Column: Looking Back At A Special Thanksgiving Moment (sponsored)

Thanksgiving isn't a patriotic holiday per se, but it is full of patriotic feelings as Americans did and should give thanks for our shared blessings as a nation.

One of the best expressions of this aspect of Thanksgiving comes from Benjamin Franklin, who called it a day "of public Felicity," a time to express gratitude to God for the "full Enjoyment of Liberty, civil and religious." While just about every country has some sort of national celebration day either commemorating a monarch's birthday or liberation of colonial rule or honoring a constitution, etc., America's observation of Thanksgiving is unique and identifying in its nature and purpose. Yes, a few other countries set aside a day of thanksgiving as harvest festivals which go back to celebrate their origins to when life beat to the rhythm of the agricultural cycle. Not us.

America's Thanksgiving holiday is something different. We live in a less religious age than did the Pilgrims, but it would be a mistake to claim, as some do, that Thanksgiving is not religious. In fact, it is the rarest of holidays when ALL religions can celebrate. Many Pilgrims came to these shores seeking freedom to worship as they pleased while others came seeking the chance to live without servitude under harsh conditions and violent rulers. On Thanksgiving, Americans of all faiths — and of none — can give thanks that they found those shores. And I had the privilege of sitting around a great table of basically strangers, except for two, who shared this great American tradition with me and my husband. They taught me all over again some great American history by sharing their food and their lives. Each shared what this past year brought in the way of personal challenge and how they were led through some dark days. Each gave thanks for what God did and how He brought light into a seemingly impossible situation. This included my husband and myself also. I listened, I filtered the situations, the impact on lives, and I wept. All of this came after the meal was shared together, not before. This was a home where prayer preceded the feasting, where children from 3 years to 9 years skipped wide-eyed in and out of rooms, dazzled by the tall glittering Christmas tree along with the festive in-and-outdoor lights for the coming season of gift giving, family gatherings, and for honoring the birth of Jesus. It was a warm and receiving home filled with enough space to seat some unexpected guests — us!

This special event last month brought back my teaching days in the classroom with my fifth grade students, both in Ohio, New York, and overseas. Thanksgiving has grown up with our country. Many of our great historical figures are associated with it: George Washington, who proclaimed our first national holiday amid controversy over his constitutional power to do so — and who included in his proclamation Americans of every faith; Abraham Lincoln, who wanted to heal a worn-torn nation when he called for all Americans, North and South, to mark the same day of Thanksgiving; and Franklin Roosevelt, who set off a national debate when he changed the holiday's traditional date. Even we ordinary Americans played significant roles such as Sarah Josepha Hale, a 19th-century magazine editor who campaigned to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. Then there were the New England Indians who boycotted Thanksgiving in the 1970s, calling it a day of mourning. And just recently there was the 92nd Street Y in New York City who founded Giving Tuesday to help remember the poor and needy at Thanksgiving time — an American tradition.

And doesn't this sense of "feeding" our neighbors who are in need say so much about we Americans? It reflects upon our gratefulness, generosity and compassion as a people. When an American takes his/her place at the Thanksgiving table or volunteers at a local food bank, or serves in a local kitchen to feed the homeless and hungry, he/she is a part of a continuum that dates back to 1621, when the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians sat together for three days to share food and fellowship. That friendly co-existence would only last a few decades, but that original Thanksgiving pointed the way to the diverse people and nation we have become. Who cares which state did it first? Florida, Texas, and Virginia all claim to be "first" because their celebrations all predate the more familiar one in Plymouth. The original holiday was called Forefathers Day — almost forgotten today, but still alive in parts of the South. For sure, Forefathers Day never included our ritual of football games or the setting aside of the fourth Thursday in November to eat turkey, potatoes, cranberries, and pumpkin pie — in almost every home!!

As I explained to my classroom students as we traveled back in time, in our minds, to the first Thanksgiving of 1621, the first eyewitness accounts from William Bradford and Edward Winslow were quite different from our modern day rituals of feasting, family, and fellowship. It was a day set aside for religious observance. The Pilgrims were called to express gratitude to God for successful harvests, propitious weather which had saved their crops from drought ruin, and military victories. It was a day for prayer and worship in all thirteen colonies. As the 1600s progressed among the colonists, civil, not religious authorities, called for days of "thanksgiving" for ordinary blessings/general gratitude. It was actually the Connecticut colony that established a specific date for general thanks on September 18, 1639. It brought general controversy which led to spirited theological debate, but eventually the other colonies followed this lead, with Massachusetts being the last to agree.

