Dr. Charlie McCormick , Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Schreiner University and a member of the Kiwanis Club, was the featured speaker.

Thanksgiving reminds us that of the many holidays celebrated it is the most American of all holidays. But, is it truly American? Harvest festivals have existed for most of history. Harvest festivals celebrated a successful growing season, in years of bounty, the outcome of the Harvest could mean the difference between a community flourishing or dying during the winter months.  

The Greeks celebrated the God of the Harvest, Demeter, with a nine-day feast, hoping that her satisfaction would result in a good harvest to come.

The Egyptians had their version of the harvest Festival, celebrating to Min, the God of Fertility, with the Pharaoh going into the field and cutting the first of the grain.

The Hebrews celebrated the feast of Tabernacles, called the Sukkot. Among other things the celebration was honored by offering two loaves of bread to the temple.

The Chinese had The Harvest Moon Festival; the Hindus also celebrated harvest, as well. The celebrations were all meant to keep the Gods happy, in hopes of keeping your belly full.

But, the most direct ancestor of our Thanksgiving is the Tradition of the Harvest Home, a European tradition.

Harvest Home, also called Ingathering ,  traditional English harvest festival, celebrated from antiquity and surviving to modern times in isolated regions. Participants celebrate the last day of harvest in late September by singing, shouting, and decorating the village with boughs. The cailleac, or last sheaf of corn (grain), which represents the spirit of the field, is made into a harvest doll and drenched with water as a rain charm. This sheaf is saved until spring planting.

The ancient festival also included the symbolic murder of the grain spirit, as well as rites for expelling the devil.

A similar festival was traditionally held in parts of Ireland, Scotland, and northern Europe.

While Harvest Festivals generally set the calendar date for our Thanksgiving holiday, it was these Harvest Home Celebrations, that truly mark our Thanksgiving with some of the things we now take for granted, including feasting, merriment, parades and hosting others.

Even though there are earlier connections, there is still stubbornness in believing Thanksgiving is connected with the Pilgrims, as illustrated in this painting.

But the truth is the first documented celebration of Thanksgiving , and there were probably lots of others that we don’t have documentation of, took place in the late fifteen hundreds, more than fifty years before the Pilgrims would arrive in the new world. That ceremony took place when English Explorer Sir Martin Frobisher held a formal ceremony celebrating safe passage across the ocean, literally a Thanksgiving Celebration.

The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving are also sometimes traced to the French settlers who came to New France with explorer Samuel de Champlain in the early 1600’s, also before the Pilgrims arrival, who celebrated their successful harvests.

Two documented celebrations happened in what is now the United States prior to the arrival of the Pilgrims. English settlers led by Captain George Popham joined Abnaki Indians along Maine's Kennebec River for a harvest feast and prayer meeting. In 1619 English Settlers lead by Captain John Woodlief held a service of thanksgiving, in what is now Virginia, on the James River.

In spite of the history, our beliefs hold that the Pilgrims, after a devastating winter of 1620, which caused the deaths of some 42 of the 102 colonists that came across aboard the Mayflower, celebrated a bountiful harvest in 1621. The celebration was attended by some 90 Native Americans. Though feasting and gaming were probably not the ways the Pilgrims celebrated and gave thanks to God. In all likelihood the day was probably celebrated with prayer and fasting, which is certainly not associated with our contemporary Thanksgiving celebrations.

The 1621 gathering was, most likely, the last celebrated by Pilgrims and Native Americans, but in 1623 the Pilgrims almost starved out again, but in response to late summer rains came and saved the crops, Thanksgiving Fast Day, not a Feast Day, was called in recognition of their salvation. The Fast, and not the Feast, persisted in the U.S. in only one state until 1991 when the New Hampshire legislature retired the Fast Day and replaced it with Civil Rights Day.

