The Destruction of the American Thanksgiving, Essay Example

Introduction

Thanksgiving – according to historical sources – was proclaimed by President Washington in 1789. It is today a representation of collaboration between nations and races, political and social security. Today remembered with turkey dinners, the celebrations are held in all American families for various reasons. The below essay will highlight the events prior to the establishment of Thanksgiving Day, and today’s meaning of the festivities. The main thesis that the author would like to examine is: what is the symbolic meaning of Thanksgiving today, and is it a legitimate celebration that should be continued for the next generations?

Commercialization of Thanksgiving

According to Santino (2005), all holidays in America are commercialized, not only Thanksgiving. Indeed, the author (Santino, 2005, p. 44), when examining the process of commercialization, “the fact that the United State is a capitalist country is fundamental”. Indeed, in capitalist countries, free markets see holidays as an opportunity to sell goods related to the event or traditions. All businesses selling consumer goods benefit from Christmas shopping, and millions of Christmas trees are sold in December worldwide. Pumpkin sales go up in October, therefore, all holidays are commercialized. Simply because companies take advantage of increased demand for holiday items, celebrations should not be stopped. For many Americans, there is a true meaning of Thanksgiving, and it is a traditional day when families are re-united. Indeed, most of the merchandise that is related to Thanksgiving celebrations is not related to the meaning of the holiday, but the family dinner and festivities. If we decided to stop celebrating Thanksgiving for being a commercialized holiday, we could also stop Christmas, Halloween, and even Independence Day celebrations. Santino (2005, p. 49) even features an image of an Independence Day Barbie Doll.  The author explains that commercialization is triggered by the demand for items, therefore, it is not a bad thing: “customs originate with the people themselves, are recognized as potentially profitable and exploitable by various industrial interests, and are commercialized as a result” (Santino, 2005, p. 44).

Commercialization of holidays can be viewed from different angles. It can be labeled as “bad”, and many people state that people lose connection with the real meaning of the holiday. While this might be true in some cases, it is also evident that commercial products that feature characters or items related to the holiday make it a part of the popular culture. This means that more people will be encouraged to celebrate the date, and they will become interested in the background, official events and programs as a result. Therefore, claiming that commercial holidays should be omitted from the calendar means that all holidays should be omitted. We do not stop celebrating birthdays because hotels and restaurants offer birthday packages, and decorations are on sale. Therefore, we should continue to celebrate Thanksgiving and promoting the values of the American society this way.

Atheist Attacks

In his recent article, MacArthur argues that Thanksgiving is a universal holiday and “thankfulness is one of the distinguishing traits of the human spirit”. This means that one does not need to be Christian, or even a believer of any God, only human to be able to connect to the message of Thanksgiving. Indeed, when the pilgrims celebrated rich harvest that was made possible through the help of natives in America, they did that because they were grateful not only for the gifts of God, but also the ability to work together in understanding and put aside differences. In this form, Thanksgiving is not a religious celebration, but a festivity that celebrates humankind’s ability to agree, work together, and help each other. As different races worked on creating the results (harvest), it is also a symbol of collaboration and equality. Accepting each other and helping is an attitude that all people can relate to; independent of their religion.

As MacArthur describes: people can be grateful for many things. Atheists usually express their gratitude saying that they are grateful for their lucky stars, or people who helped them. But this same gratitude is shared among all people celebrating Thanksgiving. Indeed, the fact that families gather around the table shows that members of the group are expressing their appreciation of each other. Even atheist people love and appreciate their family, therefore, there is no reason why they could not connect with the Thanksgiving celebration. Today, – as MacArthur (2012, para 6) explains – “atheists can be grateful to farmers for the food we eat, to doctors for the health we enjoy, to engineers for the advantages of modern technology, to city workers for keeping our environment clean and orderly “.  Therefore, the atheist attack on Thanksgiving as a holiday is meaningless. Thanksgiving indeed does not only celebrate God’s gifts, but those provided by humans: family support, the cohesion of society, and order.  Claiming that Thanksgiving is only about God would be unwise and unreasonable.

Muslim Attacks

The Muslim Matters website has created several argumentative articles that are related to Muslims and Thanksgiving. Indeed, for many Muslims, Thanksgiving (as it is only celebrated in America, just like Independence Day are the symbol of the “Western Evil”. The representation of the historical background of Thanksgiving, according to many Muslims – is that the American nation is built upon lies and taking advantage of other nations. As one commenter on the Muslim Matters Website’s article (Ahmad, 2013) states: “Because of the true origins of thanksgiving, being the European settlers feast day for the savage conquering and massacre of Native Americans ( ironically because of the mixing of them and African explorers that settled there before Columbus, some of which were Muslim): i think it would be respectful to Allah and them that you at least make a dua for them with your family”.

