The chances of feasts and holidays

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Next weekend, when people in the United States of America celebrate 'Thanksgiving', they actually should celebrate the remebrance of the landing of the Mayflower on Cape Cod:

Quote:

The tradition of the Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving is steeped in myth and legend. Few people realize that the Pilgrims did not celebrate Thanksgiving the next year, or any year thereafter, though some of their descendants later made a "Forefather's Day" that usually occurred on December 21 or 22. Several Presidents, including George Washington, made one-time Thanksgiving holidays. In 1827, Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale began lobbying several Presidents for the instatement of Thanksgiving as a national holiday, but her lobbying was unsuccessful until 1863 when Abraham Lincoln finally made it a national holiday with his 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation.

Today, our Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday of November. This was set by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939 (approved by Congress in 1941), who changed it from Abraham Lincoln's designation as the last Thursday in November (which could occasionally end up being the fifth Thursday and hence too close to Christmas for businesses). But the Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving began at some unknown date between September 21 and November 9, most likely in very early October. The date of Thanksgiving was probably set by Lincoln to somewhat correlate with the anchoring of the Mayflower at Cape Cod, which occurred on November 21, 1620 (by our modern Gregorian calendar--it was November 11 to the Pilgrims who used the Julian calendar).

source: The Pilgrims' 1691 Thanksgiving

The Pilgrims certainly were thinking of 'thankgiving' in the old European tradition, namely a party at the end of the harvest and thanking God for this harvest.

Which changed a couple of years later a bit as well:

Quote:

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation

I'm just wondering, what other holidays and feasts changed their original meaning and/or date date.

Christmas certainly is one of it, when you look at the much older traditions in Europe, the Celtic and Teutonic festivities under mistletoes, for instance, which led to the British tradition of mistletoe and the German christmas tree.

Do you know same more?

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The current national holiday was established, i believe, by Abraham Lincoln in 1863--after his death, i believe the tradition of the celebration set in. It is noteworthy that Andrew Jackson refused to establish a national holiday of thanksgiving because of the overtones of religion, Jackson stating that it would traduce the separation of church and state.

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Not to forget Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale, who - 1827 - began lobbying several Presidents for the instatement of Thanksgiving as a national holiday, before Lincon did what you, Setanta, wrote above.

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I believe that Jackson's refusal to institute such a holiday was a response to the redoubtable Mrs. Hale.

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So we canajuns have it right by having Thanksgiving in early October - at the end of the harvest.

I knew it.

<smug canajun smile>

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The original date of "old time" thanksgiving is around St. Michaels Day (St. Michaels Goose - instead of turkey!), September 29, and usually is/was celebrated a little bit later or earlier.

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Michaelmas was the traditional time for the slaughter of all livestock, except breeding stock. Poor agricultural technique dictated that husbandmen could only keep sufficient fodder throught the winter to feed the best breeding stock--all the rest would be butchered at Michaelmas. This meant salting and drying and smoking meat, and the making of sausages. It also meant that anything which could not reasonably be stored would be eaten in a gustatory orgy before the starving times of winter and early spring. There is, to my mind, no coincidence in the practice of Lent by the church of the middle ages. When the stored meat was running out, and the slaughter of livestock would mean the sacrifice of breeding stock, an injunction against the eating of meat helped to regulate agricultural societies. It also meant the Dutch had the opportunity to get rich from selling salt cod and flounder to the rest of Europe, and the horrific experience of navigating the North Sea in winter made them into Europe's premier sailors in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Round and round we go, in the circle game . . .

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During the Middle Ages, St. Michael's Day was a great religious and public feast in most of western Europe, coinciding as it did with the end of the harvest.
In England it was the custom to eat a goose on Michaelmas, which was supposed to protect against financial need for the next year. "He who eats goose on Michaelmas day shan't money lack or debts to pay."
In Germany, we still have in various places the traditional "St. Michaels Kermes".

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The chances of feasts and holidays

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