Is Thanksgiving A Pagan Holiday?

We write about a lot of different topics on this blog, and one of the most popular topics we've covered has been God's Holy Days versus the world's pagan holidays. If you're a long-time follower of the blog you've probably realized that we've covered all the holidays by this point (If you aren't, I'll link to the rest of those posts at the end). Well, almost all of them. There is one we haven't talked about, and, as I'm sure you can guess from the title, that one is Thanksgiving. 

The question we want to look at today is whether or not it is okay for a Christian to keep Thanksgiving, or if, like the other holidays, it is simply a thin Christian veneer over a very evil and pagan holiday. Obviously, every day is a day of giving thanks to God for what He has done for us, but is declaring one day of the year as a special day to pause and come together with your family mean you don't give thanks the other days? No! It would be ludicrous to assume that, though similar arguments have been used about the Sabbath. If we are to worship every day, yada yada yada. 

Now, to jump right to it, I'll answer the latter part first. There is no underlying pagan holiday that goes along with Thanksgiving, and there are no obvious pagan roots. To understand that, you have to look at its origins and who started it. Calvinists or Puritans who came over from England seeking religious freedom had a tradition of randomly declaring days of thanksgiving for God's hand of mercy in their lives. The origins of our nation were strictly Christian and the founders, not the founding fathers but the original founders, understood that America was in a way a new sort of Israel. They were founding a nation in covenant with God. The one they celebrated in America was hardly the first one, but the important part is the tradition. They declared these days to give thanks to God for His hand and deliverance in their lives. 

Quite often these days would be in the Fall at the end of the harvest if for no other reason than that was when there was the most abundant food and God's blessings were the most obvious. When they came to America, the pilgrims went through an extremely rough patch where half of them died over the winter. The next year, they were able to plant and harvest enough food to see them through the following winter, and so, being heavily religious and recognizing God's blessings, they declared a day to give thanks and celebrate God's deliverance. 

It was essentially a one-time deal for that year, but it wouldn't be the last time they declared a day to thank God for the blessings that come from Him. In 1668, the Plymouth colony declared a day of Thanksgiving to be observed on the fourth Thursday of November to offer thanks for God's blessings.

 

Governor Bradford wrote in his journal that, “Thus out of smalle beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand [Who] made all things that are; and as one small candle may light a thousands, so ye light here kindled hath shone to many, yea in some sorte to our whole nation; let ye glorious name of Jehova have all ye praise.”

On October 3, 1789, George Washington proclaimed the last Thursday of November to be a day of Thanksgiving to give thanks to the “Almighty.” 

By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor-- and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be-- That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks--for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation--for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war--for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed--for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted--for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions-- to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually--to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed--to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord--To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us--and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Go: Washington

Finally, on October 3, 1863, Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving Day, the last Thursday of November, a national holiday. Out of all these proclamations, it was only this last one that could be questioned as being declared as a Christian Holiday. 

Washington, D.C.

October 3, 1863

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,

Secretary of State

Now, the question is, even with the clearly Christian roots of this day, should we keep it? 

We have a harvest festival already, a time to give thanks to God and recognize His plan for mankind, a time that clearly lays out His plan for humanity, something that Thanksgiving does not do. Is there a need for Thanksgiving with these other days God has commanded for us? 

That is, I think, missing the point of Thanksgiving. It is obviously not a day God has commanded, but is it wrong to keep a day of Thanksgiving to Him that He has not commanded? 

Is it wrong to be so thankful for His deliverance and the abundant blessings He has given us that we declare a day to keep just to give thanks to Him?

As long as you are keeping the days God has actually commanded and this day doesn't detract from that, I would say no. We are supposed to offer thanks to God, certainly every day, but one day when we take an extra pause to recognize what He has done for us is not wrong. 

In the story of Esther, they did much the same thing. The Jews recognized God's deliverance, and without blending paganism into their worship of God, they set aside a day to give thanks to God for their deliverance from that which almost killed them. 

Esther 9:21 (AFV) To establish among them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly,

Esther 9:22 (AFV) As the days in which the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned to them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day, that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions to one another, and gifts to the poor.

Just like there was nothing wrong with declaring Purim a day of giving thanks to God for His blessings, there is nothing wrong with us doing something similar either. Another point to think about is that Thanksgiving, as a truly religious holiday in its origins, is almost completely skipped over in our day and age. The world around us goes right from Halloween into black Friday and Christmas without even pausing on Thanksgiving any longer than needed to gobble up some food. It's almost entirely forgotten, whereas other days such as Christmas and Easter, supposed religious holidays, are gushed over and looked forward to all year long. Even this is a demonstration of the original Christian roots of this day.

Is there anything wrong with taking a day off to give thanks to our Creator? 

No, absolutely not, but before you go keeping a holiday declared by men, make sure you keep the ones declared by God first. If you are not obeying God, and honoring Him by coming before Him on His appointed times, His time that He set aside to meet with you, then why would you bother giving thanks on a day set apart by men?

The days of God are far more important than those set aside by men, whether Purim or Thanksgiving, and they aren't optional. Thanksgiving is optional, but it is a great time to remember the things God has done for us, how He gave His people a nation, and especially the Christian roots of this nation that are all but erased by our modern godless culture.