Are You Giving Thanks to Ceres or God?

My friend, xHWA, has been posting a great series of posts on Samhain over at the blog As Bereans Did. As my readers know, this blog has pushed back on an unfortunate phenomenon which began during the Protestant Reformation - a claim that has been advanced by certain over-zealous and mostly well-meaning folks that most of the holidays we celebrate are rooted in pagan practices of the past. And, as xHWA and others have pointed out, most of these claims are based in whimsy and apophenia (seeing connections or patterns in data which do NOT exist and consequently lead to false conclusions).

Now, while this phenomenon has focused more on traditional holidays (like Christmas, Easter, and Halloween), there are a few rabid individuals who have even attempted to paint the American Thanksgiving holiday with this pagan brush! Don't think so? Try typing "pagan origins of Thanksgiving" into your search engine and see what happens!

My Bing Copilot picked up this: "Thanksgiving has roots in ancient pagan harvest festivals, reflecting traditions of gratitude and celebration of the harvest season." It continued:

Historical Context
Thanksgiving, as celebrated in the United States, is often traced back to the 1621 feast shared by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag tribe. However, the concept of giving thanks for the harvest predates this event and is deeply rooted in various pagan traditions. Many ancient cultures held harvest festivals to honor their deities and celebrate the abundance of the season.
Pagan Harvest Festivals
Cerelia: In ancient Rome, the festival of Cerelia was dedicated to Ceres, the goddess of agriculture and grain. This festival celebrated the harvest and involved various rituals and feasting, similar to modern Thanksgiving practices.

Lughnasadh and Samhain: The Gaelic Celts celebrated Lughnasadh around August 1st, marking the beginning of the harvest season, and Samhain on November 1st, which signified the end of the harvest. These festivals included feasting and community gatherings, reflecting the themes of gratitude and abundance.

Harvest Home: In Britain, the tradition of Harvest Home evolved from pagan customs, where communities would celebrate the completion of the harvest with feasts and festivities. This practice continued even after the Christianization of the region, blending pagan and Christian elements.

The information was then summarized by noting paganism's "Influence on Modern Thanksgiving:"

The modern Thanksgiving celebration incorporates many elements from these ancient harvest festivals. The act of gathering with family and friends to give thanks for the harvest mirrors the communal feasting of past cultures. While Thanksgiving is now a secular holiday, its roots in pagan traditions highlight the universal human practice of celebrating abundance and expressing gratitude. 

 

In summary, while Thanksgiving is often viewed through a contemporary lens, its origins are intertwined with ancient pagan customs that celebrated the harvest and the changing seasons. These traditions have shaped the way we observe Thanksgiving today, emphasizing gratitude and community.

Google's AI Overview offered much of the same information. Their lead paragraph read:

Thanksgiving has roots in ancient pagan harvest celebrations from various cultures, which honored the earth's bounty through feasting and rituals. Examples include the Roman Cerelia festival for the harvest goddess Ceres and the Celtic Harvest Home, which featured parades and feasts for the final harvest. Modern Paganism, specifically Neopaganism, observes a similar celebration called Mabon, which marks the autumnal equinox with feasting and gratitude for the harvest.

"Well, they must be right! Thanksgiving is nothing but a pagan celebration to honor Ceres! True Christians shouldn't be partaking in this pagan holiday!" If that was your reaction, you may want to examine the AI sources behind these statements.

The actual history of this celebration is drilled into every school-aged child in America! Most Americans will tell you that the first Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians in the fall of 1621. Surprisingly, many of them will also be able to tell you that Abraham Lincoln was the first president to make it an official national holiday. In other words, the genesis of the holiday is clearly found among a group of Christian people who wanted to give thanks to God for their survival and a bountiful harvest at the conclusion of their first year on this continent. The truth is that these humble folks didn't have a pagan thought in their heads at the time!

It is my hope that in pointing out just how absurd this notion about pagan origins can be - that it will give some of my Armstrong Church of God and Jehovah's Witnesses brethren some pause about our other holidays which have been painted with this brush. The real truth is that almost all of our current holiday traditions were founded in the Christian era and do NOT have pagan origins. The fact that pagans observed harvest festivals devoted to their gods and goddesses does not mean that we borrowed our celebration from them. If anything, this entire exercise should generate a little intellectual curiosity. and a willingness to dig a little deeper and engage our brains in some good old critical thinking and common sense! What do you think?

 Miller Jones/Lonnie C Hendrix