{"id":161776,"date":"2025-11-27T22:56:02","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T22:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/watchman.news\/?p=161776"},"modified":"2025-11-27T23:03:04","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T23:03:04","slug":"thanksgiving-in-early-america-days-of-fasting-humiliation-praise-a-heritage-worth-recovering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/watchman.news\/nl\/2025\/11\/thanksgiving-in-early-america-days-of-fasting-humiliation-praise-a-heritage-worth-recovering\/","title":{"rendered":"Thanksgiving in Early America: Days of Fasting, Humiliation &#038; Praise \u2014 A Heritage Worth Recovering"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 data-start=\"331\" data-end=\"435\"><strong data-start=\"333\" data-end=\"435\">Thanksgiving in Early America: Days of Fasting, Humiliation &amp; Praise \u2014 A Heritage Worth Recovering<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p data-start=\"436\" data-end=\"487\"><strong data-start=\"436\" data-end=\"487\">A Watchman News Public Message for Thanksgiving<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"489\" data-end=\"765\">As Americans gather this week to give thanks, most people think only of Pilgrims, turkey, and a generalized attitude of gratitude. But the real history of Thanksgiving in America is far richer, deeper, more spiritual, and far more <em data-start=\"720\" data-end=\"734\">governmental<\/em> than modern culture remembers.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"767\" data-end=\"911\">Thanksgiving was not originally a secular harvest feast. It was part of a <strong data-start=\"841\" data-end=\"872\">two-sided biblical practice<\/strong> deeply woven into colonial government:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"913\" data-end=\"1094\">\n<li data-start=\"913\" data-end=\"1013\">\n<p data-start=\"915\" data-end=\"1013\"><strong data-start=\"915\" data-end=\"950\">Days of Fasting and Humiliation<\/strong> (repentance in times of crisis, war, disease, or drought), and<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1014\" data-end=\"1094\">\n<p data-start=\"1016\" data-end=\"1094\"><strong data-start=\"1016\" data-end=\"1051\">Days of Thanksgiving and Praise<\/strong> (after deliverance, victory, or blessing).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"1096\" data-end=\"1440\">These days were proclaimed by <strong data-start=\"1126\" data-end=\"1147\">civil authorities<\/strong>, but carried out through <strong data-start=\"1173\" data-end=\"1214\">public worship, preaching, and prayer<\/strong>, uniting communities in covenant before God. Thanksgiving was never just about food. It was about <strong data-start=\"1313\" data-end=\"1369\">acknowledging the Hand of Providence in real history<\/strong>, and calling the people to <strong data-start=\"1397\" data-end=\"1439\">civic responsibility and moral renewal<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<hr data-start=\"1442\" data-end=\"1445\" \/>\n<h2 data-start=\"1447\" data-end=\"1507\"><strong data-start=\"1450\" data-end=\"1507\">Virginia: The Earliest Documented Annual Thanksgiving<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"1508\" data-end=\"1727\">While New England\u2019s 1621 harvest celebration is the most popularly retold story, the <strong data-start=\"1593\" data-end=\"1642\">earliest charter-mandated annual Thanksgiving<\/strong> in English America was in <strong data-start=\"1669\" data-end=\"1681\">Virginia<\/strong>, Bij <strong data-start=\"1686\" data-end=\"1706\">Berkeley Hundred<\/strong>, on the James River:<\/p>\n<blockquote data-start=\"1729\" data-end=\"1952\">\n<p data-start=\"1731\" data-end=\"1952\"><strong data-start=\"1731\" data-end=\"1751\">December 4, 1619<\/strong> \u2014 The settlers led by Captain <strong data-start=\"1782\" data-end=\"1799\">John Woodlief<\/strong> were ordered by charter that the day of their safe arrival<\/p>\n<p data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\">\u201c\u2026ordaine that this day of our ships arrival, at the place assigned for plantacon, in the land of Virginia, <strong>shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God<\/strong>. &quot;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p data-start=\"1954\" data-end=\"2024\">This was two years <strong data-start=\"1973\" data-end=\"1983\">before<\/strong> the Pilgrims\u2019 harvest feast at Plymouth.