If you live in the United States, you can't avoid the fact that Thanksgiving is just a couple of days away. I've gotten a few emails from folks who are wondering if -- given the often Christianized context of Thanksgiving and blessings -- it's okay for Pagans to celebrate this holiday. Also, there's the issue of whether or not Thanksgiving is in fact glorifying the obliteration of Native American culture by Europeans.
First, it's important to recognize that Thanksgiving is not a religious holiday. It's a secular one. Also, for many people, it may be more of a family custom than anything else. Here are some tips on how to celebrate Thanksgiving with your family, despite any spiritual differences you many have with them: How Can Pagans Celebrate Thanksgiving. Also, be sure to read Ten Ways To Show You're Thankful for some more ideas.
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First, it's important to recognize that Thanksgiving is not a religious holiday. It's a secular one. Also, for many people, it may be more of a family custom than anything else. Here are some tips on how to celebrate Thanksgiving with your family, despite any spiritual differences you many have with them: How Can Pagans Celebrate Thanksgiving. Also, be sure to read Ten Ways To Show You're Thankful for some more ideas.
Follow Pagan/Wiccan on Twitter or Join Me On Facebook!
I tend to think that, no matter what spiritual path one follows, being thankful is always a good thing. Long as nobody fusses about WHO I thank, we’re good.
think of this as a day the universe has set aside to relax with those you love. Grimacing or ignoring it does not change the origin of the event. We all talk about finding a positive light in every situation – make this your own time with your loved ones, or if you are by yourself, study, light a candle, go help a friend – there is plenty of light to be found….
our family will be sharing a huge meal with some military members where we live, who happen to be pagan too. i see it as a positive energy release from us to the universe, giving back some of the abundance we have been given!
I believe that being thankful is always a good thing and gathering with families & friends for a feast is a great way to honor the gods.
I for one am especially thankful that I don’t need to be a part of the post-Thanksgiving Black Friday madness.
Happy feasting folks!
We celebrate Thanksgiving as a way to say thank you to the goddess for all of natures gifts. So I don’t see anything wrong with it, at least from a Wiccan’s point of view.
Like you said, it is a secular family holiday. Being thankful for a good harvest is a universal good thing.
I celebrate Hindu, Christian, Wiccan and Secular holidays, no need to limit yourself.
Since coming to Paganism, I have felt that Thanksgiving is not only a time to give thanks for all the blessings I’ve had in my life, spend time with family, but I also look at it as a “last harvest celebration.”
We’ve gone through three harvest cycles (Lughnasadh with the early harvest, Mabon with the full harvest, and Samhain with the New Year usually wraps up the last few late harvest items) and we’ve prepared for the long winter.
It’s the first feast of Winter, one of many to liven up the cold season, and I feel I’m welcoming the Yule season to come. I’m reveling in the dark, celebrating winter’s coming beauty, and waiting anxiously for the celebration of light!!
hi i think it is ok for pagans to have thinksgiving we should be thankful we live in the usa and be thankful for the men and women who are over seas that are willing to fight for us. we should be thankful that we have homes when so many people dont and that we have food to eat and we have people that love us and for those of us that have or work with kids like i do that they are on the earth i am native american but we have all ways had thinksgiving it isnt just a holiday but it is a time of year to be with famliy and give thanks for all we have.
Perhaps it’s the current influx of new Pagans and Witches to our path but I’m so amazed by the question “Should I celebrate (fill in the holiday)!”
It’s so important for those entering this general path to understand that unlike christianity, judism, islam and others, YOU decide what holidays YOU wish to make YOUR OWN! There is no leader saying you can’t celebrate this OR you must celebrate a holiday this way.
The Goddess and God (whichever deities you follow) just love celebrations. The thing you must figure out is HOW to celebrate. Always keep in mind what you are celebrating, be it a happy or reserved celebration, appropriate food, always lots of candles and music. I find it good to include others within this celebration (non-pagans or new pagans are often my choice so they can see we are reverant but happy).
Celebrate Kwanza (why is there such a celebration), Hanakka (I probably misspelled this but who knows as there are about 6 different spellings), the 4th of July! The important thing is to find out WHY something is being celebrated and if it fits into your “traditions” then do your best to celebrate it regardless of it’s religious basis. One of my favorites is the male fertility rights from Japan, FANTASTIC!!!
If you are needing a celebration boost, find something and celebrate it. If a celebration doesn’t speak to you, let it pass. Just remember, LIFE itself is worth celebration!!
Love & Blessings
President Lincoln established the official Thanksgiving Day holiday in 1863, but apparently it was pretty common in European culture to give thanks sometime in autumn, in some cases celebrating as early as September and as late as November. It seems to me that such a wide range of celebration dates more or less fits in well with Samhaim, so in a way it might be thought of as a Halloween/Samhaim extension.
At any rate, I’ve always loved Thanksgiving. It has always been a time to celebrate the harvest and to be thankful for what we’ve got.
It is sad that we need to have a national holiday to stop and give thanks. We should do this every day. The holiday itself is a meaningful one to me, as I go through my day blessing those people who mean so much to me and for the health, happiness and home that I have. I DON’T like what our society is doing to this holiday….stores are open to jump start the Black Friday shopping, catalogs full of stuff in the newspaper and mail.
Despite the origins and controversial subject matter of the day, it is all good…it’s a day that, no matter what your path or beliefs, that you can all gather together as one… family and friends, to celebrate and be thankful for the love, warmth and the abundance that has been so graciously been bestowed upon us alol by the Goddess (and in the case of christian family and friends, their lord).
It is a time to appreciate all that we have, and each other as brothers and sisters…the children of the great mother…and a time to bestow blessings upon those who do not have anything.. .donate food, your time at a shelter or homeless kitchen, money for charities to those less fortunate. Sometimes a smile alone sometimes can warm the hearts of those in times of despair. Show kindness to others, even strangers. Everything we do effects our earth…even the most seemingly simplest of deeds. It’s up to us to keep things in balance.
It’s also time to remember the struggles past and present of our Native American brothers and sisters, and to offer our thoughts and prayers up to the mother for them.
We are all apart of one huge whole…no matter what path we walk.
Hi everybody! Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, and each year I like to get into the mood-extend the holiday, as it were-by reading “Thanksgiving novels.” For example, those stories are mostly about family, about coming together to heal old hurts and getting thanks for the gift of love. .. . =
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