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I wish all my friends and followers in the United States a peaceful and happy Thanksgiving. Before I lived there (which I did for 12 years), I had no idea what a significant holiday this is. Now I know – it is huge!Now I think we all know that being grateful is a good thing. It is good for us both spiritually and psychologically. So today let’s put cynicism aside and embrace that idea at least. It is a timeless concept and not, of itself, linked to historical events. Despite the wretched suffering in the world and the threats to the earth’s survival, our planet remains an enchanted place. There is so much beauty in the natural world; there is so much beauty in the man-made arts – music, painting, poetry, architecture and more; there is so much beauty in the animals we share this place with. There is so much solace in friendship. There is food. If none of that is enough then consider – you are lucky enough to live in a world that has horses and dogs. How can you not feel grateful?So, with no cliché spared, you can see that I unashamedly embrace the idea of having a day of gratitude – thanksgiving. However let’s get the history straight…Early English settlers did indeed have some sort of harvest celebration with people from the Wampanoag tribe, in Plymouth, in 1621. However the rosy glow of this event was soon tainted a little over 50 years later with a war between the settlers and the indigenous peoples, resulting in the death of 40% of the Wampanoag population – a population already decimated by an epidemic of leptospirosis introduced by rats from European ships. Of those that survived, the English sold many in to slavery to work on plantations in both New England and the West Indies. It presaged the terrible way that European settlers were to treat the indigenous population throughout the country in the centuries to come. There is much that is wonderful and admirable in the American story but this chapter isn’t that.There have been many iterations of the Thanksgiving custom, most of which related not to those first settlers but to military gains in conflict. The first proclamation of Thanksgiving was by the Continental Congress in 1777. It gave thanks to God, noting that “it had pleased Him … to smile upon us in the prosecution of a just and necessary war, for the defense and establishment of our unalienable Rights and Liberties; … to prosper the Means used for the Support of our Troops, and to crown our Arms with most signal success”George Washington, as Commander in Chief, declared a second national day of Thanksgiving in 1777, to be held in December, as a celebration of victory over the British at Saratoga. Thanksgiving days were originally one-off events and of differing dates. There could be two in a year or there could be several years between each Thanksgiving.George Washington, as President, again declared a Thanksgiving Day in 1789, designating it “ a day of prayer... acknowledging with grateful hearts … [the] opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”No mention in any of this of turkeys, pilgrims of Native Americans. The 1789 Thanksgiving was held on November 26. He declared another in 1795, to be held on February 19. John Adams declared Thanksgivings in 1798 and 1799. Thomas Jefferson eschewed the custom.James Madison declared a Thanksgiving day at the end of the ‘War of 1812’, to be held in November 1813. He declared two national Thanksgiving days in 1815. In addition to these national days, some states (Massachusetts, New York) declared their own State Thanksgiving days.During the 1840s ‘50s and ‘60s, Sarah Josepha Buell Hale was THE pre-eminent influencer for thought and fashion in the USA. As the editor of ‘Godey’s Ladies Book’, with its 150,000 subscribers, she was a major force in American life. It was she who lobbied for an annual national day of Thanksgiving. (She was also the author of ‘Mary had a little lamb’ but that has nothing to do with any of it ). Part of her enthusiasm for the scheme related to the story of the pilgrims and the Wampanoags in 1621 but that wasn’t to be the motivating factor for the next big Thanksgiving proclamation.It wasn’t until the American Civil War that the idea of a day of thanksgiving caught the wind again. Several governors of the Northern States promoted the idea of a special day to give thanks that the Union was holding out against bitter odds. In 1863 President Lincoln, buoyed by a turn in the war (Gettysburg, Vicksburg), declared a National Day of Thanksgiving for Thursday August 6th 1863. In October of the same year (1863) Lincoln declared another day of Thanksgiving, decreeing that it should fall on the last Thursday of November. That is genesis of today’s date and celebrations – giving thanks that the union of the USA survived the turmoil of civil war. This ‘Thanksgiving’ was then signed into law as an annual holiday by President Grant in 1870.It should be acknowledged, with respect, that today is also marked as a National Day of Mourning by many Native Americans, with a ceremony at Cole’s Hill, Plymouth. Although I find the history of the day interesting; it is the spirit of the day as it now stands that really matters. We can all be grateful for who and what is good in our lives and that is worth a national day. It is in that spirit that I wish you all well. ... See MoreSee Less

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