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2026\" data-end=\"2394\">This thanksgiving in Virginia was not a feast at all, but a <strong data-start=\"2086\" data-end=\"2105\">worship service<\/strong>. The settlers knelt and prayed in the Anglican tradition using the <strong data-start=\"2173\" data-end=\"2198\">Book of Common Prayer<\/strong>, thanking God for preservation and safe passage under <strong data-start=\"2253\" data-end=\"2285\">Governor Sir George Yeardley<\/strong>, whose government had just formed the first representative assembly in the New World earlier that same year.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2396\" data-end=\"2766\">Even earlier, in <strong data-start=\"2413\" data-end=\"2428\">spring 1610<\/strong>, after the horrific \u201cStarving Time,\u201d the remaining Jamestown settlers held a <strong data-start=\"2506\" data-end=\"2563\">thanksgiving prayer service when relief ships arrived<\/strong>, praising God for survival and deliverance. Their thanksgiving was not directed to neighboring tribes, and not to romantic notions of harmony \u2014 it was a <strong data-start=\"2717\" data-end=\"2765\">cry of gratitude from the edge of extinction<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<hr data-start=\"2768\" data-end=\"2771\" \/>\n<h2 data-start=\"2773\" data-end=\"2834\"><strong data-start=\"2776\" data-end=\"2834\">New England: A Confederation for the Kingdom of Christ<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"2835\" data-end=\"2962\">In 1643, four Puritan colonies formed the <strong data-start=\"2877\" data-end=\"2911\">United Colonies of New England<\/strong>, a covenant with a remarkable opening declaration:<\/p>\n<blockquote data-start=\"2964\" data-end=\"3125\">\n<p data-start=\"2966\" data-end=\"3125\">\u201c\u2026with one and the same end and aim, namely to <strong data-start=\"3013\" data-end=\"3061\">advance the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ<\/strong>, and to enjoy the liberties of the Gospel in purity and peace\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p data-start=\"3127\" data-end=\"3186\">They called their alliance a <strong data-start=\"3156\" data-end=\"3186\">\u201cperpetual confederation.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"3188\" data-end=\"3277\">Within this explicitly Christian political framework, the governors regularly proclaimed:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"3279\" data-end=\"3354\">\n<li data-start=\"3279\" data-end=\"3316\">\n<p data-start=\"3281\" data-end=\"3316\"><strong data-start=\"3281\" data-end=\"3316\">Days of fasting and humiliation<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"3317\" data-end=\"3354\">\n<p data-start=\"3319\" data-end=\"3354\"><strong data-start=\"3319\" data-end=\"3354\">Days of thanksgiving and praise<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"3356\" data-end=\"3488\">These were observed in churches with long sermons and prayer \u2014 a covenantal worldview interpreting history through God\u2019s providence.<\/p>\n<hr data-start=\"3490\" data-end=\"3493\" \/>\n<h2 data-start=\"3495\" data-end=\"3536\"><strong data-start=\"3498\" data-end=\"3536\">From Many Days to One National Day<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"3537\" data-end=\"3577\">In the colonial era, thanksgivings were:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"3579\" data-end=\"3661\">\n<li data-start=\"3579\" data-end=\"3590\">\n<p data-start=\"3581\" data-end=\"3590\"><strong data-start=\"3581\" data-end=\"3590\">Local<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"3591\" data-end=\"3609\">\n<p data-start=\"3593\" data-end=\"3609\"><strong data-start=\"3593\" data-end=\"3609\">Event-driven<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"3610\" data-end=\"3661\">\n<p data-start=\"3612\" data-end=\"3661\"><strong data-start=\"3612\" data-end=\"3661\">Specific to real deliverances and real crises<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"3663\" data-end=\"4014\">It was common to see multiple such observances within a year \u2014 for example after drought relief, plague ending, war victories, or fires avoided. Even during the Revolution, the <strong data-start=\"3840\" data-end=\"3864\">Continental Congress<\/strong> proclaimed both <strong data-start=\"3881\" data-end=\"3894\">fast days<\/strong> en <strong data-start=\"3899\" data-end=\"3923\">days of thanksgiving<\/strong>, calling on the nation through the <strong data-start=\"3959\" data-end=\"3987\">\u201cmerits of Jesus Christ\u201d<\/strong> to repent and give thanks.