Thanksgiving

Definition and Meaning

Thanksgiving (Korean Chusu Gamsajeol, 秋收感謝節, literally "autumn harvest thanksgiving festival") is an observance held after the autumn harvest, that is, after the year's crops have been gathered, to give thanks for that yield and for the grace received over the course of the year. In the church the day is specifically called Thanksgiving Sunday, and a thanksgiving worship service is held. Although the observance originated in agrarian society, its meaning has since broadened to encompass gratitude not only for the harvest but for the whole of life, including health, family, and work.

Biblical and Historical Background

The Old Testament contains several festivals connected with the harvest. Exodus 23:16 commands the keeping of "the feast of harvest," when wheat is reaped, and "the feast of ingathering," held at the end of the year when the produce is gathered in and stored. The Feast of Ingathering is also called the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths), and its regulations appear in Leviticus 23:33–43 and Deuteronomy 16:13–15. The church cites these passages as the biblical basis for Thanksgiving.

The Protestant Thanksgiving observed today was directly influenced by Thanksgiving Day in the United States. Its origin is commonly traced to the harvest feast that the Puritan settlers of Plymouth held with the Native Americans in 1621, and in 1863 President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving. For this reason Thanksgiving is classified as an observance of modern origin rather than a feast of the traditional liturgical calendar handed down from antiquity.

Practice in the Korean Church

Thanksgiving was introduced to Korea by missionaries from the United States, Canada, and elsewhere. Churches, chiefly Presbyterian ones, are reported to have begun observing it on a fixed date in the early 1900s, and according to one account the choice of date was intended in part to commemorate the arrival of missionaries in Korea. Today Korea's major denominations generally observe Thanksgiving Sunday on the third Sunday of November.

The following practices are common in churches on this day:

• Grain, fruit, and vegetables are heaped in front of the pulpit as decoration.
• Members give a thank offering as an expression of gratitude. This offering is sometimes specifically called the "Thanksgiving offering."
• After the service, rice cakes and fruit are shared, and outreach events are held to help neighbors or financially struggling churches.

Many churches keep Thanksgiving and the Summer Harvest Thanksgiving (usually held on the first Sunday of July), which gives thanks for the summer harvest, as the year's two thanksgiving observances. Some churches and believers have proposed holding the thanksgiving service around Chuseok, in view of Korea's actual harvest season and traditional holidays. Others, however, favor keeping the long-established November date, and no change of date has been made at the denominational level. Because Advent begins about two weeks after Thanksgiving Sunday, Thanksgiving is sometimes regarded in the church calendar as an observance that brings the year to a close.