Thanksgiving in Culture Around the World
From time immemorial, people everywhere have felt the need
to give thanks. Gratitude is a basic
human characteristic, the consciousness of benefit freely received. To express thanksgiving, people use words
(thank you, gracias, merci, arigato, danke schoen); they use gestures (a hand
clasp, an embrace, a deep bow). And, as
people develop clans and tribes, kingdoms and nations, they develop feasts and
rituals for giving thanks. These become
celebrations because the act of thanksgiving, the gesture of gratitude is a
joyful one. In one very beautiful
Thanksgiving Ritual, that of the Seneca Tribe of the Iroquois Nation of
American Indians, it is observed:
Let there be gratitude; we are
always going to be grateful, we who remain, we who claim to be happy. And give it your thought: the first thing for
us to do is to be thankful to each other.
And our minds will continue to be so.
Very often
Thanksgiving celebrations occur at harvest time, when the bounty of the earth
is reaped and food is assured for the coming year. An ancient African tribal expression of
gratitude states:
The year has come around again, great Lord of our land – never can we thank you for your good deeds and all your blessings.
Today there are some nations whose governments have an
annual national thanksgiving day, among them Brazil, Canada, Japan, Switzerland
and the United States. Many others
celebrate days of thanksgiving as part of their religious or cultural heritage,
a national, state or local level.
In 1982 at the request of international religious and
diplomatic leaders, Thanks-Giving Square drew up the first Declaration of World
Thanksgiving. This was written by
Fellows of World Thanksgiving – educators, philosophers, statesmen, and theologians
– from around the world. Twelve
internationally known leaders were then invited to approve the declaration by
signing it. It was then presented to the
Secretary-General of the United Nations for the whole human family. Each year since, a new declaration has been
approved by twelve more leaders.
In 1997, through the efforts of Thanks-Giving Square, the
General Assembly of the United Nations passed a resolution proclaiming the year
2000 the International Year of Thanksgiving.
In a ceremony in 1999 commemorating the UN stamp issued for that year,
the United Nations emphasized, “thanksgiving is basic in human nature and is
observed worldwide. It ties human
communities together and encourages brotherhood and sharing.”
Optional follow-up
Activities
Have students write their own
declaration of World Thanksgiving” and seek signatures of approval from
selected school personnel (faculty, student leaders, board members, parents)
A)
List the many people and things that students
are grateful for.
B)
Suggest ways to celebrate them: poems, drawings,
songs, dances, speeches, and websites.
C)
Select one or two ways and organize them into a ‘special celebration’.