The Arrow's Path

My favorite time of the year began yesterday for Catholics and Anglicans and others on a Western liturgical calendar. Eastern Orthodox folks get 6 Sundays of Advent. I would say the Orthodox are lucky in that respect, but they get the strict Orthodox fast without much of the good Western Advent music. They have their own liturgical tradition which is beauty but its a whole different bird than the stock O Come, O Come Emmanuel and Lo, He Comes on Clouds Descending . Other mainline and Evangelical churches just jump right to Christmas, although a few are rediscovering the beauty of Advent. Although, unlike Lent, I have found non-liturgical Protestants who do Advent are really just doing Christmas with liturgical purple, but, you know, small steps... The roots of Advent can be traced back to the early centuries of Christianity, particularly in the 4th and 5th centuries. While the exact origins are somewhat obscure, it is believed that early Christians observed a period of preparation ...

Proclamation 3560—Thanksgiving Day, 1963 November 05, 1963 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Over three centuries ago, our forefathers in Virginia and in Massachusetts, far from home in a lonely wilderness, set aside a time of thanksgiving. On the appointed day, they gave reverent thanks for their safety, for the health of their children, for the fertility of their fields, for the love which bound them together and for the faith which united them with their God. So too when the colonies achieved their independence, our first President in the first year of his first Administration proclaimed November 26, 1789, as "a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God" and called upon the people of the new republic to "beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions... to promote the knowledge and practice of true ...

  Proclamation 3036—Thanksgiving Day, 1953 November 07, 1953 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation As a Nation much blessed, we feel impelled at harvest time to follow the tradition handed down by our Pilgrim fathers of pausing from our labors for one day to render thanks to Almighty God for His bounties. Now that the year is drawing to a close, once again it is fitting that we incline our thoughts to His mercies and offer to Him our special prayers of gratitude. For the courage and vision of our forebears who settled a wilderness and founded a Nation; for the "blessings of liberty" which the framers of our Constitution sought to secure for themselves and for their posterity, and which are so abundantly realized in our land today; for the unity of spirit which has made our country strong; and for the continuing faith under His guidance that has kept us a religious people with freedom of worship for...

Proclamation 1715—Thanksgiving Day, 1924 November 05, 1924 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation We approach that season of the year when it has been the custom for the American people to give thanks for the good fortune which the bounty of Providence, through the generosity of nature, has visited upon them. It is altogether a good custom. It has the sanction of antiquity and the approbation of our religious convictions. In acknowledging the receipt of divine favor, in contemplating the blessings which have been bestowed upon us, we shall reveal the spiritual strength of the nation. The year has been marked by a continuation of peace whereby our country has entered into a relationship of better understanding with all the other nations of the earth. Ways have been revealed to us by which we could perform very great service through the giving of friendly counsel, through the extension of financial assistance, and through t...

 Proclamation 5269—Thanksgiving Day, 1984 October 19, 1984 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation As we remember the faith and values that made America great, we should recall that our tradition of Thanksgiving is older than our Nation itself. Indeed, the native American Thanksgivings antedated those of the new Americans. In the words of the eloquent Seneca tradition of the Iroquois, "... give it your thought, that with one mind we may now give thanks to Him our Creator." From the first Pilgrim observance in 1621, to the nine years before and during the American Revolution when the Continental Congress declared days of Fast and Prayer and days of Thanksgiving, we have turned to Almighty God to express our gratitude for the bounty and good fortune we enjoy as individuals and as a nation. America truly has been blessed. This year we can be especially thankful that real gratitude to God is inscribed, not i...

  Proclamation 273—Thanksgiving Day, 1885 November 02, 1885 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation The American people have always abundant cause to be thankful to Almighty God, whose watchful care and guiding hand have been manifested in every stage of their national life, guarding and protecting them in time of peril and safely leading them in the hour of darkness and of danger. It is fitting and proper that a nation thus favored should on one day in every year, for that purpose especially appointed, publicly acknowledge the goodness of God and return thanks to Him for all His gracious gifts. Therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate and set apart Thursday, the 26th day of November instant, as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, and do invoke the observance of the same by all the people of the land. On that day let all secular business be suspen...

Thanksgiving Day Proclamation By the President of the United States of America October 28, 1865 Whereas it has pleased Almighty God during the year which is now coming to an end to relieve our beloved country from the fearful scourge of civil war and to permit us to secure the blessings of peace, unity, and harmony, with a great enlargement of civil liberty; and Whereas our Heavenly Father has also during the year graciously averted from us the calamities of foreign war, pestilence, and famine, while our granaries are full of the fruits of an abundant season; and Whereas righteousness exalteth a nation, while sin is a reproach to any people: Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do hereby recommend to the people thereof that they do set apart and observe the first Thursday of December next as a day of national thanksgiving to the Creator of the Universe for these great deliverances and blessings. And I do further recommend tha...

 I had no idea Monaco had a Catholic monarch . 

 Transcript of President George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation from October 3, 1789.     By the President of the United States of America—   A Proclamation     Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor—and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their Joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."   Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of ...

One of the great Saint's days of the Christian year is the Feast of St. Nicholas on December 6th. It is celebrated by Catholics, Anglicans, and Orthodox (at least the ones who are not on the Julian calendar) on the same day. Other Protestant denominations like some Lutherans and others utilize it as well, assuming they recognize individual saints in some context.  Most everyone is familiar with Santa Claus. His image is everywhere this time of year in one capacity or another, at least in the Western world. Even in places like Japan and India, you often see jolly old Saint Nick in some form. Most people don't realize Santa Claus is Saint Nicholas. 'Sinter Klaas' was the Dutch words for Saint Nicholas, and was adopted early on (and Anglicized) by early American colonists when New York City was originally Dutch before being taken over the British and later the Americans after the Revolution.  Santa quickly (or had already been) divorced from the historical Christian Bishop...