Thanksgiving Day is one of those things that really illustrates the difference between Britain and the USA. It also shows me each year the way that social networking can make us aware of important occasions that others celebrate: it would have passed me by completely had I not just seen various tweets about it.The Curt Jester has a good article pointing out that the first Thanksgiving was celebrated in St Augustine, Florida on September 8, 1565. It was the first community act of religion in the first permanent European settlement in the land: it also included both Spanish and natives. See: The actual First Thanksgiving in America
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving Day to all my readers in the USA and I hope you enjoy the turkey. God bless your families and God bless America!
8 comments:
Thanks, [burp] Father.
It really is one of our nicest civic holidays. Only absolute heathens here do not say some form of grace over dinner. [Even a lot of Catholics who don't normally say grace, will make a point of doing so.
This is one Catholics, Protestants, Mohammedans, Buddhists, Taoists, and "I believe in a higher being" types all get together on and thank God in our own individual ways.
The beautiful thing about this holiday is there is rather little commercialisation. I.E. nothing you "have" to buy other than dinner!
Now, "Black Friday" [the day after Thanksgiving] erupts in a frenzy of commercial activity -- one of the biggest sales days of the year. Called "Black" because businesses are hoping to get pushed INTO the "black ink" if they're not already there. Most people have that day off too, and it's often a good idea of how Christmas sales will go. People are out looking for great bargains. (and there's nothing else to do except lay around on the couch eating leftovers.)
To the ever conscientious Fr. Finigan and all our beloved friends in the motherland of Great Britain, thank you for the Thanksgiving wishes.
Ironically, many Americans are unaware that before the Protestant Puritans had their first Thanksgiving in 1621 at Plymouth Rock, Catholic Spaniards had already had their first Mass of Thanksgiving followed by a Thanksgiving meal in 1565 at Saint Augustine, Florida AND before that in 1541 in present day Texas.
Nevertheless, as an Italo-American, I join my fellow citizens in having turkey with trimmings along with ravioli, lasagna, fried eggplant, meatballs and sausage, et al.
THEN we have BRIOSCHI (Italian Alka-Selzter)
God bless
Thanks very much for this post, Father!
Well, my wife baked apple and pumpkins pies yesterday and made dinner rolls, the turkey is in the oven now and the aroma fills the apartment. In an hour or so, David and Joan Claire, my son and daughter in law, will arrive with our first grandchild, Lucia Marie, and we will sit down to the annual feast. She is only three weeks old and this is her first visit to grandma and grandpa's. We're turning up the temperature a notch so that she'll find it cozy.
So many answered prayers this year-employment, a healthy baby and a safe delivery and much else besides.
Grace before meals is usually a more spontaneous and protracted on Thanksgiving, often with the blessings of the past year mentioned, with as many as wish to do so piping up with their own prayers of thanksgiving. "Liturgically" it's a mess, admittedly, probably due to the Pilgrim influence :)
There was a good crowd at Mass this morning, too, as there usually is on Thanksgiving, who brought up bags of groceries at the offertory for the St. Vincent DePaul Society to distribute.
A good year, many blessings, a wonderful country still, and the hope of many blessing to come from the hand of a loving and merciful God.
Father Tim,
God bless you, and the UK, the Church in England, and all of the good and fruitfull work that you have done and are doing there. Keep working Brick By Brick!
Rob Federle
Livermore, CA
Spiritdaily.com also gives this link; http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09326/1014871-37.stm to the lovely story of the first thanksgiving Mass in Florida on 8th Sept 1565.
Thank you. And God bless you as well.
Thank you, Father. Have a blessed Advent and
a happy Christmas -- if it's not too early to say
that...
Hello Father and thanks for that post. Many are not aware that the formal institution of the national Thanksgiving holiday was intended as a means for America to fulfill the "duty of all nations" towards the "Lord and Ruler of Nations" in a public manner that promotes the "knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue..."
I posted some reflections on Thanksgiving in light of the social Kingship of Christ here:
http://opuscula.blogspot.com/2009/11/thanksgiving-and-christ-king.html
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