A fantastic holiday, Thanksgiving… a holiday during which I probably won’t blog, as I will be otherwise occupied. After a long six weeks, David is finally coming to Louisville again tomorrow. And how can you expect me to write while I’m gorging myself silly, anyway? Last night, as I was cruising the mall for free food samples after work (two words describe why I love Christmas—Hickory Farms), I even got to eat a mini mashed potatoes, stuffing, and gravy dinner at Williams-Sonoma. It just whetted my appetite for the main event.

Now, we all know the story of American Thanksgiving—I have photos of me at age six, dressed up in stereotypical Native American dress made of construction paper (my long brown braids made me a prime candidate) for the classroom celebration. So I thought, for today’s informational holiday blog, that I would find out about the Thanksgiving traditions of our friends to the north instead. Yes, Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving too. But, frankly, why?

Well, the site I looked up proudly mentioned that the settlers of Canada were among the first to celebrate harvest festivals with their native neighbors, a good 43 years before we did it at Plymouth. The first official national Thanksgiving celebration, however, in April of 1872, marked the recovery of the British Prince of Wales from a grave illness. The next Thanksgiving, in 1879, was celebrated in November. For several years following, the Canadian Parliament was in charge of annually naming a date. Apparently that was too inefficient, because the Canucks eventually declared the second Monday in October as Thanksgiving Day in 1957. That would have been October 10 this year, for the folks keeping score at home.

Like most civic holidays, Thanksgiving ultimately celebrates an event that probably isn’t as popular with some Americans. After all, it signifies the first contact European colonizers had with native peoples in this country, a process that led to the natives’ extermination via epidemic, forced removal from lands, forced integration into Euro-American culture, and so on. Like Columbus Day (a holiday that seems much less celebrated today than when I was growing up—but maybe that’s because we don’t get a day off for it anymore), Thanksgiving reminds us that what is good for some is not necessarily good for all.

Before you throw down your fork and spit out your stuffing, though, maybe we don’t have to say that Thanksgiving in and of itself is a bad holiday. After all, what does this festival really attempt to commemorate?

First of all, it draws us into communion with one another over the breaking of the bread. There is something sacred about sharing food with the people you care about—our Presbyterian communion services often remind us that people will come from east and west, north and south, to dine at the table of God. And in today’s far-flung world, where we may go for months, if not years, without seeing those we love, this takes on a very literal meaning.

On the macro level, Thanksgiving is also supposed to remind us that for one day, two very different cultures found enough common ground to enjoy the fruits of their harvest together. Despite all the injustices that were to follow in colonial-indigenous relations, for that day all people sat down to eat as equals in one community. Perhaps we need to do more to emulate that model.

And of course, the holiday reminds us to count our blessings, as cheesy as that might sound, and to share those blessings with the world. In a theological sense, it calls us to look beyond a constant, grasping “me” materialism and remember God’s rich and abundant love for each of us. Because unlike our modern, commercialized Christmas, Thanksgiving isn’t about the possessions—it is about the people that God has brought into our lives as gifts, and the ways in which God continues to express love for us through the Holy Spirit within those people. It is about thinking of the others in our lives, and renewing our commitment to relationship with them. And that deeper meaning is worth celebrating.

I once read that we should never use the word “diet” regarding food because that encourages a mentality of lack. Remember that this Thanksgiving—not only as you feast on the turkey or vegetarian alternative, but also as you consider this holiday as a person of faith. Because God calls us not to a faith of scarcity, but truly to a faith of abundance.

“For you will nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts; you will drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance." --Isaiah 66:11

Kelsey