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Thanksgiving Heir
Of Old Country Rites
Thanksgiving reflects the *
American spirit more than any | other holiday, although it was ' celebrated in the ancient world , long before a turkey ever graced a \ platter. ' The Old Testament refers to j
many harvest festivals. Centuries j before the people of the Nile J learned to measure a year, they ,
gave annual thanks for the grain j
crops that would carry them j through the hard months ahead, the National Geographic Society says. The ancient Greeks honored ' Demeter, goddess of growing things. The ceremonies were so important that warring states called a truce to observe them. The Romans carried on the tradition by saluting Ceres, the grain goddess. The word “cereal” recalls the deity. Plebeians sacrificed a sow to begin the holiday and continued with processions, dancing, and sports. In the New World, many Indians regularly practiced thanksgiving rituals. The Iroquois of New York State, for instance, still ceremu..ially :.c thanks for “blessings provided by the Creator for the enjoyment and well-being of mankind.” The Pilgrims remembered the harvest-home festivals of England and set a pattern for Thanksgiving in the United States as a day of worship, feasting, and family reunions. The holiday didn’t really catch on until the time of the Revolution, however.
Throughout the war, the Continental Congress designated annual days of gratitude for victories. In 1780, soon after the Benedict Arnold plot was exposed, the annual message particularly thanked the Almighty for looking after the Commander-in-Chief “when treason was ripened for execution.”
The tradition continued to find1 favor after independence. In 1789, Elias Boudinot, member from New Jersey, rose in the new Congress and proposed that the President recommend a day of i Thanksgiving for the successful j establishment of the United] States Constitution. President! George Washington set aside the] last Thursday in November. j
But the holiday generally! became an off-again, on-again j affair until the Cicil War. At one time, people in various states celebrated Thanksgiving on separate dates and in eight different months.
President Abraham Lincoln revived Thanksgiving as a national day in 1863. “Peace,” he said, “has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of conflict.”
There might never have been a national Thanksgiving holiday, if Sarah Hale hadn’t won over President Lincoln.
A philanthropic widow, mother of five, and author of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Mrs. Hale also was the forceful editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, the most widely circulated magazine of the day. For more than 20 years she crusaded for a November Thanksgiving Day. Finally, President Lincoln found her plea irresistible. Smokey Says:
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