On Thu, 20 Nov 1997 [log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> Re George's quip about American vs. Canadian thanksgiving ...
>
> Thanksgiving is, of course, a Calvinist ecclesiastical feast, which no
> doubt originated in the Pilgrim fathers' stay in the Netherlands, shortly
> prior to their venture to the New World.
The American celebration may be popularly identified with the Pilgrims but
harvest thanksgiving festivals are found throughout Christian history and,
of course, have their counterparts in most other religions. St. Martin's
Day functioned in the medieval West in many ways as the main harvest
festival--the crops were in, some of the livestock could now be
slaughtered since not all could be fed over the winter,
rents (in kind, produce, livestock) were often due at the manor house on
St. Martin's Day. And so, one celebrated in gratitude for a good harvest,
in hope for survival in the case of a bad harvest. Regional fairs were
also common around St. Martin's Day.
Of course, the timing of a harvest festival varies with climate--if I am
not mistaken, Pentecost is a harvest festival in the Jewish calendar,
given the climate difference between Palestine and northern Europe.
Perhaps those more familiar with the medieval Mediterranean areas can
speak to variations there.
That Americans think that Thanksgiving Day is an American invention is
typical chauvinism. It may in part have to do with the
de-Christianization that took place during the 18th-century in the
colonies and thus the loss of general awareness of religious harvest
festivals, which remained common in all denominations but only 10 % of the
colonial population were church members by the late 18th century. The
re-Christianization of America took place with the waves of revivals,
especially the 2nd Great Awakening of the early 19thc. Thanksgiving Day
did not become an American national holiday until 1864; the campaign to
have it made a national holiday began in the ante-bellum period, precisely
as East Coast Americans were beginning to look back on their distant
Puritan, Dutch Reformed, Anglican past and using it to forge a national
identity (Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Washington
Irving, Parson Weems' biography of George Washington etc.) Note that this
is the same time that the Knickerbocker Club in New York (Washington
Irving) invented the modern American Christmas, including Santa Claus.
(The book on this was written by Charles Jones, a survey of the legends of
St. Nicholas through the centuries, with excellent medieval material, but
with concluding chapters on the 19thc. Santa Claus invention.) Of course,
this is also the time that some Europeans, in the face of
industrialization, are waxing romantic and nostalgic
about a disappearing past, including the distant medieval past.
Dennis Martin
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|