"Thanksgiving is a quintessential American holiday. Most people around the world identify it with Americans. (Apologies to my Canadian friends, but Martin Frobisher's 1578 banquet in the eastern Arctic of 'salt beef, biscuits, and mushy peas' just didn't catch on).
"That's not to say Thanksgiving sprang from nowhere. European Christians - Catholics and Protestants - had festivals of Thanksgiving. The word 'Eucharist' itself - the 'source and summit of the Christian life (Lumen Gentium, no. 11) - means 'thanksgiving.' Even Frobisher's chaplain celebrated a Protestant 'Eucharist' before the crew sat down to those delectable peas.
"The
religious roots of the American people therefore knew of thanksgiving,
and American history - even in the Protestant British colonies - records
both community days of thanksgiving and penance ('humiliation'). . . ."
In a recent commentary, writer John M. Grondelski reflected on some of the ways in which Thanksgiving is under assault in the United States.
To access Mr. Grondelski's complete post, please visit:
National Catholic Register: Blogs: John Grondelski: Thanksgiving is Under Assault in Many Different Ways (26 NOV 20)
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