Though harvest Festivals continued in the U.S., we don’t really have Thanksgiving again until 1789 when George Washington declared Thursday November 26^th a day of Thanks. Though set aside to celebrate a victory in the war of independence, and to try to unite the country. With the Harvest over in late November we begin to see that Washington’s effort pulled the Harvest festival from its agrarian roots and begins to do something else with that holiday, pulling us together as a nation. In other years congress had to set a date and ratify it, in some years they didn’t even bother, and when they did they moved the date around. There were some who did not like the holiday at all, including Thomas Jefferson. He did not think that the suffering of the Northern Puritans was worthy of a celebration by the rest of the nation, especially considering the 1619 celebration in what is now Virginia, preceded the Pilgrims. Though he recognized the value of the celebration as a family affair, he never supported it as a National Holiday.

Sarah Hale, an American writer and an influential editor, famously campaigned for the creation of the American holiday known as Thanksgiving. In her effort she spoke with governors of many states in an attempt to agree on a common date to celebrate. By 1852, she convinced 20 of the 31 states to celebrate on the same day. Virginia and Vermont continued to lead objections not to join in. At the same time she worked with governors she worked with presidents to establish a national holiday. Though her campaign preceded Lincolns presidency, it reached fulfillment in his presidency. He proclaimed the last Thursday of November as the National Holiday of Thanksgiving.

The presidents following Lincoln generally followed his practice, of declaring the last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving, until 1939. In 1939 FDR received pressure from retailers stating they could boost their sales if Thanksgiving would be moved up a week, to the fourth Thursday, instead of the last. In August of 1939 FDR sided with the retailers and moved the date to the fourth Thursday, for one-year, which wreaked havoc with calendars all over the U.S. Partisan politics ran as deep then as they do now, finding the Democrats strongly in favor of the move, and Republicans vehemently opposed to it. As a matter of fact FDR’s Republican opponent, from the preceding election, called the move confusing, impulsive and claimed FDR’s move was sprung on an unprepared country, with the omnipotence of a Hitler. FDR, following the statements, made the decision that in 1940 the country would celebrate Thanksgiving again on the fourth Thursday of November.

23 States began to observe the new date, while 22 states continued to hold Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of the month. Colorado, Mississippi and Texas gave holidays on both weeks. In 1941 a study conducted by the commerce department found that the move did nothing to bolster retail sales. In 1941 Congress passed a joint resolution that made the fourth Thursday of November a nationwide day of Thanksgiving. Eventually all states changed the dates of the recognized holiday, but it took until 1956 for the Lone Star state to adopt the change, officially.

Though the Pilgrims are central to the holiday, they are seen as a generic representation of the holiday, unlike Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny or Uncle Sam. In our collective psyche, the Pilgrims represent our parents in what has become a familial holiday.

Thanksgiving is and was a festival that celebrates food, with Turkey being the central image of the gathering. Americans consume about 535,000,000 pounds of turkey, each Thanksgiving. But, why the turkey became the centerpiece is a mystery. F course, at one point the Turkey was put forth as National Bird of the U.S. Ben Franklin championed the move, further describing the Eagle as a bird of bad moral character, and he thought the turkey stood for everything that was good and right with the world.

Franklin may have lost out in his argument to make the Turkey the National bird, but there is something about the turkey that is special to the U.S. It is almost exclusively an American bird, coming from the Mayan society. Most believe the Turkey represents the wild game and fowl meal we imagine the Pilgrims eating at that first Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving has evolved although the central theme is family gatherings, and many times those gatherings are not Norman Rockwell;

They are more like the Simpsons, it’s messy, you will have an uncle who tells an inappropriate joke, Grandma is going to fall asleep in the soup, someone will cry because the gravy is burned and we will all have to loosen our belts to ease the pain of over indulgence.

Thanksgiving, after all, is a lot like us; a wonderful and complicated mess and that makes this holiday so special.

Thanksgiving, with all of the drama, messiness and celebration is uniquely American.

Thanksgiving is not really about the borrowed traditions, it recognizes the fact that we, as a nation, are still surviving, that the harvest has passed,  and that we will make it a lot longer, so enjoy it for what it is and give thanks for all of your blessings.

Happy Thanksgiving