Widely regarded as an all-America holiday, Thanksgiving Day is commonly believed to commemorate the Pilgrims' survival of a hard winter and successful harvest early after their arrival in America.
But is there more to this holiday tradition? And should you celebrate it? Harvest festivals date back thousands of years, and were traditionally a time to give expressions of gratitude and sacrifices to various gods in appreciation of a bountiful growing season.
Fall Equinox, which generally falls around September 21 or 22 in America, is a popular time for harvest festivals and has been associated with celebrations in cultures around the world including Druids, Mayans, Native Americans and others, and included ceremonial activities such as fertility rituals and burnt offerings.
Although the Thanksgiving holiday does not have a direct correlation with a single pagan ritual, it evokes many of these traditions.
For instance, the Thanksgiving cornucopia started as a hollowed goat's horn filled with fruits, vegetables, and grains.
This practice is rooted in Greek mythology, a legend in which goat Amalthea broke off one of her horns and offered it to king of the gods, Zeus, as a sign of reverence.
The Roman celebration Cerelia, honoring the goddess Ceres, goddess of corn, occurred annually on October 4 and included a thanksgiving feast.
Romans also had a annual day of thanksgiving each December.
The autumn celebration of Thesmosphoria honored the Greek goddess Demeter, goddess of grains, and also included a feast.
Native American tradition recognized a variety of fall harvest festivals associated with the moon cycle and including feasting days as well.
Although modern-day Thanksgiving celebrations do not directly deal with pagan traditions, pagan origins are clear in Thanksgiving practices, which may be cause for concern for sincere Christians who wish to live by the scriptural principles laid out in the Bible that believers cannot drink from the cup of demons and the cup of God at the same time (1 Corinthians 10:20-22) and that true and false worship can have no common ground (2 Corinthians 6:15, 16).
For those who are nonreligious, or who view Thanksgiving as only a family tradition rather than a real holiday, there is still cause for concern in the excess that Thanksgiving has come to encourage.
In most Thanksgiving celebrations, the focus is on food and football, and the upcoming shopping season, rather than on gratitude.
Whether you choose to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday is a personal decision, and should be made based on thoughtful consideration of its true meaning, not on pressure of tradition.
Will you choose to celebrate Thanksgiving?