The Origin of Thanksgiving
Believe it or not, Thanksgiving is as pagan as they come. Read on. If we are going to observe holidays, national or otherwise, it would be well to make sure that they have a pure origin. If we wish to honor the Creator then we need to make sure that we do not create our own ways of doing so. Are you interested in learning the historical facts about Thanksgiving? Let’s not assume that we have no need for further enlightenment or no need to advance beyond our present condition.
When we first began observing the Creators feasts (appointed times), it was easy to see the pagan underpinnings of Easter, Halloween and Christmas. We figured that our National holidays (July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, etc.) were all safe. Were we ever wrong! After learning the truth behind Thanksgiving, it too has been jettisoned along with the other pagan holidays. The following information is an excerpt from a chapter in an up-and-coming book of our friend, Catherine Sinclair.
Thanksgiving for the annual harvest is one of the oldest holidays known to man though celebrated on different dates. The Chinese and Hindus are said to have celebrated harvest feasts thousands of years ago. The Israelites were instructed to keep the feast of Tabernacles (Sukkoth) a celebration, a holy convocation that was to last eight days. The Old Testament is replete with commands to gather harvest and rejoice. The most well known are found in Deut. 16:14 and Lev. 23:10.
The ancient Greek harvest festival was called Thesmophora and celebrated Demeter, the founder and goddess of the harvests. The symbols of Demeter were poppies and ears of corn, a basket of fruit and a little pig. The Roman goddess of the harvest, Ceres (from whom we get our word cereal) had a festival, which occurred on October 4th and was called the Cerelia.
