Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. I
give thanks every day for my blessings, but to have a day set aside for thanks
giving is truly special. Knowing many (if
not all) Americans celebrate by remembering all the good things and wonderful
people in their lives for which they are thankful adds to the festivity.
I decided to look into the roots of the celebration, and
this is what I learned. According to some scholars, before coming to the new
world, the Pilgrims lived for a decade among the Sephareic Jews in Holland. Holland was considered a safe haven from
religious persecution at the time.
The
Pilgrims, being devout Calvinist and Puritans considered themselves as “new Israel”.
I can see where they likely learned that Sukkot commemorated Israel’s
deliverance from the religious persecution in ancient Egypt and thought of it
as a parallel to their own situation.
After they immigrated
to the promised land of America, it is not surprising to me that the Pilgrims
may have considered the festival of Sukkot when planning their own celebration.
The Pilgrims considered their perilous journey to the new world as a type of
exodus and wanted to associate their new celebration to the appropriate
Biblical holiday.
It is interesting to me that the Jewish observance of their holiday
always falls on Thursday and there is a special prayer of “Thanksgiving” before
eating the meal. It is also interesting
to note that the Hebrew word for turkey is tarnegol
hodu, literally “Indian chicken”. Is it a happy coincidence that we customarily
eat turkey on thanksgiving?
We all have times of ups and downs. We all have something and
someone (probably more than one someone) to be thankful for. My Thanksgiving
wish for all my friends and family is well expressed in this:
Cherokee Prayer Blessing
May the Warm Winds of Heaven Blow softly upon your house.
May the Great Spirit Bless all who enter there.
and may the Rainbow Always touch your shoulder. 
Mary Adair is the author of the bestselling Passion series in which Cherokee heroines are featured. You can learn more about her books on her Amazon Author Page and on her website
photos from Google commons
photos from Google commons
That's a very interesting post, Mary. I had no idea of the Jewish connection to Pilgrims.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Caroline. I was surprised to learn the Pilgrims lived among the Sephareic Jews in Holland and felt such a link between them. It makes sense, but I had just never heard of it. I must have be absent that day in school. :) I find it so amazing when I find a common thread among many of the world's religions.
DeleteHello Mary and hello to you Caroline,
ReplyDeleteWe learn something new every day, don't we? I never realized Pilgrims and Jewish were related somehow. Interesting post. And I absolutely loved the Cherokee Prayer Blessing.
Hi Li! Thanks for commenting. I love learning new things. Well, new to me anyway. That is a nice Cherokee blessing, reminds me of an old Irish blessing.
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