by Rob Walker
In his work The Fast and Thanksgiving Days of New England, 19th century author William Love documents how the Separatist Puritans viewed religious occasions as a time of solemn reflection and fasting. In part, the platform for their separation from the Church of England was built upon what they felt was an increasing contamination of holy days with mirth, recreation, and indulgence. But, after examining the Edward Winslow letter above (one of the only two eyewitness accounts to the “first Thanksgiving” in the New World), there doesn’t seem to be much solemnity to the event that took place in the autumn of 1621. So what exactly is the spirit of the Thanksgiving Day we celebrate? Should we strive to incorporate extra acts of thanks-giving beyond blessing the day’s fare? Immerse ourselves with family and friends in football and parades? Sacrifice and serve others who may be less fortunate? Is it really just Black Friday Eve?
In the writings of William Bradford from those early days on Cape Cod, one notices perils and struggles were usually followed with a time of giving God “solemne thanks and praise” for His deliverance. Says Love in his book,
“Such were the Pilgrims and such their habit day by day. Yet we should hardly suppose that, throughout the sufferings of that first dreadful winter, they had other than these spontaneous recognitions of their afflictions and blessings … There was no demand for a special day of humiliation; it was a life of fasting enforced by their suffering condition … But there was prayer, — constant prayer, like the throbbing of the pulse; and so an infant nation was born.”
Perhaps, in that sentiment, is the challenge for believers today. Not whether our Thanksgiving Day contains enough thanks-giving, or too much football, or social agendas openly paraded down city streets, but rather, are our lives lived in such a way that no special day is needed for us to express our gratefulness and praise to God. Can it be said that prayer and thanksgiving are as constant as the pulse of blood through our veins? Most of us do not come to this Thanksgiving Day having repeatedly escaped death by the elements, starvation, and sickness over the past year, but that is no excuse to minimize the deliverance from our daily struggles as less worthy of constant solemn thanks and praise to God.
So let us glorify God through all we do and say on this upcoming Thanksgiving Day. But more importantly, let us strive to live every day in complete dependence upon our Almighty God, never faltering in our expressions of thanks to Him. If that is our heart’s objective, I think we can agree upon William Love’s assessment of the events of 1621 and their role in our celebration of Thanksgiving Day:
“That this was a harvest festival cannot be disputed. But it has generally been termed the first autumnal thanksgiving in New England, and some have supposed that it was the inauguration of a continuous series of thanksgiving occasions. Such is not the fact. We have already learned what their idea of a religious thanksgiving day was, and the account itself shows that this was altogether a different celebration. …
The harvest festival at Plymouth in 1621 was an inspiration. It was not made; it was born. It did not look backward into the past; and, as for the future, no one thought of the real influence such a celebration would have. The present alone commanded it; its wonderful autumnal season, its relief from anxiety, its food for those who had endured hunger, — this benediction of the New World reanimated their drooping spirits. They could serve God as truly on a holiday in its recreations as on the Sabbath in its services. All slumbering discontent they would smother with common rejoicings. When the holiday was over they would be better, braver men, because they had turned aside to rest awhile.”
Love, William DeLoss. The Fast and Thanksgiving Days of New England. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1895.