(1:53 PM) | Adam Kotsko:

Happy Thanksgiving

I will soon be heading back to scenic Davison, Michigan, to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. I cannot make any promises about the frequency of posts until I return to Kotsko HQ, although hopefully my loving co-bloggers will provide you with fresh, insightful material to help you get through.

Before I leave, I would like to offer my thoughts on the non-commercialization of Thanksgiving. First, we will note that it is not a Christian holiday, but was proclaimed by our holiest and most righteous president, Abraham Lincoln. It celebrates a highly idealized scene of the peaceful settlement of this continent by our hard-working, self-controlled forebears. All it requires for its celebration are food and family, the key elements to any American holiday, and its symbols are generally close to the earth. We Americans are not good at giving or receiving gifts, as on Christmas. We are not good at reflecting on heavenly hopes, as at Easter. What is holiest and most meaningful to Americans is abundance of food and fellowship with family, and therefore I propose that Thanksgiving is the holiest day of the American civil religion. It is a day when people spontaneously wish to go to church, although no church authority obliges them. It is a day untainted by military triumphalism or crass commercialism. It is a day when strangers are welcomed in. It is a good day.

| permalink | Main Page