Show harvest festivals of old man Is so constituted that he Is tor ever straining for blessings from afar while overlooking those at his feet with our inordinate desire for mate rial possessions we are prone to for get the ethical and spiritual import of thanksgiving to call forth our agrati tude we must have more and more things it seems we cannot be thankful tor a little good despite the dictum that man wants but little here below we cannot show our gratitude unless it be tor an abundance hence man s petitioning the higher powers with prayers and sacrifices from the time of the patriarchs to our own day for more and ever more goods of the earth the harvest coming after the care ind toil of tilling the soil the sowing of seed and anxious watching of the fields has therefore been almost uni verbally ver sally set apart as a time tor cial thanks or thanksgiving how ever so far as we know no other na alon carries out this custon regular ly every year on a specially appoint ed day hence thanksgiving day has come to be regarded as a distinctively american festival it Is interesting to observe that while thanksgiving day as we know it is a peculiarly american festival harvest festivals were celebrated than 5 years ago for in stance the jewish festival of booths or feast of the taber anacles was a harvest or ingathering hesthal held from the to the of the tenth month the first and eighth day reserved tor holy tion according to religious usage the people left their houses and came forth to live in the booths or tents made of twigs branches and brush wood during the holy session of eight days the inter loi of the booths were made festive with shrubs and foliage and especially the leaves and fruit of the palm the goodly tree of pal estine the jewish people of the orthodox faith in many places still observe this festival in its original form thanks and praise for the bounties of the previous year were of in ritualistic formula and by the chanting of hymns whilst merry games were played in which fruits and nuts emblematic of the season were always somewhere in evidence thus we see that the same sent ment that impels an individual to the expression of gratitude for benefits received also moves a nation to man test in some reverent form its grate tul recognition of special privilege or general welfare the ethical and spiritual cance of thanksgiving with all its feasting its happy reunions and ts merrymaking will never be lost sight of it we remember that this great feast day was born of fast days and that while some are feasting oth ers will still be fasting thanksgiving day will be animated by a finer spirit also when we think of it only in terms of materialism but in terms of patriotism and democracy when we remember it as the day pro claimed by the first president on which to commemorate the birth of the nation in the adoption of the con and as the day fixed by abraham lincoln for prayer and thanksgiving after the nation had passed through a terrible crisis the civil war |