In the early days of the Commonwealth, the Colony of Massachusetts, the residents believed themselves to live in a covenanted society. This is an Old Testament philosophy that tied residents to one another and the community to God. Although the Puritans, and the Separatists, (the Pilgrims of Plymouth) differed slightly in their practices, they were Calvinists who believed that the actions of one person would effect God’s blessings, or lack thereof, on the entire community.
It is this belief, that the every individual was responsible for the welfare of the whole, that led to fast days and thanksgivings, and these were called regularly by the General Court, which is now the Massachusetts Legislature.
Fast Days were called when calamities, such as Indian attacks and battles during the series of wars that began with the King Philip’s War 1675 and concluded with the War for Independence, (1775-1781) occurred. Disease epidemics, flood, drought, and particularly bad winters were also reasons for fasting. Fast Days were spent at the meeting house and little food was eaten, as all human needs were replaced with prayer.
Fast days became less religious over time, and many towns offered speakers at local Atheneums rather then fasting at the local church. They disappeared from diaries, no longer mentioned by the early nineteenth century.
Thanksgivings were born from the same tradition as were fast days. Thanksgivings were called by the General Court for successes and survivals; the end of a drought, soldiers safely home from war, harsh winters endured or soft, mild winters, and most famously bountiful harvests. These were as religious as the Fasts, days of thanking a generous God for the bounty of His love and whatever blessings He had bestowed.
The pattern of legal Thanksgivings follows that of Fast Days, called by the General Court whenever occasion warranted during the early years of the Commonwealth, and becoming fixed at two per year by the beginning of the eighteenth century. According to the diaries, by 1704, the two Thanksgivings were fixed at — the first Thursday of April, roughly the Massachusetts state holiday known as Patriot’s Day, and the end of November or early December – today’s Thanksgiving holiday. (The New England Puritans did not celebrate Christmas, believing that every day was given over to the celebration of Christ’s birth.)
So whatever happened in the Plymouth Colony in 1621, and whatever FDR did to create this holiday in the rest of the nation to help stores sell their Christmas goods, Thanksgiving was a religious and state holiday in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that began in 1630 and was gifted to the rest of the nation by Sarah Josepha Hale after the Civil War and by FDR in 1939.
38 replies on “Tale of Two Thanksgivings”
chelovek soznaniye mozg
chelovek soznaniye mozg
psy
psy
tor-lyubov-i-grom.ru
tor-lyubov-i-grom.ru
Link
Link
netstate.ru
netstate.ru
Psikholog
Psikholog
hdorg2.ru
hdorg2.ru
hd-tor-2022
hd-tor-2022
film-tor-2022
film-tor-2022
tor-lyubov-i-grom
tor-lyubov-i-grom
01211
01211 21546
3NOZC44
3NOZC44
3Hk12Bl
3Hk12Bl
chelovek-iz-90-h
chelovek-iz-90-h
russianmanagement.com
russianmanagement.com
Øêàëà òîíîâ
Øêàëà òîíîâ
SHKALA TONOV
SHKALA TONOV
D6tuzANh
D6tuzANh
qQ8KZZE6
qQ8KZZE6
DPTPtNqS
DPTPtNqS
perfect
thank you for a very good article
uels ukrain
uels ukrain
slovar po psihoanalizu laplansh
slovar po psihoanalizu laplansh
psy-
psy-
hydroxychloroquine online
how to make hydroxychloroquine liquid
hydroxychloroquine for sale
is hydroxychloroquine an immunosuppressant
cialis over the counter at walmart
cialis at walmart
generic cialis at walmart pharmacy
cialis over counter walmart
hydroxychloroquine over the counter equivalent
hydroxychloroquine wiki
cialis from india
tadalafil dosage
where can i buy oral ivermectin
ivermectin tablets
ivermectin 3mg otc
buy ivermectin 3mg
ivermectin lotion cost
where to buy ivermectin
ivermectin oral 0 8
ivermectin lotion cost
ivermectin 9 mg tablet
ivermectin 6mg tabs
buy ivermectin 6mg tablets
ivermectin 12 mg
ivermectin 12 mg over the counter
ivermectin over the counter
ivermectin 3mg tabs
ivermectin over the counter