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Days of humiliation and thanksgiving

Thanksgiving at Plymouth, oil on canvas by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe, 1925, National Museum of Women in the Arts

Puritans rejected the traditional Christian liturgical calendar of holy days, including Easter and Christmas, as well as saints' days, but set aside special days to thank God, as well as days of prayer and fasting.[A][2] Days of thanksgiving and days of humiliation were public observances in Protestant Christianity, particularly among Puritan communities in early modern England and colonial America. A day of humiliation or fasting was a publicly proclaimed day of fasting and prayer in response to an event thought to signal God's judgement. A day of thanksgiving was a day set aside for public worship in thanksgiving for events believed to signal God's mercy and favor. Such a day might be proclaimed by the civil authority or the church.[3]

Days of humiliation and fasting

A day of humiliation and fasting might be proclaimed for a variety of reasons, for example, in response to a drought, flood, fire, military defeat, or plague. They might also be held before the undertaking of a difficult endeavor. These days of humiliation and fasting consisted of different norms. As a part of fasting, people abstained from food and other pleasures as a sign of repentance. Individuals and congregations gathered for special prayers to ask for Gods forgiveness and ask for further guidance. Everyone between the age of sixteen and sixty were expected to attend the church services and all other activities associated with the day. As the sermons were mostly focused on acknowledging sins, people were expected to search themselves for sin and to repent in order to appease God's wrath.[4] The Puritans believed that one individual had the ability to corrupt everyone else and bring God’s wrath onto the entire town. For this reason it was important that the entire community participated in days of humiliation and fasting. Due to this belief, towns were especially careful when deciding who was able to move into their town. People with bad reputations or anyone who raised a red flag was prohibited from moving in and potentially bringing bad fortune upon the entire community. [5]

Days of thanksgiving

A day of thanksgiving might be held in response to signs of God's mercy, such as rain allowing a good harvest, arrival of needed supplies, or recovery from sickness. They might also be held after a long period of general success and lack of disaster. On days of thanksgiving, the faithful would also spend the day in church attendance, but would pray thankfully, sing psalms of praise, and feast. Puritan feast days were more solemn and demanding than traditional Christian feasts.[4] These days of observance were seen not only as expressions of gratitude for recent blessings, but also as hopeful anticipations of the coming of the Kingdom of God.[6] Thanksgiving observances also served to strengthen community bonds through charitable acts toward those in need, reflecting the Puritan commitment to moral responsibility and collective well-being.[7]

History

Early history

The observance of days of humiliation and thanksgiving are seen in the Bible. In the Old Testament, numerous Thanksgiving accounts are mentioned, including those of Prophet Noah, King David, King Hezekiah, Prophet Nehemiah, and Prophet Daniel;[8][9] similarly, the early Christians also thanked God for their blessings.[8][10]

National days of prayer for specific occasions had been ordered in England as early as 1009 by King Æthelred the Unready.[11] Occasional days of fasting were held in England in the middle of the sixteenth century under Elizabeth I in response to plague outbreaks and the Armada Crisis of 1588. Puritans especially embraced occasional days of fasting.[12] When English Puritans and other settlers came to North America, they brought their religious customs with them. This translated directly in to the New England colonies, where settlers observed days of humiliation and fasting as well as days of thanksgiving, depending on circumstances. By the middle of the seventeenth century, days of thanksgiving were celebrated in New England annually in November.[6][13]

From colonial observances to national holiday

Saying grace before carving a turkey at Thanksgiving dinner, Pennsylvania, U.S., 1942

The Christian tradition of celebrating days of thanksgiving would later influence modern America and assist in creating a national Thanksgiving holiday.[10] Early colonial proclamations like the ones that took place in Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay, acted as a foundation for what would later become a national observance.[14] As the American colonies continued to develop, thanksgiving observances became more widespread. By the late 18th and early 19th centuries many states had adopted annual thanksgiving celebrations. These celebrations usually took place in late autumn to properly align with the harvest season.[7] The tradition gained national significance in the newly formed United States. Both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln issued proclamations for a national day of thanksgiving within November;[5] Abraham Lincoln had also created a proclamation in the late 18th century to have a national day of humiliation and fasting on April 30th.[15] These proclamations provided the basis for the custom to etch its place in American culture and begin a standardized national holiday of Thanksgiving for the purpose of "giving thanks to God for blessings received during the year". Thanksgiving is celebrated through "feasting and prayer".[16][17][18]

Likewise, in 1859, the government of the Provinces of Canada declared a Thanksgiving Day in which "all Canadians [were asked] to spend the holiday in 'public and solemn' recognition of God's mercies."[19] On 9 October 1879, Canada's Governor General, the Marquis of Lorne, declared November 6 as "a day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed."[19] The Canadian Parliament in 31 January 1957 applied the same language in its proclamation for the modern holiday: "A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed—to be observed on the second Monday in October."[20]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ The Christian liturgical calendar is observed by denominations such as the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches, and Anglican Communion, among others.[1]

