Is Thanksgiving Rooted in a Biblical Festival?

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Is Thanksgiving Rooted in a Biblical Festival?

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Did you know that the first Thanksgiving in the United States has some strong similarities to the biblical Feast of Tabernacles? Although the pilgrims did not consciously observe this biblical feast, it is interesting to study the parallels between these two celebrations that share the common spirit of thanksgiving to God.

Both were celebrated in the autumn in the northern hemisphere, and both were a time for giving thanks to God for the blessings of the harvest season. Although forgotten by many, the American Pilgrims were a deeply religious people whose heritage was strictly founded on the Bible, both Old and New Testament.

Why did the Pilgrims have this strong attraction to the Hebrew Scriptures? Is it a coincidence that the Pilgrims were the first successful colony in New England and were able to set their stamp on American culture and religion? Let's explore these questions and see what history reveals.

Few realize how solemnly and literally the Pilgrims took the Bible. Jewish sources in particular continue to note, although recognizing there is not a direct link between the two, the striking resemblance of the Thanksgiving celebration to the Feast of Tabernacles, which Scripture also calls the Feast of Ingathering.

Here is one typical opinion: "Sukkot, the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, celebrates the autumn harvest; a similarity to the Thanksgiving holiday observed in the United States which is not coincidental. Prior to making their way to the New World, the Pilgrims, themselves the victims of religious persecution, spent several years among Sephardic Jews in Holland. When they later celebrated the legendary first Thanksgiving, their conscious frame of reference was Sukkot" ("Sukkot,"Cyber-Kitchen.com).

English Harvest Home festival

Now it's true that the Harvest Home festival was celebrated in England at that time, but among the Pilgrims there was a general rejection of observing these English fall celebrations tainted by pagan traditions.

"The Harvest Home was a holiday," notes historian Diana Karter Appelbaum, "on which the villagers joined together to bring the last loads of grain from the field and share a merry feast when the work was done...There was sufficient taint of idol worship and evidence of licentious behavior in the old English Harvest Home for Puritans to reject the custom summarily. They recoiled from these remnants of the pagan customs that predated Christianity in England, but memories of the harvest feast lingered all the same.

"The Puritans' shunning of the ancient Harvest Home left a void in the New England year that might not have been problematic had a similar attitude not been extended to other holidays. But the Puritans had disapproved of so many causes for celebration that a holiday vacuum existed in the young colonies. 'All Saint's Day' had been swept off the calendar along with Christmas and Easter, on the grounds that these mixed 'popish' ritual with pagan custom.

"Sunday, the occasion in Europe for afternoon ball games, cockfights, plays, gambling, fishing trips and dances, became the Puritan Sabbath, a day passed in prayer, church attendance and devotional reading...Remaining to New Englanders were three holidays—Muster Day, Election Day and the day of the Harvard Commencement" (Thanksgiving: An American Holiday, an American History, 1984, p. 20).

Biblical connection of Thanksgiving

So it seems the Pilgrims didn't base their Thanksgiving celebration on English feasts, which when linked with pagan customs were generally shunned by them. Where then did they get their inspiration for Thanksgiving? Could it have a biblical foundation?

Notice what David Stern says about the Feast of Tabernacles in The Jewish New Testament Commentary: "Families build booths of palm branches, partly open to the sky, to recall God's providence toward Israel during the forty years of wandering in the desert and living in tents.

"The festival also celebrates the harvest, coming, as it does, at summer's end, so that it is a time of thanksgiving. (The Puritans, who took the Old Testament more seriously than most Christians, modeled the American holiday of Thanksgiving after Sukkot [the Hebrew name for the Feast of Tabernacles])" (1996, comment on John 7:2).

This connection is not well known among most secular U.S. historians, but the Jews, who also arrived very early at the New England colonies, have kept track of this historical parallel.

"As Leviticus 23 teaches," explains Barney Kasdan, "Sukkot was to be a time of bringing in the latter harvest. It is, in other words, the Jewish 'Thanksgiving.' In fact, it is widely believed that the Puritan settlers, who were great students of the Hebrew Scriptures, based the first American Thanksgiving on Sukkot" (God's Appointed Times, 1993, p. 92).

