I love Thanksgiving. It's a very meaningful holiday even if it is subjective, and lacks divine authority. ;) I enjoy the food, the long weekend, the Lions game. There is a real mood to the event. Maybe it has something to do with the weather. It's that time of year when everyone snuggles up in their sweatshirts and makes hot coco. It's very warm and comforting. Good stuff.
Thanksgiving may have originated as a time to give thanks for the harvest season however, most modern Americans haven't gathered many gourds. So instead, we use the time to give thanks to whatever it is that we are grateful for. Because of the Pilgrim story I've long associated Thanksgiving with the discovery of the New World. I like to think of Thanksgiving as a time to appreciate everything America has done for me.
As a blogger I'm particularly thankful for:
Free Speech:
I take this right for granted all too often. I'm fascinated by the stories of bloggers in China who work constantly to stay one step ahead of the government with their writings and poems. And the tragedy of those who get caught and are sent to prison for a particularly witty SMS message. I am thankful for the right to free speech and the ability to express myself in almost any way.
and
Freedom of Religion:
Freedom of religion is freedom of choice. I may not believe in Judaism now but I appreciate that I had been allowed to practice as a Jew for most of my life in peace. Today as an atheist/skeptic I recognize that Freedom of Religion is also freedom from religion. In the U.S. I am not forced by the government to follow a religion. Whereas in Iran and other Islamic countries atheism is banned. Seriously. The Iranian national internet firewall blocks any content on atheism or content that questions Islam. I am thankful for the right to live my spiritual life in any way I choose.
Without these rights I would not be the person I am today and for that I thank the U.S..
What are you thankful for?
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P.S. I'm going to go easy on the blogging this weekend. Happy Thanksgiving!
11 comments:
LNM,
"Because of the Pilgrim story I've long associated Thanksgiving with the discovery of the New World. I like to think of Thanksgiving as a time to appreciate everything America has done for me."
Just as a point, you do know that the real story of Thanksgiving is heavily romanticized - essentially mythologized - and the day classically has overt religious overtones. Thankful to Whom?
Frankly, in some really patriotic homes, I don't think they have a Thanksgiving dinner much differently than Jews might have a Pesach seder. Indeed, isn't Sukkot essentially the harvest festival too?
My point is that Jewish holidays can be as warm and inviting as you feel Thanksgiving to be. There are no fundamental differences.
Continuing the thread of orthoprax, I sometimes make turkey and squash for Sukkot. And once again I will be making Thanksgiving dinner for Friday night, because I don't want to cook/eat twice in one week if I don't have to.
America is a special country. I'm thankful for the right to vote and that I don't live in Saudi Arabia. And that I can be in Jewish in the way I want to be Jewish.
Happy Yom Hodu.
Nice post. Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy thanksgiving.
I love thankgiving, among other things, because it is a celebration of being alive and of having plenty to eat. It is a celebration of family and of being united. Orthoprax might be right in that othr religious holidays are similar, but frankly I am thankful that I don't have to, at least in this holiday, pray to something I don't believe in before I eat.
Thankful to whom? To me, to my family, to my friends, to my country, and to my people.
Happy thanksgiving.
Orthoprax,
> the real story of Thanksgiving is heavily romanticized - essentially mythologized - and the day classically has overt religious overtones.
Sure, it has a religious background but modern Thanksgiving has been secularized, very much like Halloween.
To me the difference between a secular holiday like Thanksgiving and an overtly religious holiday like Pesach is that the religious holiday has a preset meaning, explicit rules for observance, and carries some religious value (it was commanded by god/you get mitzvos for observing, etc). On the other hand secular holidays usually have some sort of theme, and an outline of observed customs, but in the end you put your own spin on it and can make it into whatever you want. For that reason I find secular holidays much more personally meaningful.
In any event, Happy Thanksgiving!
Leora,
Growing up we also had Thanksgiving on Friday night. It was a nice adaptation of the holiday.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I'm thankful for your invitation to keep showing up. Maybe if you keep inviting us Blogsluts, Avrum68 will go elsewhere. I'm inviting you to comment on the Thanksgiving poem I posted on my blog today. Peace.
"For that reason I find secular holidays much more personally meaningful."
Thanks to Sukkos there is Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims wanted a similar holiday to Sukkos.
I admit that I am also a skeptic. I am a skeptic of atheism.
"Thankful to whom? To me, to my family, to my friends, to my country, and to my people."
Why? Aren't they all just monkeys, from your point of view?
What did the pilgrims have to do with the discovery of the new world?!
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