Citations

  1. ^ Gross, Bobby (25 April 2012). Living the Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God. InterVarsity Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-8308-6694-6. liturgical calendar so central to the Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran traditions.
  2. ^ Forbes, Bruce David (27 October 2015). America's Favorite Holidays: Candid Histories. University of California Press. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-520-28472-2. Prior to Henry VIII, England observed 147 religious holidays throughout the year, including Sundays. That might sound good, because they were days off work, but they were also days without pay, and church attendance was mandatory. The huge number of special days interfered with the general economy and completion of vital tasks such as harvests. So much idle time also provided occasions for troublesome public behavior. For both practical and religious reasons Henry VIII reduced the number of festival days other than Sundays to twenty-seven, but for some Puritans that still left too many. They argued that Sundays were enough, that vital Christian themes were lifted up on Sundays, and that all other holy days were unjustified Catholic additions. However, Puritans did participate in occasional days of fasting and days of thanksgiving, sometimes declared by the Church of England but developed even further by the Puritans. ... A day of thanksgiving might be declared to celebrate and thank God for particular military victory, or good health following a wave of disease, or an especially bountiful harvest that saved people from starvation. ... The annual days of thanksgiving consisted mainly of worship services and family dinners, and this was repeated over the years.
  3. ^ Hambrick-Stowe 1982, p. 100.
  4. ^ a b Baker 2010, p. 21.
  5. ^ a b "Days of Thanksgiving and Humiliation". Fairbanks History. Retrieved 2025-04-07.
  6. ^ a b Hambrick-Stowe 1982, p. 102.
  7. ^ a b Love, William DeLoss (1895). The fast and thanksgiving days of New England. University of California Libraries. Boston New York, Houghton, Mifflin and company.
  8. ^ a b Schmidt, Alvin J. (2004). How Christianity Changed the World. Zondervan. ISBN 978-0-310-26449-1. THANKSGIVING DAY Giving formal thanks to God did not begin with the Pilgrims in Massachusetts in 1621 as many Americans believe, for numerous thanksgiving accounts are portrayed in the Old Testament, where one finds Noah, King David, King Hezekiah, Nehemiah, and Daniel thanking God for material and spiritual blessings. Likewise, we read about the apostolic Christians in the New Testament giving thanks for their blessings.
  9. ^ Carpenter, Edmund (August 2007). The Mayflower Pilgrims. Christian Liberty Press. ISBN 978-1-930092-17-4. The thanksgiving celebration was also developed by virtue of similar feasts of thanksgiving that were described in the Old Testament Scriptures and eventually copied by the Pilgrims.
  10. ^ a b National Republic, Volumes 30-31. University of Michigan Press. 1942. It originated with the early Christians in thanksgiving for victories over their enemies. The Pilgrims being of English descent brought with them to the New World the spirit and tradition of Thanksgiving, as well as other customs.
  11. ^ Bates 2012, p. 31.
  12. ^ Durston 1992, p. 129.
  13. ^ Schmidt, Alvin J. (2004). How Christianity Changed the World. Zondervan. ISBN 978-0-310-26449-1. Their leader, Governor William Bradford, issued a formal proclamation commanding the people to give thanks to God for having received divine protection during a terrible winter and for having received their first harvest. It was also new that the Pilgrims celebrated their thanksgiving by eating wild turkey (an indigenous bird) and venison.
  14. ^ Baker, James W., ed. (2009). Thanksgiving: the biography of an American holiday. Revisiting New England : the new regionalism. Durham, N.H Hanover [N.H.]: University of New Hampshire Press. ISBN 978-1-58465-874-0.
  15. ^ "Truthopedia | Founding Fathers' National Days of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer; and National Days of Thanksgiving and Praise Proclamations". Retrieved 2025-04-11.
  16. ^ The World Book Encyclopedia. Scott Fetzer Company. 2002. ISBN 978-0-7166-0102-9. Thanksgiving Day is a day set aside each year for giving thanks to God for blessings received during the year. On this day, people give thanks with feasting and prayer. It is celebrated in the United States and Canada.
  17. ^ Meadows, Hazel (2011). Twelve Holidays. Dorrance Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4349-7495-2. Thanksgiving Day-a holiday set aside for giving thanks to God. On Thanksgiving Day, many people from the United States and Canada give thanks for blessings received during the year with feasting and prayer.
  18. ^ The American Stationer, Volume 40. The American Stationer. 26 November 1896. As a holiday Thursday will be observed throughout the entire United States, and in Canada also, as November 26 has been designated by both Governments as the day upon which the people shall unite in giving thanks to God for blessings received.
  19. ^ a b Duncan, Dorothy (16 September 2006). Canadians at Table: Food, Fellowship, and Folklore: A Culinary History of Canada. Dundurn. ISBN 978-1-77070-235-6.
  20. ^ Kelch, Kalie (27 August 2013). Grab Your Boarding Pass. Review & Herald Publishing Association. ISBN 978-0-8127-5654-8.

Bibliography

  • Baker, James W. (2010). Thanksgiving: The Biography of an American Holiday. Durham: University of New Hampshire Press. ISBN 9781584658740 – via Project MUSE.
  • Bates, Lucy-Ann (2012). Nationwide Fast and Thanksgiving Days in England, 1640-1660 (Ph.D. thesis). Durham University.
  • Durston, Christopher (1992). "'For the Better Humiliation of the People': Public Days of Fasting and Thanksgiving During the English Revolution". The Seventeenth Century. 7 (2): 129–149. doi:10.1080/0268117X.1992.10555340.
  • Hambrick-Stowe, Charles E. (1982). The Practice of Piety: Puritan Devotional Disciplines in Seventeenth-Century New England. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.[ISBN missing]

Further reading

  • Gildrie, Richard P. (1982). "The Ceremonial Puritan: Days of Humiliation and Thanksgiving". New England Historical and Genealogical Register. 136: 3–16.
  • Love, William Deloss (1895). The Fast and Thanksgiving Days of New England. Houghton, Mifflin.