William Bradford, who became the first Pilgrim governor and proclaimed the first Thanksgiving celebration, used the Scriptures—both Old and New Testaments—for guidance in governing the colony.

"Though it's a uniquely American tradition," adds a Jewish Web site, "the roots of Thanksgiving go back to ancient Israel. In a real sense, the Jews invented Thanksgiving. I count 28 references to the word thanksgiving in the King James Bible—all but six in the Old Testament. For the ancient children of Israel, thanksgiving was a time of feasting and fasting, of praising God, of singing songs. It was a rich celebration—and still is for observant Jews today.

"Bradford himself studied the Hebrew scriptures. The Pilgrims took them very seriously. The idea of giving thanks to God with a feast was inspired by that knowledge of the Bible. In a very real way, the Pilgrims saw themselves, too, as chosen people of God being led to a Promised Land...

"In addition to proclaiming a day of thanksgiving, like the ancient Hebrews did before them, Bradford and his flock also praised God's loving kindness, the famous refrain of Psalms 106 and 107 and Jewish liturgy ('Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His kindness endures forever')" ("Thanksgiving, The Puritans and Prayer," shalomjerusalem.com/heritage).

Brief history of the Pilgrims' journey

It's fascinating to review the Pilgrim's history and their roots in America.

Attempting to reform the Church of England, the Puritans wanted to base their religion purely on biblical teaching—both from the Old and New Testaments. In England, they pressured the government so much to establish its laws on biblical principles that they provoked the ire of King James I of England. "King James vowed to make these deviants conform or he would 'harry [harass] them out of the land or else do worse'" (Martin Marty, Pilgrims in Their Own Land, 1984, p. 59).

So a group of Puritans fled from England and sailed to Holland. There they enjoyed more religious tolerance, but eventually became disillusioned with the Dutch way of life, believing it was ungodly and that it had a corrupting effect on their children.

A number of these Puritans, seeking a better place to practice their religion, began to set their sights on America. They finally negotiated with a London stock company to finance a journey to the New World.

They sailed from Holland to Plymouth, England, and from there to the new Plymouth they would reach after more than two months at sea. They dropped anchor at Cape Cod in November of 1620. Only about half of the original colonists were true Pilgrims. The rest, whom the Pilgrims called "strangers," were hired to protect the company's interests.

The Pilgrims finally disembarked at Plymouth Rock on Dec. 11, 1620. Their first winter was devastating. At the beginning of the following autumn, they had lost 46 of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower. But the harvest of 1621 was bountiful and the Pilgrims decided to celebrate with a feast—inviting Native American Indians who had helped them survive their first year. Historians believe that the Pilgrims would not have made it through the year without the help of the natives. The feast lasted three days.

The fledgling Plymouth colony of Puritans would not be the exception to the rule. Over the next 20 years, 16,000 Puritans would migrate from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and many more settled in Connecticut and Rhode Island—thus establishing a lasting influence on American culture and character.

The Pilgrims' view of themselves

How did the Pilgrims view themselves?

"The Puritans in England," writes Jewish historian Max Dimont, "regarded themselves as Hebraists. They took the Old Testament as their model of government and tried to reshape the Magna Carta in its image...The British rulers rightly regarded them as Jewish fellow-travelers, and when they departed for the Colonies, the British ruling class wrote them off as good riddance.

"In America, the Puritans modeled their new homeland upon Old Testament principles. When Harvard University was founded in 1636, Hebrew along with Latin was taught as one of the two main languages. Governor Cotton wanted to make the Mosaic Code the law of Massachusetts, and Hebrew at one point almost became the official language of the state" (The Indestructible Jews, 1971, p. 346).

In the preface to his History of Plymouth Plantation, Governor Bradford wrote of his strong desire to learn Hebrew: "Though I am grown aged, yet I have had a longing desire to see with my own eyes something of that most ancient language and holy tongue, in which the Law and the oracles of God were written and in which God and angels spoke to the holy patriarchs of old time . . . My aim and desire is to see holy text, and to discern somewhat of the same, for my own content" (p. xxviii, edited by Samuel Eliot Morison, 1989).

