HAPPY THANKSGIVING 11/24/05 TO YOU & YOUR LOVED ONES

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING 11/24/05 TO YOU & YOUR LOVED ONES

 

THE FIRST THANKSGIVING IN NORTH

AMERICA

The first Thanksgiving Days in New England, North America, were harvest

festivals, or days for thanking God for plentiful crops. For this reason, the

holiday still takes place late in the fall, after the crops have been gathered.

For thousands of years, people in many parts of the world have held harvest

festivals. The North American Thanksgiving Day probably grew out of the

harvest-home celebrations of England.

In the USA, Thanksgiving is usually a family day, celebrated with big

dinners and joyous reunions. The very mention of Thanksgiving often calls up

memories of kitchens and pantries crowded with good things to eat. Thanksgiving

is

also a time for serious religious thinking, church services, and prayer.

The first Thanksgiving observance in North America was entirely religious

and did not involve feasting. On Dec. 4, 1619, a group of 38 English settlers

arrived at Berkeley Plantation, on the James River near what is now Charles

City, Virginia, USA. The group's charter required that the day of arrival be

observed yearly as a day of Thanksgiving to God.

The first Thanksgiving in New England, North America, was celebrated in

Plymouth less than a year after the Plymouth colonists had settled in North

America. The first dreadful winter in Massachusetts, North America, had killed

about half the members of the colony. But new hope arose in the summer of 1621.

The settlers expected a good corn harvest, despite poor crops of peas, wheat,

and barley. Thus, in early autumn, Governor William Bradford, Massachusetts,

USA, arranged a harvest festival to give thanks to God for the progress the

colony had made.

The festival lasted three days. The men of Plymouth had shot ducks, geese,

and turkeys. The menu also included clams, eel and other fish, wild plums and

leeks, corn bread, and watercress. The women of the settlement supervised

cooking over outdoor fires. About 90 Indians also attended the festival. They

brought five deer to add to the feast. Everyone ate outdoors at large tables

and enjoyed games and a military review. Similar harvest Thanksgivings were

held in Plymouth during the next several years, but no traditional date was

set.

In 1621, the Pilgrims in Massachusetts, North America, had a very successful

harvest in October and had plenty of food for the upcoming winter. They

therefore, celebrated a day of Thanksgiving. The Pilgrim's Governor William

Bradford, Massachusetts, North America, proclaimed November 29, 1623, a day of

celebration and Thanksgiving.

THE CELEBRATION OF THANKSGIVING IN USA

The custom of Thanksgiving Day spread from Plymouth to other New England

colonies, in North America. For many years, the country had no regular national

Thanksgiving Day.

But some states had a yearly Thanksgiving holiday. During the Revolutionary

War, eight special days of thanks were observed for victories and for being

saved from dangers.

In 1789, President George Washington, USA, issued a general proclamation

naming November 26 a day of national thanksgiving. In the same year, the

Protestant Episcopal Church announced that the first Thursday in November would

be a

regular yearly day for giving thanks.

By 1830, New York, USA, had an official state Thanksgiving Day, and other

Northern states soon followed its example. In 1855, Virginia, USA, became the

nation's first Southern state to adopt the custom.

Sarah Josepha Hale, USA, the editor of Godey's Lady's Book, worked many

years to promote the idea of a national Thanksgiving Day in the USA. In 1863,

President Abraham Lincoln, USA, officially proclaimed the last Thursday in

November a national day of Thanksgiving. In 1941, President Franklin D.

Roosevelt,

USA, seeking to help business by lengthening the shopping period before

Christmas season, declared the third Thursday in November as a national

Thanksgiving holiday. Controversy followed and Congress, USA, passed a joint

resolution in 1941, decreeing that Thanksgiving should fall on the fourth

Thursday of

November, and would be a legal federal holiday, where and which it remains.

 

THE CELEBRATION OF THANSGIVING IN CANADA

Thanksgiving Day in Canada is celebrated in much the same way as in the USA.

It was formerly celebrated on the last Monday in October. But in 1957, the

Canadian government proclaimed the second Monday in October to be the holiday.

WHY THANKSGIVING DAY IS CELEBRATED ON THURSDAY IN USA

In Christianity, the Last Supper was the last meal between Jesus and his

apostles before his death. The meal is discussed at length in all four Gospels

of the canonized Bible. The meal is considered by most scholars to likely have

been a Passover seder, celebrated on a Thursday night (Maundy Thursday),

before Jesus was crucified on Friday (Good Friday). In the course of the last

supper, and with specific reference to taking the bread and the wine, Jesus

told his disciples, " Do this in remembrance of me " (1 Cor 11:23-25).

WHY DO PEOPLE IN USA & CANADA EAT TURKEYS ON THANKSGIVING?

One story tells of how Queen Elizabeth of 16th century England was chowing

down on roast goose during a harvest festival. When news was delivered to her

that the Spanish Armada had sunk on it way to attack her beloved England, the

queen was so pleased that she ordered a second goose to celebrate the great

news. Thus, the goose became the favorite bird at harvest time in England.

When the Pilgrims arrived in North America from England, roasted turkey

replaced roasted goose as the main cuisine because wild turkeys were more

abundant

and easier to find than geese.

You are beautiful. I love you.

DR BERNARR drbernarr

310-396-2914

God Healing, Inc. Natural Hygiene Society, Inc.

http://www.healself.org