Thanksgiving…..

By: J Robert Giles – CLICK HERE for full site

 

“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.”   - W. T. Purkiser

 

 

Do you think the Pilgrims, fresh off their previous label as “Christian Separatists”, prepared the first Thanksgiving Turkey according to Islamic Law? I highly doubt it. Apparently, somewhere along the way, Butterball Turkey got the impression that Thanksgiving was not an American or a religious holiday. Butterball gave into the demands of some form of lunacy and began slaughtering and preparing their turkeys in accordance with Islamic Law. The Butterball Turkey that you buy, prepare and bless in your own home with your family this holiday has already been blessed in Islam. How does that make you feel? Does it make you feel like standing up and voting some people right out of office? I sure hope it does. Not only out of office, but out of American leadership altogether. I’m not just talking about politics either. It’s time the logical, moral, Christian majority of this country stand up and squash the lunacy that surrounds us, but that’s a rant for another day. That’s a rant for a day when rage is released through printed word and hopefully sparks action, but today’s article is about Thanksgiving itself. The history of the holiday is interesting and worth exploring.

 

Liberals beware: we’re about to discuss actual history, not the made up fantasy world you try to shove down our throats. You might want to step off here.

 

• 1621 – Pilgrims went “fowling” in the woods around their community. Most likely hunted for geese and ducks since turkeys were much harder to capture and written accounts of the events suggest there were as many as 90 birds gathered for the feast. Thanksgiving, among the Pilgrims was a religious feast designed to acknowledge God’s blessing in some facet of daily life. Perhaps a good harvest, perhaps the end of a drought or an ample hunt; thanksgiving feasts were held as regularly as humiliation fasts. While the 50 or so villagers gathered for the feast, they noticed the Wampanoag Indians gathered at the gated entrance of their primitively fortified  community. The pilgrims welcomed the savage strangers and the two groups socialized peacefully for several days. The result of the rather raucous party was a 54 year peace treaty between the Colonists and the Wampanoag.
• Before you left-wing nutbags start claiming this as the first example of open immigration policies, let me remind you that the Wampanoag WENT HOME after the party. They came in, behaved appropriately, honored the customs of their hosts and graciously offered gifts from their own. Nowhere in any of the accounts of the first thanksgiving is there mention of a union demanding that the colonists abandon their religious beliefs, their spoken language, or their customs in order to spare the feelings of the visitors.

 

• 1789 – The first official Thanksgiving holiday was proclaimed by President George Washington. Congress had urged, and Washington agreed that “Thursday, 26 November, 1789 as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of Almighty God.” After  1798, the decision of celebration was left to the individual states. The South was reluctant to adopt what they viewed as a religious holiday.
• Wow, how times have changed. Imagine a Congress free to make legal suggestions with religious overtones. Heck, just imagine a politician brave enough to openly attach their names and in some instances, their life to a belief such as God’s necessity in the rule of our country. Wouldn’t that be amazing? These guys didn’t just talk about God during campaign season. No, they believed in His Word so fervently they were willing to die to give us the chance to worship freely. Think of the bravest human being you know and tell me if you honestly believe they would have the courage to do what the Founding Fathers did.

 

• 1867 – President Andrew Jackson declares last Thursday in November as National Thanksgiving Day. Prayers were spoken in public. Future liberals  wept.
• Ronald Reagan got his political inspiration from somewhere. Anyone ever studied Andrew Jackson? Fascinating.
• “Without sacrifice there can be no blessing”

 

• 1876 – Yale played Princeton in what is widely believed to be the first ever Thanksgiving Day Football game. After forming the Intercollegiate Football Association the previous day, the two teams played the first rugby-style football game. It was an answer to the “rather rowdyish and less scientific” style of ball being cheered for at Harvard.
• I would just like to point out that the phrase “rather rowdyish” and the word “scientific” have no place in a discussion about football. Several violations of man-code in that sentence alone.

 

• 1939 – 1941 – President Franklin Delano Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving back a week in order to extend the Christmas shopping season.
• FDR – the father of Social Security; the man who enacted laws to officially recognize unions in the American workforce; creator of the welfare state; overseer of the Great Depression……surely this man was a liberal, right? Surely such a great liberal would not have done something that so obviously and directly enhanced capitalism, but it’s true. FDR extended Christmas shopping season by simply moving a national holiday. Can you imagine if Obama tried to move Christmas? People’s faces would literally melt with rage!
• Texas and Colorado didn’t agree with the “New Deal Thanksgiving” but were forced to celebrate as it was federally mandated. In defiance, both states formally celebrated Thanksgiving twice those years!

 

• November 26, 1966 – Cowboys 26   Browns 14
• The Cowboys have hosted a rotating list of AFC opponents every Thanksgiving Day since. America’s Team is 27-15-1 in their traditional battle. (Let’s go get number 28!)

 

Thanksgiving is still a distinctly American holiday for obvious reasons. Like so many of the facts that have been twisted and erased from our history in a storm of political correctness, Thanksgiving is based on religious principles. Whether you look to the actual feast between Pilgrims and the Wampanoag, or if you look to President Washington’s first declaration of Thanksgiving as a National Holiday; both were based on religious compass. Tomorrow, when the kids are running around like sugared-up crackheads, the turkey is taking longer than expected, the sweater your wife made you wear is causing you to sweat in places you normally don’t sweat, and your pants are mysteriously too small…..remember that it is through the difficult times that we see our most precious memories. Thanksgiving is not just a day to be thankful for the good things. We must also make sure we take the time to acknowledge the difficult times and give thanks for the lessons learned. Life in colonial America was not always easy. There were diseases we’ve never heard of and winters we can’t imagine. The men and women who survived, and welcomed the strange savages into their community, were suffering through the most difficult time in America’s history yet they didn’t know it. In their heads, they were exploring new lands and just trying to make a better life for themselves and their families. Can you imagine what the Pilgrims would say to the sight of America today? Set aside all the technological and medical advancements; set aside the aesthetic differences of our times. What do you think the Pilgrims would say about our morals and our general way of thinking? What do you think the Pilgrims would say about our misinterpretation of their vision?

I’ll leave you with this thought…..The Pilgrims made seven times as many graves as they made huts yet they still managed to set aside a day of thanksgiving. Shouldn’t we do everything in our power to truly honor what sprung from that noble pursuit? Pray, feast, and relax because tomorrow is a new day and you will have missed your opportunity to do so.

Happy Thanksgiving, God Bless You, and as always; Thanks For Playing!

 

J Robert Giles