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Thanksgiving’s Jewish Roots
That must be why it features root vegetables!
JTA via LA Jewish Journal: Thanksgiving’s Sukkot Roots
Did you know that Thanksgiving is really a Jewish holiday? Although Thanksgiving is not on the Jewish calendar, historians believe that Sukkot may have inspired America’s favorite farewell to fall, often nicknamed “Turkey Day.”
“The pilgrims based their customs on the Bible,” said Gloria Kaufer Greene, author of the “New Jewish Holiday Cookbook” (Times Books, 1999). “They knew that Sukkot was an autumn harvest festival, and there is evidence that they fashioned the first Thanksgiving after the Jewish custom of celebrating the success of the year’s crops.”
One Response to “Thanksgiving’s Jewish Roots”
Although there may be some, I’m at a loss to think of a single culture which didn’t mark bringing in the harvest with an autumn celebration. The various rhythms of nature have been joined to religious observances of various kinds far and wide amd somce fprever.
It’s not by accident that Christmas is celebrated near the time of the winter solstice, for example.
Jews would have a lot of competitions in claiming to be the source of the inspiration for Thanksgiving, if an open competition were declared.
For one thing, the settlers were Eiropeans, and I don’t think there is a single European country without a history of harvest feasts. I think the inspiration for everyone was the rhythm of the seasons, particularly in their agricultural significance.
It’s an interesting idea, but not the most likely one, IMO.