Is Thanksgiving a Christian holiday?
The short answer: Thanksgiving is a national holiday, not a church holy day. But its history is full of calls to thank God.
The short answer
Thanksgiving Day is a federal holiday in the United States, open to everyone of every faith. It is not on the church calendar the way Christmas and Easter are. At the same time, the proclamations that created and shaped the holiday asked Americans to give thanks to God, and many Christian families still keep it as a day of gratitude to Him.
1621: a harvest celebration
What we call the "First Thanksgiving" was a harvest celebration at Plymouth in the autumn of 1621. According to the Pilgrim Hall Museum, it lasted about a week, and the Wampanoag leader Massasoit came with about ninety men and stayed for three days. Our main record of it is a letter written by colonist Edward Winslow in December 1621. The museum notes that the event was later remembered as the "First Thanksgiving," but at the time it was a harvest feast.
1789: Washington's proclamation
On October 3, 1789, President George Washington issued a proclamation naming Thursday, November 26, 1789, as a day of "sincere and humble thanks," according to the National Archives.
1863: Lincoln makes it national
In the middle of the Civil War, on October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln invited Americans to "set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise." In the same proclamation he wrote of the year's blessings: "They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God."
1941: the fourth Thursday
In 1939 President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday a week earlier to lengthen the Christmas shopping season. After the confusion that followed, Congress passed a joint resolution, approved by Roosevelt in 1941, that set Thanksgiving by law on the fourth Thursday in November, which is where it stays today.
So should Christians celebrate Thanksgiving?
Many do, and gladly. Scripture tells believers to give thanks often: "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1 Thessalonians 5:18), and "O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever" (Psalm 107:1). A national day set apart for gratitude fits easily with that.
Some Christian families add a time of prayer before the meal, read a psalm together, or go around the table and name one thing God did that year.
Christian Thanksgiving shirts
In Every Thing Give Thanks
Thankful Grateful Blessed
Blessed Beyond Measure
Grateful Heart Blessed Life
Thankful Blessed Mama
Questions people ask
Is Thanksgiving a Christian holiday?
It is a national holiday, not a church holy day. Its founding proclamations, though, called on Americans to give thanks to God, and many Christians celebrate it that way.
Should Christians celebrate Thanksgiving?
Many Christians do. The Bible calls believers to give thanks, as in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, so a day set apart for gratitude fits naturally.
Who made Thanksgiving a national holiday?
Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving in 1863. A 1941 law set it on the fourth Thursday of November.
What Bible verses are good for Thanksgiving?
Psalm 107:1 ("O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good") and 1 Thessalonians 5:18 ("In every thing give thanks") are two favorites.