Holidays or Holy Days?
November 25th 2008 11:12
Chuck Norris' Thanksgiving column came out today and I thought it appropriate to link it here. I'll add one more thought to what Mr. Norris has to say, as a matter of semantics.
In every religion there are particular days set aside to commemorate events in the history of that religion. Once they were called Holy Days (and some still are). The term has been shortened to holiday over the years as often happens with words and terms when their original meaning gets blurred by time.
The two holiest days on the Christian calendar are Christmas and Easter. (Notice the first six letters of Christian and Christmas?) Funny how that happened, huh? Thanksgiving is another Holy Day (now called holiday) that we celebrate to give thanks to God for all our blessings. It was intended to be a day spent in prayer and gratitude and has now become "turkey day" to many people who don't remember the real story of it's origin.
Now there are new "stories" about the first Thanksgiving that would horrify the Pilgrims who celebrated it. New theories are being invented to make the Pilgrims look like everything from spreaders of disease to grave robbers. I won't waste my time (or yours)0 by going into detail about them.
Here's the true story, in a nutshell... The Pilgrims escaped from religious persecution in Europe and came to the New World. They tried socialism (everyone contributed all they had to a collective and recieved what they needed to survive. B.O. calls it "sharing the wealth"). They almost starved to death. They changed their ways and allowed everyone to keep what they grew, their own livestock, and the land they lived on. With ownership and the beginnings of their own free market, the Pilgrims prospered. With the help of the Native Americans, they learned new farming and hunting techniques. The harvest was incredible that second year and they celebrated with a feast of Thanksgiving to give credit to God for their safety and success. Pilgrims and Indians both contributed to the feast and ate it together (it was the first American pot luck!) and every year thereafter it was remembered as the country grew and prospered. One day a year to devote to thanking God was a small price to pay for all the blessings he had bestowed on them (and continues to bestow on us even today).
For most of American history, the president has delivered a Thanksgiving message. I must agree with Mr. Norris that this one, given by President Bush, may be the last for awhile. Next year we may still have Thanksgiving, but whom will B.O. be thanking? Himself for not banning it? Or the government for providing the feast? Or will he just ignore it the way he ignores Christmas and Easter? Maybe he'll appoint a Supreme Court Justice to "find" something (in what remains of our Constitution) to remove Thanksgiving from the list of federal holidays? It wouldn't surprise me a bit. Disgust me, yes! Surprise me, no.
Really Long Link
In every religion there are particular days set aside to commemorate events in the history of that religion. Once they were called Holy Days (and some still are). The term has been shortened to holiday over the years as often happens with words and terms when their original meaning gets blurred by time.
The two holiest days on the Christian calendar are Christmas and Easter. (Notice the first six letters of Christian and Christmas?) Funny how that happened, huh? Thanksgiving is another Holy Day (now called holiday) that we celebrate to give thanks to God for all our blessings. It was intended to be a day spent in prayer and gratitude and has now become "turkey day" to many people who don't remember the real story of it's origin.
Now there are new "stories" about the first Thanksgiving that would horrify the Pilgrims who celebrated it. New theories are being invented to make the Pilgrims look like everything from spreaders of disease to grave robbers. I won't waste my time (or yours)0 by going into detail about them.
Here's the true story, in a nutshell... The Pilgrims escaped from religious persecution in Europe and came to the New World. They tried socialism (everyone contributed all they had to a collective and recieved what they needed to survive. B.O. calls it "sharing the wealth"). They almost starved to death. They changed their ways and allowed everyone to keep what they grew, their own livestock, and the land they lived on. With ownership and the beginnings of their own free market, the Pilgrims prospered. With the help of the Native Americans, they learned new farming and hunting techniques. The harvest was incredible that second year and they celebrated with a feast of Thanksgiving to give credit to God for their safety and success. Pilgrims and Indians both contributed to the feast and ate it together (it was the first American pot luck!) and every year thereafter it was remembered as the country grew and prospered. One day a year to devote to thanking God was a small price to pay for all the blessings he had bestowed on them (and continues to bestow on us even today).
For most of American history, the president has delivered a Thanksgiving message. I must agree with Mr. Norris that this one, given by President Bush, may be the last for awhile. Next year we may still have Thanksgiving, but whom will B.O. be thanking? Himself for not banning it? Or the government for providing the feast? Or will he just ignore it the way he ignores Christmas and Easter? Maybe he'll appoint a Supreme Court Justice to "find" something (in what remains of our Constitution) to remove Thanksgiving from the list of federal holidays? It wouldn't surprise me a bit. Disgust me, yes! Surprise me, no.
Really Long Link
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Comment by Lester Caudill
Round Politics
Here is George Washington 1789 Thanksgiving Day Proclamation.
Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief