Issued by President George
Washington, at the request of Congress, on October 3, 1789
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TEACHINGS
INFORMATION ON THANKSGIVING
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INTRODUCTION
The Pilgrims celebrated their first feast in 1621 with the Wampanoag tribal members including Chief Massasoit, and Tisquantum (also known as Squanto), the only survivor of his Pawtuxet branch of the Wampanoag tribe.
ARGUMENT
This harvest feast would have only occurred during the Biblical period of Sukkoth. There was no way the Pilgrims could have had a harvest outside with the natives in late November, because it would have been too cold outside. Nor would they have eaten it outside, as it was too cold for them to eat. It was well known they ate outside, and that would have occurred in an earlier and warmer date. Also, it would have been too late for them to harvest the food at this time, for it would have rotted or deteriorated. They did not have refrigerators to keep them until that time in November. It is my strong opinion that it was around the fall feast of Sukkoth.
Thanksgiving is an altered date of Sukkoth. As it says in the scriptures that one is not to add or take away from the word. Thanksgiving was an act of taking away from the fall feast of Sukkoth and added as another holiday on a different date that does not correlate with the agricultural period.
Yair Davidiy of Brit Am and Hebrew Nations emailed on November 27th, titled "Brit-Am Now no. 2367. Ten Tribes Studies". This is a section of this email, and this is what it says:
5. Extracts from Article.
Jews and Thanksgiving
Why the whole world should be Jewish.
by Rabbi Benjamin Blech
http://www.aish.com/sp/pg/Jews_and_Thanksgiving.html
"Thankfully – and the pun is intended – others
incorporated this idea into their traditions as
well. The pilgrims who came to the American
shores were steeped in the ideas of the Bible. In
1621, when the colonists in Plymouth
Massachusetts survived a harsh winter and were
blessed with a bountiful harvest, they recalled
the Torah holiday of Sukkot and in imitation
celebrated the first American Thanksgiving".
Yair Davidiy was stating that the Pilgrims, in which five of the founding Pilgrims are my ancestors, celebrated Sukkoth.
This next comment is from the Heritage Foundation regarding Thanksgiving, and this is what it says:
"Following a resolution of Congress, President George Washington proclaimed Thursday the 26th of November 1789 a day of “public thanksgiving and prayer” devoted 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.” Reflecting American religious practice, Presidents and Congresses from the beginning of the republic have from time to time designated days of fasting and thanksgiving (the Thanksgiving holiday we continue to celebrate in November was established by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and made into law by Congress in 1941)".
THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATIONS
It wasn't until President George Washington gave the beginnings of Thanksgiving.
These are manuscripts of President George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamations in 1789, and this is what they say:
This is the text of President
Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation below:
Thanksgiving
Proclamation
Thanksgiving Proclamation
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 and 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 favor, able interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquillity, 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 has 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 trangressions; 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 shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase 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
Notice that President Washington did not make one mention of the Pilgrims first feast, let alone with the Natives in 1621.
This shows us that it was not based on the Pilgrim feast, but an act of remembrance to hwhy.
The traditional Thanksgiving day was not established until 1863. This is the proclamation made by President Lincoln:
This is the 1863 manuscript
This is the text of President Abraham's Proclamation below:
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 unequaled 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 consiousness 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 Unites States the Eighty-eighth.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward,
Secretary of State
This is the official Thanksgiving Amendment passed by congress in October 6, 1941
This is the text of the joint congressional proclamation:
77th Congress 1st Session H. J. Res. 41
JOINT RESOLUTION
Making the last Thursday of November a legal holiday.
1 Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives
2 of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
3 That the last Thursday of November in each year after the
4 year 1941 be known as Thanksgiving Day, and is hereby
5 made a legal public holiday to all intents and purposes and
6 as the same manner as the 1st day of January, the 22d day
7 of February, the 30th day of May, the 4th day of July, the
8 first Monday of September, the 11th day of November, the
9 Christmas Day are now made by law public holidays.
Passed the House of Representatives, October 6th, 1941.
Attest:
South Trimble
Clerk.
Next, below is an adjustment amendment to the Thanksgiving Proclamation from October 6th, on December 9th, 1941
The text of it says:
In the Senate of the United States
December 9, 1941.
Resolved, that the joint resolution from the House of
Representatives (H. J. Res. 41) entitled "Joint Resolution
making the last Thursday in November a legal holiday", do pass with the following
AMENDMENTS:
Line 3 Strike out, [last] and insert: fourth
Amend the title so as to read: "Joint resolution making
the fourth Thursday in November a legal holiday."
Attest:
Edwin A. Halsey
Secretary.
The date of Thanksgiving in this congressional proclamation was changed from the "last" Thursday to the "fourth" Thursday. Congress realized that there could potentially be a fifth Thursday if the calendar sets the days in the right time line, and in most of Novembers, the latest Thursday occurs on the fourth week. As mentioned in the previous two proclamations, congress did not make mention of the Pilgrims, nor a feast with the Natives.
This is what the archives.gov website says regarding this Thanksgiving proclamation:
Congress Establishes Thanksgiving
On September 28, 1789, just before leaving for recess, the first Federal Congress passed a resolution asking that the President of the United States recommend to the nation a day of thanksgiving. A few days later, President George Washington issued a proclamation naming Thursday, November 26, 1789 as a "Day of Publick Thanksgivin" - the first time Thanksgiving was celebrated under the new Constitution. Subsequent presidents issued Thanksgiving Proclamations, but the dates and even months of the celebrations varied. It wasn't until President Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Proclamation that Thanksgiving was regularly commemorated each year on the last Thursday of November.
In 1939, however, the last Thursday in November fell on the last day of the month. Concerned that the shortened Christmas shopping season might dampen the economic recovery, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a Presidential Proclamation moving Thanksgiving to the second to last Thursday of November. As a result of the proclamation, 32 states issued similar proclamations while 16 states refused to accept the change and proclaimed Thanksgiving to be the last Thursday in November. For two years two days were celebrated as Thanksgiving - the President and part of the nation celebrated it on the second to last Thursday in November, while the rest of the country celebrated it the following week.
To end the confusion, Congress decided to set a fixed-date for the holiday. On October 6, 1941, the House passed a joint resolution declaring the last Thursday in November to be the legal Thanksgiving Day. The Senate, however, amended the resolution establishing the holiday as the fourth Thursday, which would take into account those years when November has five Thursdays. The House agreed to the amendment, and President Roosevelt signed the resolution on December 26, 1941, thus establishing the fourth Thursday in November as the Federal Thanksgiving Day holiday.
You can go to their web link by clicking on the link below to get to the webpage.
http://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/thanksgiving/
One can also get the annual presidential Thanksgiving Day proclamations from 1940-1949, during the Roosevelt and Truman administrations, and notice also that not at one time they mentioned anything regarding the Pilgrims or the natives in the first Plymouth Feast in this land.
You can access the article by clicking on the link below to get to the webpage.
http://www.pilgrimhallmuseum.org/pdf/TG_Presidential_Thanksgiving_Proclamations_1940_1949.pdf
SUMMARY/CONCLUSION
To reiterate, the Pilgrims, in 1621 celebrated a feast which would have been Sukkoth with the Wampanoag tribal members including Chief Massasoit, and Tisquantum (Squanto), the only survivor of his Pawtuxet branch of the Wampanoag tribe.
I pray this was an eye opener to everyone reading this, and this was "food for thought".
Any questions or comments can be written to
the.aleph-tav.project@msn.com
SHALOM
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