The Rural Voice, 1992-10, Page 30For what we are about to receive .. .
As each generation grows farther from the land
is the feeling of thanksgiving being lost ?
by Ralph Pearce
We are thankful for all
who are present at this
our feast as well as for
all those who have laboured in
love in order to bring this dinner
to our table. May You, our God,
bless this Thanksgiving feast and
all of us who shall share it
in Your holy name: Father, Son
and Holy Spirit.
Amen
Excerpt from a brief
Thanksgiving Table Prayer
- from "Prayers for The
Domestic Church"
by Edward (Hays
When the word "Thanksgiving" is
mentioned, the mind's eye often
floods with vivid memories of past
celebrations. Over the years, the
recollections have become bigger
than life, yet they're vital to our
belief of how things used to be. You
can clearly remember travelling to
visit parents or grandparents,
somewhere in the country or perhaps
in a small town. You can almost feel
the coolness of the air. And the
trimmings of the season are still
sharp in your memory, from the
carpet of fallen leaves on the front
lawn to walking through the door to
the welcome aroma of the turkey
roasting in the oven.
It was a home-
coming, a rite of
autumn.
What happened?
Where did we
lose the Thanksgiv-
ing tradition? Did it
get lost in the same
commercialism that
consumed Christ-
mas? Or did society
see fit to just christ-
en it another three-
day holiday week-
end? Have we
become too far -
removed from the
land? Or can our
government take some of the blame?
What about the Americans? Is our
day over -shadowed by the pomp and
pageantry of theirs?
Though far from being a cause for
national alarm, the passing of
Thanksgiving as a time-honoured
tradition is still a sad event. For
many people, Thanksgiving is just
another paid vacation or the day that
marks the end of another cottage
season.
These days, it doesn't take a
farmer to know that Thanksgiving
has taken a tumble. Its fundamentals
are lost and its origins are virtually
unknown. The fact that the Pilgrim
Fathers of 1621 were the second
group to celebrate the first North
American Thanksgiving often
remains a secret. It was 43 years
before the Plymouth celebration that
Martin Frobisher, having landed at
Frobisher Bay on Baffin Island, set
aside half a day of prayer and
thanksgiving for his safe arrival in the
New World, in 1578.
Historical references aside, it's
Thanksgiving's connection to the
harvest that's lost on many people.
Nowadays, the idea of "giving
thanks" is ignored by a disturbingly
large number of people.
"We don't have a sense of being
thankful for the high standard of
living, we have more a sense of
having a right to it," says Father
Joseph Hardy of the Parish of St.
Columban's, near Seaforth. "And if
you have a right to it, you will leave
off the 'Thankful' of it all."
Hardy has the benefit of seeing
Thanksgiving in Canada through the
eyes of an American. Born and
raised in Chicago, he still goes home
for the holiday when he can. From
his vantage point, Canada's
Thanksgiving is still important to the
rural communities, noting in the rural
parishes, it's a time when people
come home.
And yet, the day holds some
serious conflicts in how it's
celebrated. To Father Hardy, it's
possible Canadians have too many
holiday Mondays. As a result, we
lose the value of the holiday and take
the three-day weekend as the
accepted practice. In the States,
Thanksgiving, always held on the
fourth Thursday in November, is as
rich and warm a tradition as there is
in the American calendar of special
events. So much so, says Hardy, that
younger members of his family make
the extra effort to travel to large
family gatherings, even though it
would be easier to
stay home, watch
football and let the
festivities slide.
Instead, many Am-
ericans maintain the
tradition, keeping
alive the harvest
celebration as a
symbol of the
Pilgrim Fathers'
struggle to survive.
"They (the Pil-
grims) celebrated
Thanksgiving look-
ing at the graves of
their children and
many of the people
they came over
26 THE RURAL VOICE