TRUE MEANING - THANKSGIVING

As a New Zealander I don't celebrate Thanksgiving, infact I'm not sure if people truely even know what it is all about. After alot of research, I'm not even sure if all American's know the true meaning of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is only celebrated in America and Canada but a few other countries as well, not all for the same reasons as the States and Canada though. Canada celebrates their thanksgiving each year on the second Monday in October, and America celebrates theirs on the fourth Thursday in November. Because of the long standing traditions the celebrations usually last till the weekend. Since this the first time I knew of Canada and the other countries celebrating thanksgiving this will be mostly about America.

When Europeans settled in America, they brought with them alot of their old traditions. In Europe, festivals were held before and after the havest cycles to give thanks for a good harvest, and to celebrate together with the rest of the community after all the hard work. Little did the Europenas know that the Native Americans also celebrated the end of harvest season.

All of my research has lead to the first thanksgiving being celebrated at Plymouth Massachusetts. 1961 is the was the first time thanksgiving was celebrated, in America and they gave thanks to finally being able to have a good harvest. One article i researched mentions that while initially, the Plymouth colony did not have enough food to feed half of the 102 colonists, the Wampanoag Native Americans helped the Pilgrims by providing seeds and teaching them to fish. I'm not entirely sure is this is acurate though, and as we don't study American history here in New Zealand, I can't say for certain if this is true or not. Several more articles have taken me down the whole christianity road, and as I'm not into religion myself once again I'm not entirely sure.

Even though some public schools teach the children that the Pilgrims wore buckles on their shoes or hats and were teetotalers, apparently this isn't the case. The Pilgrims smoked tobacco and dreank beer and their first havest festival and subsequent "Thanksgiving" weren't held to thank the local natives for saving their lives. People were leaving England by the boat load and alot of them fled England because King James 1 was persecuting those who did not recognize the Church of England's absolute civil and spiritual authority. The Pilgrims wrote the Mayflower Compact on the two month journey from England to America. The Mayflower Compact established just and equal laws for all of the new community both believers and non-believers, and these ideas came from the Bible.

A cold and rocky desolate wilderness awaited the Pilgrims when they landed in the New World, no shelter, inns or houses. During the first winter half of them died of sickness or expossure, and even the spring didsnt see them prosper. Why? Well apparently it was because the merchant-sponsors in London called for everything they produced to into a common store. Each member of the community was entiltled to one common share. All the land that they cleared and the houses they built belonged to the community. William Bradford quickly saw what was wrong with this whole idea, and even back then people who had incentive would work better. After assigning a plot of land to each family to work and manage soon led to them having more food than they could eat. They set up trading posts and exchanged good with the Indians, they used any profits to pay off their debts to the merchants in London much faster, and set off what is called the "great Puritan Migration."

Here is where some people would say that it wasn't only the economic system that allowed the Pilgrims to prosper, it was their devotion to God and his laws. The Pilgrims recognized that everything they had was a gift from God, and so they started the Thanksgiving tradition to honor God and thank him for his blessings.

As I'm not an American and will see in the fourth day of November before America, I have no idea which is true. Is thanksgiving about celebrating the American Indians for helping the Pilgrims survive and prosper in the wilderness of the New World? Or is it a celebration of thanks to God for everything he blessed them with?

I can't answer that for anyone. However no matter which way you believe, enjoy the time with your loved ones, and take the time to give thanks for everything you have including the people you love. HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM BRIGHTSIDE BINCHECK :)