The History of Thanksgiving
Posted: Thu Nov 28, 2024 6:09 pm
Hopefully, those reading this have enjoyed Thanksgiving Day, 28 November, 2024. I was surprised that this piece by Andrew Hamilton is not found in his exclusive section on National Vanguard, but here it is from over at Counter-Currents.com.
The National Alliance received some good news today for which we are thankful -- there will be mention of the Alliance's good fortune in the November issue of our monthly Members BULLETIN.
Thanksgiving Day as a Harvest Festival
by Andrew Hamilton
Thanksgiving Day is America’s incarnation of the traditional harvest festival, a celebration of the end of the summer harvest, often marked by lavish feasts.
Harvest festivals were a product of the Neolithic revolution—the displacement of hunting and gathering by the domestication of plants and animals as the primary means of subsistence.
The agricultural revolution occurred at different times in different places around the world—as early as 9,000–12,000 years ago in some regions. In certain areas farming arose through indigenous innovations, while in others it spread from other areas.
The spread of farming was slow. Within Europe, it began as early as c. 7000–6000 BC in the eastern Mediterranean but did not reach some areas of northern Europe until c. 2500 BC—more than three millennia later.
Though slow to propagate, agriculture had profound social effects. Among its many far-reaching consequences were stable settlements, the beginnings of social hierarchy and individual wealth, the rise of large-scale trade networks, the use of domesticated plants in the weaving of textiles, and, most importantly, a dramatic population increase: “The population explosion of the Neolithic Demographic Transition, detectable in cemeteries, was unprecedented in the history of Homo sapiens.”
During pre-industrial times spanning thousands of years from the prehistoric, ancient, and medieval periods to the era of industrialization beginning in 1700, most whites lived their entire lives, generation after generation, on farms or in rural villages. White populations were chiefly rural rather than urban in the numerical sense until well into the 19th and 20th centuries.
Harvest Festivals
A key feature of rural life was the successful harvest, the climax of the year’s labors, upon which personal, familial, and community prosperity depended.
My mother, the daughter of Norwegian immigrants in North Dakota, frequently spoke of harvest time on the farm where she grew up in the 1920s and ’30s. The harvest was a festive, communal occasion requiring the labor of many people, whether threshing crews or neighbors. The hardworking women and girls prepared large, delicious meals for the men during their breaks from the hot, backbreaking toil in the fields. Much socializing also went on.
Harvest festivals were common in Europe throughout the long millennia of rural life.
The ancient Greeks honored Demeter, a harvest and fertility goddess, while Romans honored Ceres, their goddess of agriculture, from whom our word cereal derives.
The Celtic druids also had harvest festivals...
Read more here: https://counter-currents.com/2011/11/th ... -festival/
The National Alliance received some good news today for which we are thankful -- there will be mention of the Alliance's good fortune in the November issue of our monthly Members BULLETIN.
Thanksgiving Day as a Harvest Festival
by Andrew Hamilton
Thanksgiving Day is America’s incarnation of the traditional harvest festival, a celebration of the end of the summer harvest, often marked by lavish feasts.
Harvest festivals were a product of the Neolithic revolution—the displacement of hunting and gathering by the domestication of plants and animals as the primary means of subsistence.
The agricultural revolution occurred at different times in different places around the world—as early as 9,000–12,000 years ago in some regions. In certain areas farming arose through indigenous innovations, while in others it spread from other areas.
The spread of farming was slow. Within Europe, it began as early as c. 7000–6000 BC in the eastern Mediterranean but did not reach some areas of northern Europe until c. 2500 BC—more than three millennia later.
Though slow to propagate, agriculture had profound social effects. Among its many far-reaching consequences were stable settlements, the beginnings of social hierarchy and individual wealth, the rise of large-scale trade networks, the use of domesticated plants in the weaving of textiles, and, most importantly, a dramatic population increase: “The population explosion of the Neolithic Demographic Transition, detectable in cemeteries, was unprecedented in the history of Homo sapiens.”
During pre-industrial times spanning thousands of years from the prehistoric, ancient, and medieval periods to the era of industrialization beginning in 1700, most whites lived their entire lives, generation after generation, on farms or in rural villages. White populations were chiefly rural rather than urban in the numerical sense until well into the 19th and 20th centuries.
Harvest Festivals
A key feature of rural life was the successful harvest, the climax of the year’s labors, upon which personal, familial, and community prosperity depended.
My mother, the daughter of Norwegian immigrants in North Dakota, frequently spoke of harvest time on the farm where she grew up in the 1920s and ’30s. The harvest was a festive, communal occasion requiring the labor of many people, whether threshing crews or neighbors. The hardworking women and girls prepared large, delicious meals for the men during their breaks from the hot, backbreaking toil in the fields. Much socializing also went on.
Harvest festivals were common in Europe throughout the long millennia of rural life.
The ancient Greeks honored Demeter, a harvest and fertility goddess, while Romans honored Ceres, their goddess of agriculture, from whom our word cereal derives.
The Celtic druids also had harvest festivals...
Read more here: https://counter-currents.com/2011/11/th ... -festival/