Today marks a special holiday in the United States known as Thanksgiving.
Initially celebrated as a harvest festival with a distinctly religious flavor, the holiday is now steeped in American legend, harking back to the 1620s when immigrants settled the northeast region still referred to today as New England. In those days, concluding the harvest after a successful growing season was indeed cause for giving thanks, for it was the fruit of the harvest that would sustain the settlers through the long, harsh New England winters.
As American society drifted from its agrarian roots and the need to stock food for winter largely disappeared, Thanksgiving became more secular in nature, and the reasons for which we express gratitude much broader. Today, it’s seen as time to gather with family and friends and is typically the busiest travel day of the year.
For the fortunate, the centerpiece of the holiday remains the Thanksgiving feast, often featuring traditional American cuisine and that native American bird, the turkey. Some of us eat more than we should, leading to a near-comatose state afterward that limits activity to little more than watching American football on television. But aside from the obvious, there’s another reason not to overindulge — leftovers are as much a part of the holiday tradition as the meal itself.
Over time, other traditions have evolved, some of which have nothing to do with giving thanks, such as those instituted by the commercial sector, including the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, and the “official” start of the Christmas shopping season the day after Thanksgiving.
For most, however, expressing gratitude for our good fortune, however meager or great and whatever form it may take, is an important part of the holiday. And while it’s something we should do each and every day, having a special day dedicated to giving thanks serves as an important reminder to acknowledge and appreciate those things in our lives that are truly important.
In the end, we are not all that different from those early settlers whose lives were dependent upon a successful harvest, even though we may not perceive our dependence so directly. Indeed, everything we cherish and everything we are, we owe to the Earth.
In an era when population growth and ecological encroachment threaten Earth’s ability to sustain us through its bounty, we would do well do express our gratitude by using its resources more wisely and preserving its ability to provide for our needs, if not out of respect, then for our own self-interest.
