The Meaning of Thanksgiving

The first Thanksgiving was celebrated by the pilgrims in 1621 after their first harvest in the new world.  It was told that more than 80 native Americans and 50 pilgrims participated the celebration.  It is human nature to say thank after harvest or good fortune to those whom they believe to be the reason behind it.  Originally, the pilgrims are puritans, white and religious.  So the thanksgiving always has religious tone even the native Americans also participated.  When time goes by and new immigrants keep coming to the new world, the celebration of the Thanksgiving became less religious.  After all, most people say thank to God even they believe a different god.  The meaning of God transcends any particular religion.  This is the reason Thanksgiving is accepted by all works of life, all people in the US and Canada.  In fact, it is common in any part of the world, the people celebrate and say thank to god after some harvest activities.  It is only the US and Canada make it an annual ritual that transcends any particular harvest event.

Around 1000 AD, Leif Erikson tried to colonize the new world in Vinland near gulf of St. Lawrence.  After two years effort, they failed and left with most of them perished.  In this particular case, they had no reason to thank and they had every reason to curse as the fate was so cruel to them.  However, when people die, they cease to exist and they never get the chance to say what they believe.  This is like social Darwinism, the history is the winner's history.  Whatever come down generation to generation are those from the survivors and the winners in the struggle of existence.  So it is not hard to comprehend why Thanksgiving thrives and becomes popular as only the survivor and the winner say thank to their God.

Since I came to the US in 1965, the Thanksgiving Day has been important and meaningful to me as I was invited by American friends and host families to spend the day.  We spend the whole day together, talk about our life, our belief, play some games like jeopardy or chess, eat turkey dinner around a long and big table near a fire place.  Finally we say thank to God and go home peacefully.

When time goes by, we start to see something change as the commercial part of the holiday becomes evident.  Lately the first thing people have in mind is Black Friday when Thanksgiving is coming.  Black Friday is a big shopping day for people, started from 6 pm of the Thanksgiving Day.  It means you have to cut short your Thanksgiving dinner, have less time to be with your family and may not have a chance to say thank to God.  For those who have to work at this hour for the retail shops, their Thanksgiving Day are gone forever.  The original meaning of the Thanksgiving is thus lost in the oblivion.