It was not until the 18th century that the controversy raised its political horns again. It began in New York City, the seat of our federal government at the time. The date was September 25, 1789. The precise locale was the inaugural session of Congress which was meeting at Federal Hall in Manhattan and just about to take a recess when Representative Elias Boudinot of New Jersey rose to introduce a resolution. He asked the House to create a joint committee with the Senate to "wait upon the President of the United States, to request that he would recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer." Boudinot made special reference to the Constitution, which had been ratified in 1788. A day of public thanksgiving, he believed, would allow Americans to express gratitude to God for the "opportunity peaceably to establish a Constitution of government for their safety and happiness."

Of course, this caused a general outburst among the Congressmen. South Carolina argued that the Federal government did not have the authority to do such a proclamation; those were individual states rights. How could a President order Americans to do something that perhaps they did not wish to do? South Carolina also stressed that the wording of the First Amendment had just been agreed upon and a "day of thanksgiving had already been proscribed to us because it is a matter of religion."

In the end the resolution was passed and that is how President Washington issued November 26, a Thursday, as a "day of public thanksgiving." Washington did not DECREE it. Knowing very well the limits of his presidential authority, he simply asked the governors of the 13 states to comply with the request. Washington also made clear that this special day was to be inclusive for Americans of every faith — not just Christians.

Then in 1863 — under Lincoln, in perhaps the bloodiest year of American history — an extraordinary step was taken by the chief executive with a proclamation for a national day of thanksgiving for the entire country. However, there was a snag to this. The president's proclamation had no force of law behind it except in the District of Columbia and in the U.S. territories. The willingness to cooperate with the president was up to the states. An act of Congress would be needed and that would not happen until 1941 under Franklin Roosevelt's administration.

Roosevelt, a rather astute politician, and finding himself still in the midst of the Great Depression, decided himself to change the date of Thanksgiving from the last Thursday in November to the fourth Thursday. Since November had five Thursdays, why not move the traditional date forward by a week to give more shopping days to the Christmas season? That would stimulate the economy, please retailers, and make shoppers less stressed by having more time. During a press conference, the President said, "There is nothing sacred about the traditional date for Thanksgiving." The public reaction was totally unexpected for Roosevelt. There was outrage by the nation. The people were wondering if the President was also going to change turkeys for beef cattle as the "star" of the Thanksgiving table! Roosevelt suddenly had a political "hot potato" in his White House lap. Twenty three states chose to stick with November 30th, while 22 states celebrated on November 23. Three states-Texas, Mississippi, and Colorado-decided to celebrate both dates! To "crank" up the controversy further, Republicans chose November 30, while Democrats preferred November 23. A final comment came from Senator Styles Bridges from New Hampshire when he quipped: "Has the President given any thought to abolishing winter?'

Roosevelt, finally admitting defeat, returned the date to its traditional place on the calendar with Congress passing the legislation and Roosevelt signing into law the 4th Thursday of every year for all future official Thanksgivings.

While stepping back to reflect on my own memories of this special celebration, two ideas really stand out: 1. my two marriages to two immigrants to the United States who came here not for religious purposes, like one group of Pilgrims, but to seek a better life--hope to at least get the chance to succeed with some of their dreams. That reminded me of the second group of Pilgrims who wanted that same opportunity; and 2. in loving to share a part of the " American Experience" by participating with so many Thanksgiving get-togethers in various family and friends' homes, both husbands came quickly to embrace the "attitude of gratitude" to God for so many blessings. As a final result these two wonderful humans gave their lives to Christ openly and fully in a nation of many believers as well as a global Christian family of over 300,000,000 followers. That could not have happened in the countries they came from. None of these changes could have come about without the traditional American values of reaching out to those in need of friendship and acceptance. And nothing else could have brought these reflections back "home" to me but for the kindness and generosity of the Gonzales' household. Thank you, friends, for continuing this form of uniquely American identity.

Carol Paz's columns appear exclusively on CarsonNow.org. Please email comments to npazcar@aol.com or visit the Women to Women website at womentowomennv.com. She welcomes your comments at npazcar@aol.com.