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Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving is the memory of the heart

The need to offer thanks or thanksgiving is illustrated in the fact that most cultures set aside a day dedicated to giving thanks to the Creator for blessings received.

To appreciate the heart of Thanksgiving, picture if you will. a small band of people arriving in a strange and hostile land, having crossed the storm tossed Atlantic in a small ship.

There were 102 of them including 41 Pilgrims (Separatists), 39 adventurers (Freemen) and 22 servants (Strangers) Their original plan was to land in Virginia but their ship - the Mayflower was blown off course to Massachusetts.

One year later there were only 52 of them. The rest had died. The harvest had been very meager.

Despite their hard

experience they

knelt to thank God

for their blessings.

That is the rather simple origin of American Thanksgiving Day.

The idea of a thanksgiving Day spread throughout the colonies, Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789, although many felt that a small group0 of Pilgrims didn't call for a national celebration. President Jefferson didn't like the idea either.

But in 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving.

After Lincoln, every president proclaimed Thanksgiving Day although the date was changed a few times. F.D.R set it as as the second last Thursday of November. Congress in 1941 settled the date as the Fourth Thursday in November.

P.S. Thursday was the chosen day, since the Pilgrims gathered on that day for a midweek sermon.