanksgiving

The earliest Thanksgiving events were held in the British Colonies, at present day Berkeley Plantation in Virginia in 1619 and at Plymouth in present day Massachusetts in 1621.

A long weekend

In the United States, Thanksgiving Day, always a Thursday, is part of four or five day long weekend which usually marks a pause in school and college calendars. Many workers (78% in 2007) are given both Thanksgiving and the day after as paid holidays, and others with leave benefits are allowed to take a vacation day. After Thanksgiving Day, the day after is known as the unofficial holiday of Black Friday, the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season. Many retailers open very early (typically 5 A.M.) and offer doorbuster deals and loss leaders to draw people to their stores.

Travel

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving Day, and the following Sunday, last day of the long weekend, are typically two of the heaviest annual travel days for passengers airlines, intercity rail and bus services, and highway travel.

Traditional celebration

Thanksgiving meals are traditionally family events where certain kinds of food are served. As is evidenced by the tremendous level of travel, significant effort is made by family members to gather for the Thanksgiving celebration. Family participation is notably inclusive ranging from the very youngest to the most senior. First and foremost, turkey is the featured item in most Thanksgiving feasts (so much so that Thanksgiving is sometimes facetiously referred to as "Turkey Day"). Stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, corn, turnips, rolls, pecan pie, and pumpkin pie are commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner, although it was quite probable that many of these culinary items did not feature in the first Thanksgiving in 1621. Often guests bring food items or help with cooking in the kitchen as part of a communal meal.

There is very little commercial activity associated with the Thanksgiving celebration itself. While Thanksgiving greeting cards are sold they are not widely used. Gifts, beyond food or drink items brought to share, are typically not expected or exchanged. Home made knick knacks or trinkets, especially those made by children, are often used as decorative items. These knick knacks or trinkets are often kept for many years.

In keeping with the holiday theme of giving thanks, during the socializing or meal, people talk about what they are thankful for or tell about experiences during the past year which have caused them to feel grateful.

Thanksgiving has no inherent religious content, and is widely considered to be a secular holiday. However, the holiday was originally established by President Lincoln with specific reference to giving praise to God. For some families, the religious heritage of Thanksgiving continues in the tradition of saying grace at the beginning of the Thanksgiving holiday dinner. Nevertheless, Thanksgiving is widely celebrated both by religious and secular individuals and families, including Jewish Americans.

The Thanksgiving season is also a time of generosity. People contribute food to annual Thanksgiving food drives and donate to charities.

1619 Thanksgiving at Berkeley Hundred in Virginia.

On December 4, 1619, a group of 38 English settlers arrived at Berkeley Hundred, comprised of about eight thousand acres (32 km²) on the north bank of the James River near Herring Creek in an area then known as Charles Cittie (sic) about 20 miles upstream from Jamestown, where the first permanent settlement of the Colony of Virginia was established on May 14, 1607.
The group's charter required that the day of arrival be observed yearly as a "day of thanksgiving" to God. On that first day, Captain John Woodleaf held the service of thanksgiving. Here is the section of the Charter of Berkeley Hundred which specifies the thanksgiving service:
"Wee ordaine that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantacon in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually keept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty god."

During the Indian Massacre of 1622, nine of the settlers at Berkeley Hundred were killed, as well as about a third of the entire population of the Virginia Colony. The Berkeley Hundred site and other other outlying locations were abandoned as the colonists withdrew to Jamestown and other more secure point.

After several years, the site became Berkeley Plantation, and was long the traditional home of the Harrison family, one of the First Families of Virginia. In 1634, it became part of the first eight shires of Virginia, as Charles City County, one of the oldest in the United States, and is located along Virginia State Route 5, which runs parallel to the river's northern borders past sites of many of the James River Plantations between the colonial capital city of Williamsburg (now the site of Colonial Williamsburg) and the the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia at Richmond.

Berkeley Plantation continues to be the site of an annual Thanksgiving event to this day. President George W. Bush gave his official Thanksgiving address in 2007 at Berkeley saying "In the four centuries since the founders of Berkeley first knelt on these grounds, our nation has changed in many ways. Our people have prospered, our nation has grown, our Thanksgiving traditions have evolved -- after all, they didn't have football back then. Yet the source of all our blessings remains the same: We give thanks to the Author of Life who granted our forefathers safe passage to this land, who gives every man, woman, and child on the face of the Earth the gift of freedom, and who watches over our nation every day."

1621 Thanksgiving, The Pilgrims in Massachusetts

The early settlers of Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts were particularly grateful to Squanto, the Native American and former British slave who taught them how to both catch eel and grow corn and also served as their native interpreter. Without Squanto's assistance, the settlers might not have survived in the New World.

The Plymouth settlers (who came to be called "Pilgrims") set apart a holiday immediately after their first harvest in 1621. They held an autumn celebration of food, feasting, and praising God. The Governor of Plymouth invited Grand Sachem Massasoit and the Wampanoag people to join them in the feast. Evidence to support that claim came from diaries of Plymouth. The settlers fed and entertained the Native Americans for three days, at which point some of the Native Americans went into the forest, killed 5 deer, and gave them to the Governor as a gift.

The National Thanksgiving Proclamations

National Thanksgiving Proclamations proclaim thanks for God’s providence in the events of the nation and, as President Washington explained in his Thanksgiving Proclamation, "for the many signal favors of Almighty God" in the lives of the people.

As congress recognized the importance of Thanksgiving observance, President George Washington issued a national Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1789. He wrote, "Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be—That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks—for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country...for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed...and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions—to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually...To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us—and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best."

In 1789 Washington designated a national thanksgiving holiday for the newly ratified Constitution, specifically so that the people may thank God for "affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness" and for having "been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed... "

The first official Thanksgiving Proclamation made in America was issued by the Continental Congress in 1777. Six national Proclamations of Thanksgiving were issued in the first thirty years after the founding of the United States of America as an independent federation of States. President George Washington issued two, President John Adams issued two, President Thomas Jefferson made none and President James Madison issued two. After 1815 there were no more Thanksgiving Proclamations.

If it weren’t for Sarah Josepha Hale, the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, the popular women’s journal of the 19th century, Thanksgiving Day would not have existed beyond that.
She wrote editorials and lobbied “that the LAST THURSDAY IN NOVEMBER shall be the DAY OF NATIONAL THANKSGIVING for the American people.”

President Lincoln succumbed to her pressure and proclaimed the last Thursday in November a "prayerful day of Thanksgiving."

Since then every U.S. President has always made an official Thanksgiving Proclamation on behalf of the nation.

"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, tranquillity and Union." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume VI, "Proclamation of Thanksgiving" (October 3, 1863), p. 497.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt set the date for Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday of November in 1939 (approved by Congress in 1941).

Fasting and Feasting

Harvest Fast Day 2007

This Fast Day, October 5, CAFOD urgently needs your help to deal with the worsening crisis in Zimbabwe.

With food supplies already running short and a poor harvest forecasted, usual coping strategies are simply not enough this year. One in three people are expected to be without food by March and many will run out very soon.

In response to this crisis, CAFOD has decided that all money raised from Fast Day will now go to helping the most vulnerable people in Zimbabwe.

Harvest Dinner Day 2007

STARTERS

Pate on toast or melon and orange compote

MAIN

Parsley and parmesan crumbed chicken or Stuffed marrow served with seasonal vegetables

DESSERT

Apple tart topped with meringue or other usual choices

SHERRY before, WINE with, COFFEE after.

Entertainment to follow