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"4016\" data-end=\"4305\">Only much later \u2014 especially after <strong data-start=\"4051\" data-end=\"4090\">Abraham Lincoln\u2019s 1863 proclamation<\/strong> \u2014 did Thanksgiving become a <strong data-start=\"4119\" data-end=\"4154\">single uniform national holiday<\/strong>, eventually drifting into a nearly secular festival, more about football and shopping than <strong data-start=\"4246\" data-end=\"4304\">covenant, repentance, gratitude, and divine providence<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"4307\" data-end=\"4570\">This centralization is part of a broader shift: from many local gatherings where government, church, and community humbled themselves before God, to <strong data-start=\"4456\" data-end=\"4569\">one symbolic national dinner detached from real civic engagement and acknowledgement of God\u2019s rule in history<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<hr data-start=\"4572\" data-end=\"4575\" \/>\n<h2 data-start=\"4577\" data-end=\"4613\"><strong data-start=\"4580\" data-end=\"4613\">A Moment of Honest Reflection<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"4614\" data-end=\"4903\">Modern culture often insists the first Thanksgiving was about \u201cpeace with Native peoples,\u201d and in truth, treaties and cooperation did occur. But many early thanksgiving proclamations thanked God for <strong data-start=\"4813\" data-end=\"4857\">deliverance from attack, famine, and war<\/strong> \u2014 raw and painful realities of frontier life.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"4905\" data-end=\"5056\">In at least one widely circulated reflection (likely later phrased but historically consistent in tone), the colonists thanked God for protection from:<\/p>\n<blockquote data-start=\"5058\" data-end=\"5092\">\n<p data-start=\"5060\" data-end=\"5092\"><strong data-start=\"5060\" data-end=\"5092\">\u201cthe ravages of the savages\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p data-start=\"5094\" data-end=\"5449\">Such language shows how different the world was \u2014 and how far our society has since traveled in understanding history, justice, and reconciliation. The point is not to glorify violence or erase suffering on either side \u2014 but to recognize that <strong data-start=\"5337\" data-end=\"5424\">thanksgiving was historically about survival, divine mercy, and national repentance<\/strong>, not romantic mythology.<\/p>\n<hr data-start=\"5451\" data-end=\"5454\" \/>\n<h2 data-start=\"5456\" data-end=\"5485\"><strong data-start=\"5459\" data-end=\"5485\">Why This Matters Today<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"5486\" data-end=\"5526\">Thanksgiving <em data-start=\"5499\" data-end=\"5507\">should<\/em> be a time when we:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"5528\" data-end=\"5704\">\n<li data-start=\"5528\" data-end=\"5578\">\n<p data-start=\"5530\" data-end=\"5578\"><strong data-start=\"5530\" data-end=\"5578\">Acknowledge God\u2019s providence over our nation<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"5579\" data-end=\"5607\">\n<p data-start=\"5581\" data-end=\"5607\"><strong data-start=\"5581\" data-end=\"5607\">Repent of national sin<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"5608\" data-end=\"5649\">\n<p data-start=\"5610\" data-end=\"5649\"><strong data-start=\"5610\" data-end=\"5649\">Renew civic and constitutional duty<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"5650\" data-end=\"5704\">\n<p data-start=\"5652\" data-end=\"5704\"><strong data-start=\"5652\" data-end=\"5704\">Unite families and communities in real gratitude<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"5706\" data-end=\"5963\">Rather than losing the meaning in a single federal holiday, it may be time to <strong data-start=\"5784\" data-end=\"5843\">restore local days of prayer, fasting, and thanksgiving<\/strong> \u2014 set during real moments of crisis or blessing, where they actually matter to people\u2019s lives and civic responsibility.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"5965\" data-end=\"6002\">That is a tradition worth recovering.