Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.
It is one of the biggest holidays celebrated in the United States, and
one of my favorites. America is a
secular nation. We have no national
religion. While this is overwhelmingly a
good thing, the one disadvantage of being from a secular nation is the lack of
a commonly celebrated day for anything other than nationalistic pride.
In contrast, the country where I currently live, Bulgaria,
does have national and religious holidays.
For example, Alphabet Day is a day of great pride when Bulgarians
celebrate the Greek missionary brothers Cyril and Methodius who invented the
Cyrillic alphabet as a means of bringing the Bible to the people who lived in what
is now Bulgaria. The Cyrillic alphabet
has since spread across the world through Ukraine, Russia, and as far as
Mongolia. The Alphabet is a big source
of national and spiritual pride for Bulgarians.
Yet America has no such holiday because, unlike Bulgaria where
there is an overwhelming Orthodox majority, the United States is made up of
countless spiritual and religious beliefs.
This is why I love Thanksgiving so much.
It is the closest thing America has to a universally celebrated
spiritual holiday.
The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621 in Plymouth by
two groups of people. There were the
Pilgrims who were Puritan Christians.
They arrived in Plymouth on December 16, 1620, and they did not fare very
well. During the first months 2 or 3 of
them would die every day, and only 52 of the original 102 passengers on their
ship, the Mayflower, survived their first year in America.
That number would probably have been much lower had it not
been for the Wampanoag people who lived in the area. After a few months living in Plymouth, the
Wampanoag and Pilgrims signed a treaty of mutual protection and entered into a
friendship. One Wampanoag in particular,
Squanto, took it upon himself to help the Pilgrims learn how to work the land. In November of 1621, the Pilgrims and the
Wampanoag feasted together as friends in thankfulness.
Two peoples, with different religious and cultural
convictions came together in gratitude.
The Pilgrims would have been thankful to God, while the Wampanoag as
animists would likely have been thankful to Mother Earth. Yet they celebrated together in peace and
with gratitude.
Centuries later, the tradition continues. Ethnic background, and religion do not
matter. We are all Americans. We might thank different spiritual forces (or
none at all if we are atheists), but we are all thankful.
This is why I love America.
We share different beliefs and hold different values, but at the end of
the day we all sit down together in gratitude.
We are all Americans. E pluribus
unum. Out of many, one.
Happy Thanksgiving!
