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SHOULD CHRISTIANS OBSERVE THANKSGIVING?







By John D. Keyser







All Americans are familiar with the story of Thanksgiving. The
Pilgrim Fathers' arrival on these shores, and how they set apart
a day in gratitude for their first harvest in 1621, has been
schoolboy fare for generations.



All Americans know that President Lincoln set aside a day for
national thanksgiving in August of 1863, when the tide of the
Civil War turned in favor of the North.



Most Americans know that, at the insistence of one indefatigable
Sarah Josepha Hale, President Lincoln finally proclaimed the
last Thursday of November to be a day of thanksgiving for a
"year filled with the blessings of FRUITFUL FIELDS and healthful
skies." Every president has followed Lincoln's example since.



Every year Americans look forward to what they call "turkey day"
-- a day when families get together for fellowship and football,
and the crowning highlight of a sumptuous meal of turkey,
pumpkin pie, and all the trimmings!



On the surface this seems innocent enough, doesn't it? The
grateful Pilgrims thanked their God for their survival and
blessings in a new land. A war-weary nation thanked their God
for the imminent conclusion of the bloodiest and most
devastating war in its young history. And since that time
generations of Americans have thanked their God for the
bountiful blessings of a favored nation richly endowed. SURELY
there is nothing wrong with this.



In a publication disseminated by the Worldwide Church of God,
entitled Thanksgiving Day...What Should It Mean To You?, the
following statement is made:



How does God view the American custom of celebrating
Thanksgiving Day?

The Thanksgiving holiday was established in comparatively recent
years. It is not mentioned in biblical revelation but the
principle of attending and celebrating national holidays is made
clear in Scripture.

Thanksgiving Day was established by the early colonists, NOT BY
ANY DIVINE AUTHORITY. But this in itself does not make it wrong
to celebrate. Notice the example of Jesus Christ. In John 10:22
we find that Christ attended the "Feast of Dedication," which
was established by the Jews before to commemorate the
purification of the Temple at Jerusalem. That day was celebrated
on the anniversary of the day that the re-establishment of
divine worship occurred after Antiochus Epiphanes had been
vanquished and the Temple purified about 165 B.C.



This publication further claims:



        Jesus' attendance at that annual holiday clearly
illustrated that it is good and right to attend or celebrate a
national holiday established for an honorable purpose. There was
nothing wrong in the Jews' celebrating the dedication of the
Temple and giving God special gratitude on that day. God led
Esther and Mordecai to establish the Feast of Purim in
commemoration of the miraculous deliverance of the Jewish people
from bloody Haman (see the last chapter of Esther)

The national holidays celebrated by the Jewish people have, of
course, no special significance for the non-Jew -- just as
Thanksgiving Day holds no special significance for non-Americans.

Finally, the American Thanksgiving Day does NOT have a PAGAN
ORIGIN, despite the claims of certain sects. It is NOT usually
celebrated with PAGAN CEREMONIAL CUSTOMS in honor of PAGAN
TRADITIONS AND GODS, as are Christmas, Easter and Halloween.
(Ambassador College, l973 Page 3).



Is this day of Thanksgiving, then, so HOLY AND PURE that
everyone can now observe it with a CLEAR CONSCIENCE before the
Almighty God? Is this day DEVOID of any "PAGAN TRADITIONS" and
established for a "HONORABLE PURPOSE" as stated above? Let us
see.



Is Thanksgiving Really An American Institution?



In the book Holidays Around the World, by Joseph Gaer, we find
the following enlightening information:



We often think of Thanksgiving as an American holiday, begun by
the Pilgrims in Plymouth in 1621. At that time, so the story
runs, the survivors of the Mayflower passengers celebrated their
FIRST HARVEST in the New World with a FEAST to which Governor
Bradford invited the Indian Chief Massasoit and ninety of his
braves.

That was the first Thanksgiving Day in the New World. But
actually a thanksgiving for the annual harvest is one of the
OLDEST HOLIDAYS KNOWN TO MANKIND, though celebrated on different
dates. IN CHALDEA, IN ANCIENT EGYPT AND IN GREECE, the harvest
festival was celebrated with great rejoicing. THE HINDUS AND THE
CHINESE observe the gathered harvest with. a holiday. And the
Jews celebrate the ingathering of the crops [Feast of
Tabernacles] as enjoined upon them in the Bible.



Joseph Gaer points out the Roman connection:



THE ROMANS celebrated their THANKSGIVING early in October. THE
HOLIDAY WAS DEDICATED TO THE GODDESS OF THE HARVEST, CERES, and
the holiday was called Cerelia. (That is where the word "cereal"
comes from!)

The Christians [?] TOOK OVER THE ROMAN HOLIDAY and it became
well established in ENGLAND, where some of the Roman customs and
rituals for this day were observed LONG AFTER the Roman Empire
had disappeared.

IN ENGLAND THE "HARVEST HOME" HAS BEEN OBSERVED CONTINUOUSLY FOR
CENTURIES. The custom was to select a HARVEST QUEEN for this
holiday. She was decorated with the grain of their fields and
the FRUIT OF THEIR TREES. On THANKSGIVlNG DAY she was paraded
through the streets in a carriage drawn by white horses. This
was a REMNANT of the Roman ceremonies IN HONOR OF CERES...THE
PILGRIMS BROUGHT THE "HARVEST IN" TO MASSACHUSETTS. (Little,
Brown & Company, Boston, 1953. Pps. l59- 160).



        It seems that this custom of Thanksgiving isn't as
harmless as we thought!



