"The First Thanksgiving" by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris.

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On The fourth Thursday of November, Thanksgiving, is celebrated in the United States.   It ranks second, only after Christmas in importance as far as American Holidays are concerned.

I would like to spend some time explaining the origin of our Thanksgiving holiday, and how it is celebrated in modern times.

To understand Thanksgiving, we have to go back to England in the late 1500s and early 1600s.   There were a group of English Christians called the Puritans, who disagreed with the way the King of England, James I, wanted them to worship God.

During that time in history, the Church of a nation, be it Roman Catholic or Protestant, was typically the church of the King.  If you didn’t agree with the king pertaining to religious matters, things could be quite uncomfortable.

The Puritans in England often faced various persecutions, including imprisonment and even death if they did not follow the English King’s rules on how to worship.

The Puritans came up with a solution.   The decided to leave English and immigrate to Holland where the laws were more accepting of their religious practices.  In 1609, a band of Puritans moved to Leiden, Holland thinking that they would find religious freedom and economic security.

(Click here to continue to Thanksgiving’s Origin, part 2)