These remarks were followed by some 25 biblical passages in the original Hebrew and their English translation.

It is no accident that the early settlers called their Plymouth Colony "Little Israel," and they even compared Governor Bradford to Moses. They felt that they had fled lands of oppression and had found a new home, just as the Israelites had once fled Egyptian slavery and settled in the Holy Land. 

It is, then, understandable from the association the Pilgrims had with the Bible and the traditions of Israel, that their Thanksgiving festival would be patterned after the biblical festivals of thanksgiving for abundance and harvest as found in the Bible—in particular, during the fall, the Feast of Tabernacles.

Again, this is not saying there is an explicit link here, just a biblical framework for the Thanksgiving celebration to arise.

Similarities of the Massachusetts Bay Colony

Just north of the Pilgrims' colony of Plymouth, where the Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded in 1629 mostly by Puritans, we see a similar pattern.

"No Christian community in history," says Gabriel Sivan, "identified more with the People of the Book than did the early settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who believed their own lives to be a literal reenactment of the biblical drama of the Hebrew nation.

"They themselves were the children of Israel; America was their Promised Land; the Atlantic Ocean their Red Sea; the Kings of England were the Egyptian pharaohs; the American Indians the Canaanites (or the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel); the pact of the Plymouth Rock was God's holy Covenant; and the ordinances by which they lived were the Divine Law. . .

"[They] saw themselves as instruments of Divine Providence, a people chosen to build their new commonwealth on the Covenant entered into at Mount Sinai" (The Bible and Civilization, 1973, p. 236).

Puritan laws in America

What kind of laws was the United States founded on?

"In England," writes Abraham Katsch, "the Puritan identification with the Bible was so strong that some Puritan extremists sought to replace English common law with biblical laws of the Old Testament, but were prevented from doing so. In America, however, there was far more freedom to experiment with the use of biblical law in the legal codes of the colonies, and this was exactly what these early colonist set out to do.

"The earliest legislation of the colonies of New England was all determined by Scripture. At the first assembly of New Haven in 1639, John Davenport clearly stated the primacy of the Bible as the legal and moral foundation of the colony.

"'Scriptures do hold forth a perfect rule for the direction and government of all men...The Word of God shall be the only rule to be attended unto in organizing the affairs of government in this plantation'" (The Biblical Heritage of American Democracy, 1977, p. 97).

Notice how influential were the Old Testament principles in their civil government.

"Subsequently," adds Rabbi Ken Spiro, "the New Haven legislators adopted a legal code—the Code of 1655—which contained some 79 statutes, half of which contained biblical references, virtually all from the Hebrew Bible. The Plymouth Colony had a similar law code as did the Massachusetts assembly, which, in 1641—after an exhortation by Reverend John Cotton who presented the legislators with a copy of Moses, His Judicials—adopted the so-called 'Capitall Lawes of New England' based almost entirely on Mosaic law" (WorldPerfect: The Jewish Impact on Civilization, 2002, p. 248).

Much to be thankful for

So we should not forget that Thanksgiving is a feast of giving thanks, not only for receiving God's blessings today, but also for how He founded America mostly on His biblical laws. He also poured Abraham's blessings on it, intervening time and time again from its very beginnings to turn it into a rich and powerful nation to help lift up the rest of mankind. The nation has not had a perfect record, of course, but it is still trying to defend the weak from oppressors and to provide a home for those being persecuted.

I know—for I am one of those who was persecuted and was received in the United States with open arms—a gesture for which I will be forever grateful.

Also, we should consider that the biblical Feast of Tabernacles is an annual reminder of how we should thank God for all He has done for us. Indeed, Jesus Christ and His disciples celebrated this festival—and I hope one day you will join us in observing it.  GN

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Comments

  • Ashkam

    I wish to apologize for having been absent minded and made mention of only the word "Puritans" in my two previous comments.My appreciation also goes to the "pilgrims".

