Next week, the Thanksgiving holidays will be upon us. If someone were to ask what this holiday means to us, we would get a gamut of responses from the most obvious like turkey, family, shopping to more offbeat ones like football. This is an important and cherished holiday for it is the only one of its kind in the United States and I daresay, anywhere in the world, that transcends race, religion and even politics. The importance of this holiday cannot be overestimated. But how did this holiday originate?
If you ask somebody about the history of Thanksgiving, most of us would say that the holiday came about due to the efforts of Sarah Josepha Hale, who campaigned for a day of national unity when the nation was undergoing regional tensions, which would eventually lead to the civil war. President Abraham Lincoln agreed and proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving on November 26. Some of us would go to a much earlier point in history to the pilgrims celebrating their harvest back in 1621. It was a day when the English colonists and the native Wampanoag tribe shared their feasts.
But did you know that the origins of Thanksgiving go much deeper than that? In ancient Rome, the Pagans celebrated their thanksgiving festivities in early October. The festival, called Cerelia, was dedicated to the goddess of the harvest, Ceres. The Catholic Church took over Cerelia and it became well established in England, long after the fall of the Roman Empire. In England the "Harvest Home" has been observed continuously for centuries.
Closer to home, the early Aztecs of Mexico celebrated the harvest but in a more sombre tone. They beheaded a young girl, who was supposedly a representation of Xilonen, the goddess of new corn. The Pawnees also sacrificed a girl. The Native Americans in the southeast, danced the "Green Corn Dance" and began the new year at the end of the harvest. Thus, when the Native Americans and the English colonists first celebrated Thanksgiving, the concept would not have been new to either of them.
Regardless of the origin, let us not forget the spirit of Thanksgiving and what it truly celebrates. First and foremost, Thanksgiving celebrates diversity. The native Americans and the Pilgrims put aside their differences and celebrated together. They did not let language and cultural differences get in the way of the festivities. That tradition continues to this day.
Closely related to diversity is the fact that the holiday is non-religious. We are grateful for all the blessings we have. Many of us will express this gratitude in the form of a prayer to a divine being regardless of what faith you follow or even if you don’t follow one. Thanksgiving captures that spirit.
Finally, Thanksgiving is all about gratitude for everything we have - not just material wealth. There are things which are significantly more valuable than money, namely friends and family. Friends and family and by their natural extension, the surrounding community, is what one should be truly grateful for. We need to be surrounded by people who truly love us and accept us for who we are. We should also be thankful for our continued good health and happiness - things we take for granted.
In the midst of the pandemic, which has taken a tremendous toll on all of us, we tend to forget that there is still a lot of humanity in the world and we should all take a step back and appreciate it. Celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday with our family is the best way to do that.
Arya Ramachandran is the Parliamentarian of the Winchester High School Junior Classical League Club. He is a sophomore at WHS.