The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-21

The observation of Thanksgiving Day may be said to a distinctive American holiday, yet it did not originate in the many people imagine.
 Far back down the centuries we may trace its origin through the ages of the nations to the Canaanites, and the chil-
 dren of Israel, who copied many of their
 customs. In the Book of Judges we read
 of the Canaanites:
 And they went out into the field, and
 gathered their vineyards, and trode the
 grapes and held festival and went into the house of their god, and did eat and drink"
 This harvest festival appeared later
 among the Hebrews. It was called the
 Feast of the Tabernacles because people lived in tents during the feast season, in memory of the years when the nation had no settled home.
 In Deuteronomy, Moses said: Thou shalt keep the feast of taber- nacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in from thy threshing floor I and from thy wine press, and thou
 shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou. and thy | son and thy daughter, and thy manserv- ant and thy mafdservant and the Levite, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and
 the widow, that are within thy gates Seven days thou shalt keep a feast unto 1 the Lord thy God-because the Lord thy ] God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the work in thine hands, and | thou shalt be altogether joyful" Thanks giving after the harvest was the prin- cipal festival in the Jewish year. In | Nehemiah we read: "Go forth unto the
 mount, and fetch olives. branches of wild olives and myrtle branches, and palm branches and branches of thick trees,
 to make booths So the people l went forth and brought them, 1 ard made themselves booths, every
 one upon the roof of his house, and in | their courts, and in the courts of the house of God and in the broad place of | the water gate. And there was very great gladness.'
 | The people of ancient Greece called their
 harvest festival the Thesmophoria. This l festival was very much like the feast of
 tabernacles. In Athens, the feast of Demeter was celebrated in November, by
 married women only.
 1 The Roman harvest deity went under l the name of Ceres, the festival unusually occurred in October and was called the Cerelia.
 | In England this autumn feast was called the harvest home, which may be traced to the Saxons of King Egberts s time A splendid description of harvest home supper is given in the fifty-third chapter of George Elliotts Adam Bede. 1 Tn Scotland this festival was known as I the Kern. It was a celebration Of the close of the harvest season. The festival commences with special service in the village church, beautifully decorated with fruit and flowers. followed by a dinner in a tent with the conclusion of rural sports l in the afternoon, and tea drinking for | the women, all of which was symbolic of happiness.
 1 Other than this fixed autumnal festival, l England proclaimed special feast celebra- tions such as the celebration of the defeat l of the Spanish Armada; the discovery of Guy Fawkes 'gunpowder plot" and the recovery of George III from his fit of in- 1 sanity History tells us that England I had so many days of thanksgiving that it often interfered with the more serious I affair of life. Even during the days of Cromwell there were more than an hun dred feast days When the Puritans fled to Holland 1 they were greatly impressed with the observation of the Dutch fast and feast days because of their great religious mature. And so being in the. blood or the early American the custom reap peared.