  • Ashkam

    I have just read some of the other readers' comments and I want to add to my previous comment.According to me it is reasonable and logical that many Americans can refrain from celebrating Thanksgiving the way they do.In Jesus' time too many people did not observe the Sabbath well and they were wrong..But we can appreciate how the Puritans based their celebration on the Feast of Tabernacles of Leviticus 23.Much credit can be given to them,why they left Europe and the good they did to America.

  • Ashkam

    Thank you very much for this excellent article sir.If I am not mistaken,after having read your article and profile,I deduce that you fled persecution in Cuba and was well received in the United States.Or perhaps your ancestors were among the Puritans.Whatever the case,glory to God for this and you are now performing a tremendous work in the UCG.I now very sincerely appreciate the relation between Thanksgiving in America and the Feast of Tabernacles of Leviticus 23.
    I understand that America achieved power,welfare and was of help to other nations,not only because they are the descendants of Manasse but also because the Puritans were obedient to God and had America's laws based on the bible.
    But today the situation is sad enough and worsening as America is departing from its true history and the bible.Hopefully,after inflicting punishment,an all loving God will not forget and will have mercy for America for those who obey and those who repent.

  • Malachi 3_16-18
    Hi odalys, Thanksgiving isn’t rooted in pagan rituals. The basis of Thanksgiving in America was for celebrating and acknowledging God’s provision for His followers, and it was originally intended to be set apart for giving thanks to God. However, as with many good things, over time the meaning and celebration of Thanksgiving has admittedly been corrupted by some in our increasingly materialistic society into a time of gluttony, drinking, and frenzied acquisition of increased physical goods during not only Black Friday, but Thanksgiving itself. But can we not say that some of God’s Biblical festivals, such as the Feast of Tabernacles, have been corrupted over the ages by many also? Just because something good has been corrupted by some does not mean we shouldn’t keep it in the proper way, if such a way doesn’t go against clear directives in God’s Word. And there are many Biblical instructions to give Him thanksgiving (Psalms 100:4, Psalms 26:7, Philippians 4:6, Colossians 2:7). But the Thanksgiving celebration as it is observed in America and Canada isn’t a command, so if it goes against your conscience to keep it, by all means avoid it, and give God thanks in other ways.
  • KARS
    Hi Odalys. Hola Ruth. I know the history of our peoples; "The Old Spanish Trail" The California "El Camino Real" and so forth. It was the church of Rome that was killing their people for having another faith. They were even killing their own. This church in Rome brought use their ways and did horrible things both to the Native Americans of the Americas as well as the people of Europe. We celebrate with these Protestants (Those against Rome) as a reminder of religious freedom, blessings, family togetherness, etc. Some of our people may be in reservations but are they not allowed to have their Pow Wow's, still believe in the Great Spirit, and still keep the customs of the different tribes beliefs? That is what these Purtitans fought for so long ago. Religious freedom. And this is why we have so many religions in this nation; even with the Church of Rome on this soil. That is one of the reasons we celebrate. Odalys, be careful to the voice or voices you hear. God the Father said to test the spirits. Remember the fallen angels (demons)can communicate with us; so put them to the test. God our Father's angels communicate in person or in dreams. Read the Old Testament about Gabriel
  • odalys
    Ruth Serrano, I totally agree with you. I love UCG, but I don't understand why they promote this Non- Biblical worldly, pagan holiday. Didn't God say NOT to add anything to His word. God has a feast related to harvest),which most people don't know about, ,but we want to add a celebration of gluttony,drinking ,selfishnes because it looks and sounds nice. Satan is deceiving us. We need to pray about it. God spoke to me and told me not to do it!!!! I told Him that I had made a commitment to cook for a group, He told me " have dinner on Friday"", not thanksgiving bing, just plan dinner. I will never celebrate it ,may He help me to be faithful till the end. I fear Him and so should you all.days we celebrate matter to Him, that is why Saturday, His day is holy, days matter to Him!!!
  • Lena VanAusdle