<\/p>\n<hr data-start=\"6004\" data-end=\"6007\" \/>\n<h2 data-start=\"6009\" data-end=\"6038\"><strong data-start=\"6012\" data-end=\"6038\">A Watchman News Prayer<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"6039\" data-end=\"6090\">This Thanksgiving, may we say with our forefathers:<\/p>\n<blockquote data-start=\"6092\" data-end=\"6145\">\n<p data-start=\"6094\" data-end=\"6145\"><strong data-start=\"6094\" data-end=\"6131\">\u201cRemember the works of the Lord.\u201d<\/strong> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bibleserver.com\/KJV\/Psalm77%3A11\" class=\"bibleserver extern\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Psalm 77:11<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p data-start=\"6147\" data-end=\"6337\">May God preserve our nation, restore our liberty, heal our families, strengthen local communities, revive courage among free people, and protect the inheritance of self-government under God.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"6339\" data-end=\"6456\">Let us honor the founders not with empty ceremony, but with <strong data-start=\"6399\" data-end=\"6456\">repentance, gratitude, and renewed duty to the truth.<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr data-start=\"6458\" data-end=\"6461\" \/>\n<h1 data-start=\"6463\" data-end=\"6506\"><strong data-start=\"6465\" data-end=\"6506\">Happy Thanksgiving from Watchman News<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p data-start=\"6507\" data-end=\"6664\">We stand in solidarity with those who defend faith, family, heritage, and freedom \u2014 and with all who seek God\u2019s mercy and providence over America once again.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"6666\" data-end=\"6760\"><strong data-start=\"6666\" data-end=\"6706\">May the Lord bless you and keep you.<\/strong><br data-start=\"6706\" data-end=\"6709\" \/><strong data-start=\"6709\" data-end=\"6760\">May His face shine upon you and give you peace.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"6762\" data-end=\"6796\"><strong data-start=\"6762\" data-end=\"6796\">\u2014 Watchman News Editorial Team<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thanksgiving in Early America: Days of Fasting, Humiliation &amp; Praise \u2014 A Heritage Worth Recovering A Watchman News Public Message for Thanksgiving As Americans gather this week to give thanks, most people think only of Pilgrims, turkey, and a generalized attitude of gratitude. But the real history of Thanksgiving in America is far richer, deeper, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":161777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"seo_booster_metabox":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,3555,3574,13,3576,3552,3571,3582,3553,3568,3572,3573,3567,3587,3551,3581,3569],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-babylon-politics-nwo-vs-christendom","category-christian-israel-nationalism","category-colonial-america","category-covenantal-sovereignty","category-dixie-and-restoration","category-fighting-communism-cdl","category-law-institute","category-legitimist-philosophy","category-literature","category-peace-institute","category-perpetual-confederation","category-pre-colonial-america","category-priory-of-salem","category-public-representation","category-red-genocide","category-state-assemblies","category-theology-institute"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Thanksgiving in Early America: Days of Fasting, Humiliation &amp; Praise \u2014 A Heritage Worth Recovering - Watchman News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover the true origins of Thanksgiving in early America\u2014rooted in colonial Days of Fasting, Humiliation, and Thanksgiving led by civil and church authorities. Learn how the first documented annual Thanksgiving occurred in Virginia in 1619, how New England formed a Christian confederation to advance the Kingdom of Christ, and how these deeply spiritual civic traditions were later centralized and secularized into a modern holiday. 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Learn how the first documented annual Thanksgiving occurred in Virginia in 1619, how New England formed a Christian confederation to advance the Kingdom of Christ, and how these deeply spiritual civic traditions were later centralized and secularized into a modern holiday. 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