Origins of Thanksgiving
Is Thanksgiving a holiday that can be found in the Bible? Is it a holiday that anyone in either the Old or New Testaments kept? Or is it simply a tradition that has been adopted and handed down throughout the centuries? Many people would say that, no, one cannot find the keeping or celebrating of Thanksgiving within the pages of the Bible, but it is simply a day of thanks that God has given to us. Christianity has defined the holiday as a religous holiday, the day we're to thank God for all of our blessings. However, is this really so?
All holidays, Thanksgiving included, has its origins in paganism. We were all taught that Thanksgiving came into existence in America at Plymouth Rock in the 1600s, however, though Plymouth Rock was the origin of the first Thanksgiving in this country, it was not the first Thanksgiving ever celebrated. Thanksgiving and all of its accompanying traditions began as a pagan feast, honoring agricultural gods, and dates back thousands of years. It was proclaimed as an annual day of giving of thanks in 1789 by the Protestant Episcopal Church in America although the custom had long been practiced in New England. The Roman Catholic Church formally recognized the holiday in 1888, and it has been touted as a religious holiday, a harvest festival, and as a holy day. The questions beckons: whose holy day?
Today Thanksgiving has become a fixture and a tradition in our culture. However, it was also a tradition in many other cultures thousands of years ago. In ancient times, celebrations were held in honor of the bountiful harvest. The Greeks honored the god Demeter, the goddess of agriculture with a 9-day celebration. The Romans honored Ceres, the god of the harvest. Ancient people of the Mediterranean Basin held festivals at harvest time in honor of the earth mother. The goddess of the corn ('corn' being the European term for any grain; Indian [or American] corn is called 'maize') was always one of the most important deities in the hierarchy of gods. The ancient Semites called the earth mother Astarte, the Phrygians called her Semole; all of these local deities were absorbed by the Greeks into one great goddess, Demeter.
In Peru, the ancient Indians worshiped the 'Mother of Maize', their objective to persuade her to bring in another good harvest each year. In Europe, the Austrians had a 'Corn Mother' doll, made from the last sheaf of grain cut in the field. Interestingly enough, the Corn Mother doll was derived from the Roman version of the harvest god, Ceres, who was known as the Roman Corn Goddess. In Britain, she was known by several names: the Maiden, the Harvest Queen, the Kern or Corn Baby, the Kern Doll, the Ivy Girl, the Neck and the Mare. She came in many forms and variations; sometimes she was made from stalks of corn, other times she was represented by a sheaf dressed in many colored clothes. Her image, made from the last stalks of the corn left standing, housed her spirit, which it was believed dwelt in the corn.
Today, the Kern Baby, or Corn Baby, is by no means extinct, and can be seen in some churches as a part of the harvest festival decorations. Throughout England, one can still find Kern Babies attached to pews, and the custom of what was called 'crying the neck' (in which the best ears of corn were selected, and held downward towards the earth as a gesture of paying homage to the soil which had produced and nurtured the crops) practiced here and there in parts of Great Britain. Although the Pilgrims initially denounced and frowned upon all of the holidays practiced by England and refused to celebrate even Christmas because of its pagan origins, they eventually turned back to the patterns of their old society, adopting the traditions of the harvest festival, in which Abraham Lincoln, on October 3, 1863, declared as Thanksgiving, a national holiday, a day of praise 'to our beneficent Father who dwells in Heaven'. The so-called meaning of the day was changed; however its origins remain the same.
Many of us were most likely unaware of the origins and practices of Thanksgiving, and obviously do not keep its rituals or practice any of the traditions kept by those before us. However, does that still make it an acceptable holiday to observe? In the book of Jeremiah, God has this to say about it: 'Learn not the ways of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the nations are dismayed at them. For the custom of the people are vain...' (Jeremiah 10: 2-3).
What, if any, days did God actually set aside for man to keep if it is indeed our desire to be righteous and to serve him righteously? In searching the bible, we can find that he has set aside 7 holy days (not holidays) for man to keep each year. These set-apart holy days can be found in the book of Leviticus, the 23rd chapter, as well as in Deuteronomy chapter 16. Notably, in the sixteenth chapter of Deuteronomy, we see that 3 of these 7 set-apart holy days are in celebration of the harvest crop; Unleavened Bread, Feast of Weeks, and Feast of Tabernacles. These are the holy days that God gave man in recognition of the various crops that were harvested during the year (barley, wheat, and fruit). These are the days he has ordained for man to keep.
Thanksgiving brings about warm, comforting thoughts: turkey, pumpkin pie, and hot apple cider. Our ancestors, however, also practiced this same holiday, giving reverence to various deities and practicing rituals that are foreign to us. God gave us 3 set-apart holy days in recognition of the harvest, devoid of pagan rites and rituals and instead giving honor to the Most High God.