    Hi odalys,
    You're right we should not add to, nor take away from the law of God. Thanksgiving is not a command, and it is not a "Holy Day." People are free to work, do chores, do homework, etc. However, there is nothing wrong with setting aside a day to thank God for the blessings He has given us individually and collectively. How others keep thanksgiving (a day of gluttony) has no bearing on how I keep thanksgiving (a nice meal where we talk about the things God has done for us over the past year). It is not taking the place of any of God's holy days, it's not even in the same category. I put it in the same category as Hanukkah (the Feast of Dedication), which is NOT a commanded celebration by God, but was at least acknowledged by Jesus Christ (John 10:22), and definitely wasn't condemned by Him.

  • Malachi 3_16-18
    Hi Moe, No, it’s not wrong to have decorations of turkeys, etc. for Thanksgiving, as long as they aren’t connected to the Halloween celebration, a holiday with completely unchristian origins and elements, coming only a matter of weeks before Thanksgiving. Pumpkins are OK too, if they aren’t the carved, jack-o-lantern variety (very much a part of Halloween). As with everything we practice, it should be done to honor God (1 Tim 1:17), give Him thanks (Heb 13:15), and should be observed with balance (1 Cor 9:25; 2 Peter 1:5-6). While the Thanksgiving celebration itself isn’t one of God’s commanded Festivals, when it’s observed in an appropriate way it can be a special time to honor God, give Him thanks, and appreciate our friends and families and the blessings God has given us in this country (Psalms 50:14; Col 2:7; 4:2; Rev 7:11-12). It’s also a good time to remember and share with those who do not have as many physical blessings.
  • Moe
    Just asking a question... I know about Christmas and pagan rituals but it it wrong to have decorations of turkeys, pumpkins, fall wreath Etc for thanksgiving? I love fall and have always loved to put out mums and fall items for when Family gather at my house. We give thanks for what we have been blessed with from God and then have a wonderful meal, prayer and enjoy each others company.
  • Skip Miller
    Hello Dusty, Sorry I did not write back sooner. I hope that you can remember your thread on Thanksgiving. Here is an additional tag onto the EXCELLENT article by Mr. Seiglie: 1 Thess 5: 18; Eph 5: 18 --20; and I also like 2 Tim 3: 1 -- 5 because I think we are in "the last days." In summary, if we are thanking God, (when we eat Turkey, when we gather together with family & friends on this particular holiday) then I would say, using the scriptures above, that God, both Father and Son appreciate our giving of thanks to them.
  • dusty

    Ivan:

    1. I think it is pretty clear to most why the date for Thanksgiving was changed.

    2. The thrust of the conversation between Christ and the Samaritan woman was initially on WHERE, not WHO to worship. Then Christ made the point that it was not a matter of WHERE, but HOW all TRUE WORSHIPPERS in general—including any Samaritans who might become converted—were to worship the Father, i.e. “in spirit and truth”. Nowhere did He state that the Samaritans were then worshipping the true God.

    3. I don’t know how hard he tried but, according to verse 29, the Samaritan priest obviously was not too successful in inducing the Northern Kingdom to fear and worship the true God.

  • Ivan Veller

    Re: "a day in which the world gives thanks to another god"

    Hi Dusty, Christ said to the Samaritan woman: "'the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him" (John 4:21b-23 NKJV).

    Christ thus acknowledged that the Samaritans, despite not worshiping in complete truth, were nevertheless worshiping God the Father, as they had historically been taught to do:

    "Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD. However every nation continued to make gods of its own, and put them in the shrines on the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities where they dwelt" (2 Kings 17:28-29).

    I believe people who sincerely try to obey God ought to be accorded the highest honor and respect.

  • Ivan Veller

    Hi Dusty,

    I wonder to what extent consumer contentment, presumably encouraged by Thanksgiving's emphasis on gratefulness, posed a threat to commercial interests. Could this be one reason why the date was changed?

  • Norbert Z

    dusty,

    I wouldn't buy into the idea of "You can't get around it. Thanksgiving is just part of 'the season'" for a the very similiar reason I don't believe the national day of thanksgiving is rooted in a biblical festival.