This argument would be only valid if Thanksgiving today was celebrating the winning over native Americans and killing innocent people. Indeed, none of the speeches that are written to officially celebrate the holiday include that Americans killed native Americans, and they should be praised for it. This misunderstanding today creates a confusion about the holiday, and the real meaning of Thanksgiving.

Still, the author (Ahmad, 2013) states that it is allowed to celebrate Thanksgiving, and confirms that today it is more of a cultural-American holiday than a religious one. Even though it was started off by Christians, the significance of this fact today is much lower than it used to be. The expert of the religion also states that the Qur’an states that good Muslims need to maintain family ties and keep their family close. Further, it says that “ whoever does not thank people, does not thank Allah”.  Celebrating with family members and close friends is not prohibited. Indeed, it is encouraged. The author concludes that – under some conditions – Muslims are allowed to celebrate Thanksgiving, and there is nothing sinful about observing the festivities, either. These conditions are described as: avoiding over-eating and indulgence, giving thanks to God, not wasting food, and not consuming alcohol. These conditions are in line with the teachings of the Islam, and – provided that people adhere to then during the celebrations – allow Muslims take part in national holidays.

When Muslims pray, they give thanks to God. Only because their God is different from the one the pilgrims worshiped hundreds of years ago does not mean that Muslims cannot join in. Being a national holiday today, it represents different values that humans from any religion can relate to, such as solidarity, family cohesion, helping each other, and caring for those who are vulnerable.

As a conclusion to this argument, it is evident that today Thanksgiving is more about universal human values than religion. It celebrates family, togetherness, solidarity, and helping each other. This means that it can be celebrated by Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and atheists as well.

Leftist Attacks

Boyd (2005) clearly states that “leftists hate Thanksgiving”. The author concludes that the main reasons for this leftist attack of the holiday lies in the historical background of the first Thanksgiving. He quotes a Texas Professor who claims that Thanksgiving is  “the day when the dominant white culture (and, sadly, most of the rest of the non-white but non-indigenous population) celebrates the beginning of a genocide that was, in fact, blessed by the men we hold up as our heroic founding fathers”(Jensen, n.d.). As it has been previously stated, nobody in America celebrates genocide. Indeed, Christians do not celebrate Crusades during Mass. No nation is without sins, and this needs to be admitted. People and governments make mistakes. The author (Boyd, 2005) even argues that Native Americans themselves also engaged in what the author calls “genocide”. This might also mean that no holidays that involve killing other people should be celebrated. This excludes Independence Day, and most of the celebrations that are related to war. On Independence Day, Americans do not celebrate killing the enemy, but what they achieved. Likewise, on Thanksgiving, they do not celebrate that they killed native Americans, but that the nation together succeeded.

Some leftist authors – as Boyd (2005) confirm, however, attack the capitalist values that are – according to them  – represented by Thanksgiving. Indeed, some argue that when people shared the work and harvest, there was no starving, but when selfish capitalist methods were introduced in America, poverty appeared. Some authors use this argument based on some historical facts to prove that communism is a more successful approach towards economy and society than capitalism. Boyd (2005), however, argues that when private ownership of land was introduced and provided for native Americans, production of food increased. This proves the opposite of what the leftist authors say. Indeed, people who own the land or anything would be more motivated to succeed than those who simply work for the “common good”.

The Legitimacy of Thanksgiving

Baker (2010, p. 178) states that Thanksgiving is somewhat different from other holidays celebrated in America. It today symbolizes the formation of nation and togetherness. Indeed, the author admits that the majority of the celebrations are commercialized, but the essence of commemorating an important step towards the “American Dream” is still present. The book also describes that in the past more than 300 years, Thanksgiving achieved a universal meaning and symbolism. It has been celebrated by immigrants, native Americans, Christians, and those of other religions. Today, the holiday does not only commemorate a historical event, but it allows people to celebrate values of humanity. Sharing work, harvest, love, and belonging is more important than the religion of the first pilgrims who celebrated the 17^th century Thanksgiving and the fights that took place before the native Americans helped the settlers. Indeed, the arguments that state that Thanksgiving means mass killing for any American is neither logical nor strong. Thanksgiving has a legitimacy in American culture, as the nation as a whole is proud of its achievements and likes celebrating success. America is a success-oriented country, and the forefathers of today’s citizens were either immigrants, settlers, slaves, or natives, who fought for their future. Independent of race, religion, sexual orientation, or language: Thanksgiving provides all Americans an opportunity to celebrate family values and national achievements. Every country celebrates its national success; in Asian, Arabic, and European cultures, too.

