Thanksgiving not a spiritual celebration

November 8, 6:54 PMHuntsville Christian Missions ExaminerSharon Cowan

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Thanksgiving pie

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Although common myth has it that the pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving with local Indians this first gathering had very little to do with the traditional holiday that we now celebrate. It was basically something that was not really planned but just happened even though it did result in a treaty between the local Indians and the early colonists of Plymouth Plantation. These early colonists did not begin an annual celebration but would regularly celebrate “Thanksgivings” follow favorable events. These events were proclaimed days of praise, prayer, and fasting because the early colonists called Pilgrims or Puritans were a Christian group that shunned holidays, particularly those that they viewed as hedonistic that had been celebrated in their homeland of England. There was a strong trend among the original colonies that would later become the United States to recognize a special time to thank their God for his many blessings. Even prior to the first governmentally proclaimed national holiday called Thanksgiving so designated by President Abraham Lincoln, Americans has been celebrating various state proclaimed days of Thanksgiving.
However our day of thanksgiving in which people gave thanks to their creator for his many blessings, particularly for a bountiful harvest, is nothing new. The practice of giving thanks to God while sharing a meal has its origins in the Jewish Passover meal. The Old Testament has many other examples of people giving thanks to God in response to His benevolence. The term thanksgiving does not appear however, in the Hebrew language. That term did not come into scripture until the New Testament when the people came under the influence of the Greek language.
Just like the practice of giving thanks to God for his blessing has been a part of history since the days of the early Hebrews, the practice of being grateful and expressing gratitude is also a spiritual principle. All major religions have the spiritual principle of expressing gratitude for the blessings of God. Not only is this an ancient spiritual principle it is a healthy one. Modern science has shown that people who have spiritual practices of expressing gratitude are not only healthier but able to overcome physical illnesses quicker than those who do have such regular spiritual practices.
Unfortunately, for many this spiritual practice of expressing gratitude is no longer a part of their Thanksgiving traditions. Instead Thanksgiving has become more about large meals, large family gatherings, football and shopping. Even the traditional meals that will be consumed at these family gatherings were not part of the original gathering. In fact most people would find the meal presented as somewhat strange. There were not pumpkin pies because the pilgrims lacked flour. There were no turkeys but instead fish, venison, clams, ducks, and geese. What pumpkin they had was simply boiled and serve much like a vegetable.
So whether from a food stand point or a spiritual one the family celebrations that will soon take place with bear little resemblance to what we think they commemorate.