    Just because any holiday is influenced by commercialization, it does not automatically make it a part of another holiday. If that were the case; when Jesus cleared the temple of its' vendors, then the worship happenning at the temple in Jerusalem can also be associated with being part of Christmas.

    Personally I wouldn't be going around saying "Did you know Thanksgiving is part of the Christmas season." either.

  • dusty

    Hello Norbert Z and Skip:

    Re: the specific roots of the American national day of thanksgiving...

    Following is an excerpt from the December 23, 1996 issue of US News and World Report entitled IN SEARCH OF CHRISTMAS.

    "To expand holiday profits, many stores made Thanksgiving the official springboard for Christmas sales; others started as early as Halloween. In 1920, Gimbels in Philadelphia organized the first Thanksgiving Day parade and featured Santa Claus as the main attraction. And in 1924, both Hudson's in Detroit and Macy's in New York followed suit.

    So vital was Thanksgiving in launching the Christmas season, says Restad, that commercial interests "conspired in resetting its date." In 1939, after years of Depression-deflated sales, the head of Ohio's Federated Department Stores argued that by advancing the date of Thanksgiving one week, six days of shopping would be added.

    Convinced by his logic, says Restad, President Franklin Roosevelt moved the feast from November 30 to November 23. And in 1941, Congress set the annual date of Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November--ensuring a four-week shopping season each year. The nation's recognition of Christmas as a powerful economic force had reached its highest levels."

    You can't get around it. Thanksgiving is just part of "the season"

  • Norbert Z

    I would say Thanksgiving day is NOT rooted in the biblical festival of Tabernacles but instead was "influenced" by American leaders who looked into the whole Bible for wisdom.

    If a person wants to know the specific roots of the American national day of thanksgiving, why not go straight to the horses mouth and see how it was motivated. The "Proclamation of Thanksgiving" is available online.

    I'd like to know what the FoT has to do with that proclamation which states, "His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged"?

    Personally I wouldn't be going around and telling people, "Did you know Thanksgiving Day comes out of the biblical feast of Tabernacles?". Certainly there are some 'parallels' but not enough to come to a conclusion that it is a day that was rooted in a biblical festival.

  • FreeIdeals

    :-)

  • dusty

    Oh come on people. How can those of us who worship the True God observe a day in which the world gives thanks to another god while they stuff their faces and watch violence on the telly. And all this while eagerly awaiting the second day of this same "festival"--black Friday--when they start shopping for the real "reason for the season".

  • Skip Miller

    Hi Dusty,

    Thanksgiving Day is not one of God's commanded Holy Days
    but the giving of Thanks to God certainly is.

    If we "pig out" on turkey & College football, that is one thing.
    But what if we ask God's blessing on a great meal and
    during that meal also enumerate some of our personal blessings?

    It might just be possible to celebrate an honest Thanksgiving.

    I do not think that there is anything that can change the pagan reality of Xmas, Astarte Sunday, or Hollow Evening.

  • Patty Graham

    With the teaching of being thankful in God's Word, how can simply having a meal with our loved ones giving thanks to our Lord be wrong? There is no decorating, shopping, debt increase, following a pagan origin, or participating in any shameful practice. There is no following the customs of the heathen involved in being thankful to God. However, when one uses any day that he/she does not honor and glorify the true God, he is in error. "whether we eat, drink, or whatever we do, do it to the glory of God". The Biblical feasts days are NOT the "Jewish" feasts; they are the feasts of the Lord. Leviticus 23:2 and we should love Him enough to obey His commandments and counsel. Being thankful to God, honors God, and we should always teach our children that all blessings come from Him. If the rest of the world chooses to use this day for other reasons, that is their choice, and God created us with a free will. His desire is that we give that will to Him for His purpose; for the Scripture clearly teaches that we were created to "serve Him". We should never judge our brother, for each man will give an account to the Lord, whether his deeds be good or evil. God searches the heart. Being thankful and teaching others to be is a good deed. Sometimes we swat at a gnat and swallow a camel.

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