It was October 3rd 1863 when Abraham Lincoln issued a Thanksgiving proclamation that established “the last Thursday of November” to be a day of “thanksgiving and praise.” This proclamation rested on the earlier proclamation of George Washington and on the tradition of the first thanksgiving that was celebrated by native Americans together with landed immigrants from Europe in 1621.
In 1939, under pressure from American business interests, FDR issued a new proclamation, moving the date of thanksgiving to the 2nd last Thursday of the month of November in order to allow a full month of shopping before Christmas. It was understood at that time that most Americans began their Christmas shopping after Thanksgiving (Black Friday has a history!).
More than a mere historical curiosity, this is an illustration of the powerful influence of corporations on the practice of American religion. I don’t intend to identify every way that the US version of Christianity is affected by the business community. I only suggest that the faith of many of today’s followers may not actually be the faith of their fathers. Christianity has been impacted, changed, and has reinvented itself, and been reinvented by ages, fashions, and movements from Paul of Tarsus to Billy Graham and awareness of this fact ought to make us less smug and perhaps, more thankful for the diversity represented across time and geography.
See also “Kitsch substituted for Spirituality,”
Jesus “junk and trinkets.”
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Time, Change, and Thanksgiving
It was October 3rd 1863 when Abraham Lincoln issued a Thanksgiving proclamation that established “the last Thursday of November” to be a day of “thanksgiving and praise.” This proclamation rested on the earlier proclamation of George Washington and on the tradition of the first thanksgiving that was celebrated by native Americans together with landed immigrants from Europe in 1621.
In 1939, under pressure from American business interests, FDR issued a new proclamation, moving the date of thanksgiving to the 2nd last Thursday of the month of November in order to allow a full month of shopping before Christmas. It was understood at that time that most Americans began their Christmas shopping after Thanksgiving (Black Friday has a history!).
More than a mere historical curiosity, this is an illustration of the powerful influence of corporations on the practice of American religion. I don’t intend to identify every way that the US version of Christianity is affected by the business community. I only suggest that the faith of many of today’s followers may not actually be the faith of their fathers. Christianity has been impacted, changed, and has reinvented itself, and been reinvented by ages, fashions, and movements from Paul of Tarsus to Billy Graham and awareness of this fact ought to make us less smug and perhaps, more thankful for the diversity represented across time and geography.
See also “Kitsch substituted for Spirituality,”
Jesus “junk and trinkets.”
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