BY STORMIE PERRY
"Thanksgiving like the Fourth of July should be considered a national festival and observed by all our people."-Sarah Josepha Hale. Thanksgiving is a time for feasting, being with family, and giving thanks to God. The Bible says in Psalms 100:4, "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving. And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name." This is why we celebrate and set aside a day or even a couple of days of feasting, is to give thanks and glory to God. But how did a day of thanksgiving come into being? And how did it evolve into the holiday that we observe today?
Aboard a ship called the Mayflower in the year 1620, traveling from England to the New World, was a group of people known as the Pilgrims. Men, women, and children of God looking for a land to where they could freely worship God. They arrived in America in 1620, but were ill prepared for the winter at their new home of Plymouth Plantation. It was a harsh time for the Pilgrims and many died that winter. When spring came around they were greeting by the local Native Indians who taught them how to grow crops and cultivate. In the fall of the year of 1621, the Pilgrims wanted to thank God for providing for them, and had a great feast for three days. Indian chief, Massassoit, Squanto, Samoset, and ninety of their men joined the Pilgrims in their festival of thanksgiving. This is considered the first Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving became a regular celebration all throughout the colonies in the 1700's. During the Revolutionary War, George Washington set aside days of thanksgiving to thank God for victories that had been won. Once Washington became the first President, he made a proclamation that was issued on November 26, 1789, to set aside a day of thanksgiving. It was the first national government observance of the day of Thanksgiving. Even though Washington had made a proclamation for thanksgiving, there was no regular observance of the day nor was it a holiday. In the mid 1800's, a lady named Sarah Josepha Hale, who was a writer and editor for a very prominent magazine, Godey’s Lady’s Book, advocated for Thanksgiving to become a national holiday. She had said this about Thanksgiving, "There is a deep moral influence in these periodical seasons of rejoicing, in which whole communities participate. They bring out the best sympathies in our natures."
Lincoln became President, and sadly our nation was torn by war. Sarah continued to urge President Lincoln to recognize Thanksgiving as a national holiday. In 1863, Lincoln granted Sarah’s wish to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. In 1863, Lincoln brought forth the Thanksgiving Proclamation, making Thanksgiving Day a national holiday as the last Thursday of November. Lincoln had said about Thanksgiving Day, "a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father."
Thanksgiving Day, being the last Thursday of November, did not give businesses much time in between Thanksgiving and Christmas. To avert this problem in 1939, President Roosevelt made Thanksgiving Day one week earlier.
In 1941, Congress finally passed that the fourth Thursday of the month of November would be set aside as a national legal holiday of Thanksgiving Day. "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 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." These are words from the document that made Thanksgiving Day a national holiday, the Thanksgiving Proclamation.
Thank God and all the men and women who made Thanksgiving Day a day of celebration and remembrance. Remember to thank God, especially on Thanksgiving Day, because the Pilgrims’ desire was to give thanksgiving to God. The meaning of Thanksgiving still stands, and it does remind everyone how truly blessed they really are. "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together."-Psalms 34:1-3.
