Celebrate Thanksgiving Day, America! 

 

 

  

Thursday, November 25

 

 

Thanksgiving was historically a religious observance to give thanks to God.

Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, currently celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, has been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863.

 

 Florida (1565) – claimed to be the ‘First Thankgiving’.

 

Author and teacher Robyn Gioia and Michael Gannon, of the University of Florida, have argued that the earliest attested “thanksgiving” celebration in what is now the United States was celebrated by the Spanish on September 8, 1565 in what is now Saint Augustine, Florida.

 

 Virginia (1619)

 

 

A day of thanksgiving was codified in the founding charter of Berkeley Hundred in Charles City County, Virginia in 1619. Berkeley Plantation, one of the first great estates in America, comprises about 1,000 acres (4.0 km²) on the banks of the James River on State Route 5 in Charles City County, Virginia. Berkeley Plantation was originally called Berkeley Hundred and named after one of its founders of the 1618 land grant, Richard Berkeley.

 

Benjamin Harrison IV built on the estate what is believed to be the oldest three-story brick mansion in Virginia and is the ancestral home to two Presidents of the United States: William Henry Harrison, his grandson, and Benjamin Harrison his great-great-grandson.

 

 

Massachusetts (1621)

 

 

  

While not the first thanksgiving of any sort on the continent, the traditional origin of modern Thanksgiving in the United States is generally regarded to be the celebration that occurred at the site of Plymouth Plantation, in Massachusetts, in 1621.

 

 

 

 

This celebration occurred early in the history of what would become one of the original Thirteen Colonies that later were to become the United States. This Thanksgiving was modeled after harvest festivals that were commonplace in Europe at the time.

 

 

 

The Leiden American Pilgrim Museum

 

 

This original, 16^th century house provides an excellent picture of how the Pilgrim Fathers lived in Leiden. Here you will also find the history of their Leiden period (1608-1620). In 1620 they left from the Rapenburg via Delfshaven and Southampton to come to America to, as it turned out, found a new nation.

 

According to historian Jeremy Bangs, director of the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum, the Pilgrims may have been influenced by watching the annual services of thanksgiving for the relief of the siege of Leiden in 1574, while they were staying in Leiden. http://www.hcgturkije.nl/steden/leiden

Thanksgiving in the United States was observed on various different dates throughout history. By the mid 20th century, the final Thursday in November had become the customary day of Thanksgiving in most U.S. states. It was not until December 26, 1941, however, that President Franklin D. Roosevelt, after pushing two years earlier to move the date earlier to give the country an economic boost, signed a bill into law with Congress, making Thanksgiving a national holiday and settling it to the fourth (but not final) Thursday in November.

 

Thanksgiving Prayers

• 2 Corinthians 9:15 – “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”
• 1 Thessalonians 3:9 – “How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you?”
• 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18 – “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
• Colossians 2:7 – “Rooted and built up in Christ, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”
• Colossians 3:17 – “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” 
• Deuteronomy 8:10 – “When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.”
• Philippians 1:3-4 – “I thank God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy.”
• Philippians 4:6 – “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God.”
• Psalm 18:49 – “Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O Lord; I will sing praises to your name.”
• Psalm 30:12 – “That my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks for ever.”
• Psalm 75:1 – “We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your Name is near; men tell of your wonderful deeds.”
• Psalm 100:4-5 – “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures for ever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”
• Psalm 105:1-2 – “Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.”
• Psalm 106:1; 107:1 – “Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures for ever.”
• Psalm 107:8 – “Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.”
• Psalm 147:7-9 – “Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make music to our God on the harp. He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills. He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call.”
• Revelation 11:17 – “We give thanks to you, Lord God almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign.”

 

^{A Celebration of Women}

^{sends our blessings and love to the Women of our World, their families & loved ones….}

 

^{Celebrating this Thanksgiving 2010}

 ^{in the United States of America!}