The arguments that Thanksgiving is commercialized today do not stand, either. In America – and generally in the Western world – all national holidays are commercialized, including the ones that are related to religion. The most important meaning of a holiday is symbolic: it cannot be represented by merchandise or dinner budgets. There are several things that are commercialized in the Western world. Birthdays have already been mentioned. However, would it be wise to stop organizing wedding parties, as it is simply a superficial representation of two people’s union? Of course, not. Just like we would not stop celebrating Christmas just because sales go up and consumers spend more money than any other time of the year. We live in a capitalist society that is based on consumption. People generally consume more goods and buy merchandise when they celebrate something; let it be a graduation, national holiday, or birthday. Shops indeed take advantage of people’s increased shopping budget during Thanksgiving, but do they not do the same during Christmas? Even Black Friday is commercialized today; a day that is created to discourage people from visiting shops. Soon after the day was named as the one when consumers are supposed to avoid Christmas shopping, stores found out that if they offer huge discounts on that day they will be able to increase their profits. The source of the increased consumption during Thanksgiving is not the festivity itself, but people’s attitude toward shopping. We tend to buy more food before national holidays, anyway, as it is hard to determine how much we would consume, and people generally like staying home or going away for holiday for a few days. We, however, do that before Christmas and Easter, too.

The argument that people from different religions, such as Muslims cannot relate to the holiday of Thanksgiving has also been found weak. As it has been stated before, Thanksgiving celebrates universal human values. While several religious people from protestant background claim that Thanksgiving is their celebration, it is a national festivity. Indeed, being a national holiday, it can be celebrated by anybody who lives in America or can associate with American values. Building a nation from nothing is an achievement that all people around the world can relate to. Jews often mention the celebration of Passover, and they also celebrate the liberation of Jewish people from Egyptian slavery. Similarly, Muslims celebrate Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, the Holy Land. These celebrations are built around holy lands and homelands, and are similar to Thanksgiving. They commemorate belonging to a community of people who believe in the same values, God, and ways of living. Thanksgiving is not different. It has been shown that homeland and national emotions create a high level of sentiment in people. Americans, when they celebrate the holiday feel a sense of achievement as a nation and a sense of belonging. They share the table with their family members, and those who are close to them, just like Jesus shared the bread and wine with the disciples. As the Last Supper commemorated the building of a church or community, thanksgiving dinners commemorate the unity of nation and families. Without it, there would be possibly less pride in Americans as a nation and people’s national identity would be much weaker.

Atheists – claiming that Thanksgiving is not something they can relate to – make a mistake, too. The religious aspects of Thanksgiving are much weaker today than before. It has been shown during the review of arguments that even those who do not believe in God say thanks and are grateful. They tip waiters for an excellent service, and thank for their luck for achieving their goal. Indeed, many Americans celebrate Thanksgiving without a religious festivity. They simply gather around the table with their friends and family and say thanks for the support of the people around them, and the things they achieved. Any atheist – in my opinion – can relate to being grateful and valuing people who are important for us.

Conclusion

Several demonstrations have been held on Thanksgiving day to try and stop the celebrations on a national level – without success – in the 20^th Century. One example that Baker (2010, p. 191) highlights is the Boson demonstrations that were trying to deny the cultural legitimacy of the holiday. There were only a handful of volunteers marching, and the demonstrations were stopped by the police. The demonstrations – questioning the legitimacy of the holiday  – were not successful for several reasons. First of all, they were not organized well, and secondly, they were held on the day when people gathered to celebrate. It is not a good combination. Further, the reasoning behind the slogans was not strong enough to change hundreds of years of traditions. Indeed, not many things would be strong enough to wipe out Thanksgiving from the American society. Every person has their own way of celebrating, and have developed their customs within the family. Everything is laid out: menus, activities, who is invited, who says the prayers, and so on. Even non-religious people in America can relate to family values and togetherness. They see Thanksgiving as a celebration of positive values, and this means that if it was suddenly “canceled” people would feel deprived of their right to celebrate things they can relate to. Thanksgiving’s meaning has changed through the centuries, but its legitimacy is stronger than ever.

References

Ahmad, L. (2013) The Islamic ruling regarding celebrating Thanksgiving Day. Muslim Matters. November 22, 2013

Baker, J. (2010) Thanksgiving: The biography of an American holiday. UPNE.

Boyd, K. (2005) Why leftists hate Thanksgiving. Liberty Papers. Retrieved from http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2005/11/24/why-leftists-hate-thanksgiving/

MacArthur, John (2012)  The atheist’s Thanksgiving dilemma. Washington Times. November 21, 2012.

Santino, Jack (2005) Commercialism, capitalism, and celebration. Traditiones, 34/2, 2005, 43-54