        Notice, now, what Marian Schibsly and Hanny Cohrsen have
to say in their book Foreign Festival Customs and Dishes:



        Giving thanks for the bounty of Providence is a practice
AS OLD AS MANKIND and widespread as the human race. Long before
the Christian era, HARVEST GODS were worshipped with curious and
varied rites. Customs NOW IN USE at harvest festivals have their
COUNTERPARTS IN PAGAN COUNTRIES; in many cases their origin and
their significance is SHROUDED IN THE MISTS OF ANTIQUITY. The
American Thanksgiving Day is usually ascribed to the
Massachusetts colony of pilgrims, who, in gratitude for their
FIRST HARVEST on American soil, devoted the day of December 13,
1621 to praise and REJOICING.



        Now notice:



        The idea underlying such a celebration did, however, NOT
ORIGINATE WITH THEM. Thanksgiving day -- by that or SOME OTHER
NAME -- was known to virtually all the people who have come to
America since 1492 and is KNOWN TO THOSE NOW COMlNG...it becomes
apparent that a day of thanksgiving is a custom in almost all
the COUNTRIES OF EUROPE. It usually has to do with the HARVESTS
-- with the planting of crops or their gathering -- and
therefore is observed in rural districts rather than in cities.
(American Council For Nationalities Service, N.Y. l974. P.46).



It is becoming quite discernible that Thanksgiving was NOT A NEW
CONCEPT in a new land, springing up full grown from the fertile
mind of a Pilgrim Father. Rather, it grew up gradually in the
unique and multifaceted culture of Puritan New England, having
an origin more COMPLEX AND ANCIENT than the legend the public
schools have nurtured for generations!



Author Robert J. Myers makes this quite clear:



The Pilgrims, who in 1621 observed our initial Thanksgiving
holiday, were not a people especially enthusiastic about the
celebration of festivals. In fact, these austere and religious
settlers of America would have been DISMAYED had they known of
the LONG AND POPULAR HISTORY OF HARVEST FESTIVALS, OF WHICH
THEIR THANKSGIVING WAS ONLY THE LATEST....The HARVEST FESTIVAL,
with its attendant rites, seems to have spread out from a
relatively small area of land, FROM EGYPT AND SYRIA AND
MESOPOTAMIA. The first or the last sheaf of wheat was offered to
the "GREAT MOTHER," or the "MOTHER OF THE WHEAT: for the
earthpower was essentially a FEMININE FORCE. ASTARTE was the
EARTH MOTHER OF THE ANCIENT SEMITES; to the Phrygians she was
Semele; under the name of DEMETER she was worshipped by the
Greeks at the famous Eleusinian Mysteries; CERES, THE ROMAN
GODDESS OF CORN, presided over the October Cerelia....In
medieval times Germany, France, Holland, England, and the
countries of central Europe observed the FEAST OF ST. MARTIN OF
TOURS, MARTINMAS, ON NOVEMBER 11, as the time of HARVEST
rejoicings.



Notice what happened in Mexico:



In our own hemisphere, among the Aztecs of Mexico, the harvest
took on a grimmer aspect. Each year a YOUNG GIRL, a
representation of XILONEN, THE GODDESS OF THE NEW CORN, was
beheaded. The Pawnees also SACRIFICED A GIRL. In a more
temperate mood, the Cherokees of the American Southeast danced
the Green Corn Dance and began the new year at harvest's end.
(Celebrations: The Comprehensive Book of American Holidays.
Doubleday, N.Y. 1972. Pages 271-272).



No wonder Chief Massasoit and his ninety braves felt right at
home with the Pilgrim Fathers on that day in 1621!! Obviously,
the idea for this "first Thanksgiving" did not just "pop" into
the mind of Governor Bradford as most people believe! On the
contrary Thanksgiving, in the guise of the pagan harvest
festivals, can be traced right back to ANCIENT BABYLON AND THE
WORSHIP OF SEMIRAMIS!



Along with Massachusetts, Florida, Maine, Texas and Virginia
claim to have hosted the ''first Thanksgiving." However, it was
in the towns of the Connecticut River Valley and the farming
villages of Plymouth Colony that the holiday AS WE NOW KNOW IT
evolved.



Four Ancient Traditions



In the book Thanksgiving: An American Holiday, An American
History, Diana Appelbaum brings together all the loose ends:



Neither created intentionally nor copied from a paradigmatic
"first Thanksgiving," the new celebration was a SYNTHESIS OF
FOUR DISTINCT AND ANCIENT TRADITIONS, elements of which united
in the unique cultural milieu of Puritan New England to give
birth to Thanksgiving. The newborn Thanksgiving holiday had a
Puritan "mother" from Connecticut, a Pilgrim "father" from
Plymouth and, for ''grandparents," FOUR TRADITIONS FROM THE OLD
WORLD.

New Englanders came from Old England, where the HARVEST HOME --
ONE OF THE "GRANDPARENTS" OF THANKSGIVING -- was celebrated. The
Harvest Home was a holiday on which the villagers joined
together to bring the last loads of grain from the fields and
share a MERRY FEAST when the work was done. English villages
followed local harvest customs; some dressed a maiden in white
to ride atop a loaded cart as "QUEEN OF THE HARVEST". Others
fashioned a figure from the grain itself to be robed in a white
gown and set in the center of a circle of rejoicing farmers.



We now see that the Puritans REJECTED the Harvest Home:



THERE WAS SUFFICIENT TAINT OF IDOL WORSHIP AND EVIDENCE OF
LICENTIOUS BEHAVIOR in the old English Harvest Home for Puritans
to REJECT the custom summarily. They RECOILED from these
remnants of the PAGAN CUSTOMS THAT PREDATED CHRISTIANITY in
England, BUT MEMORIES OF THE HARVEST FEAST LINGERED ALL THE SAME.

The Puritans' SHUNNING of the ancient Harvest Home left a VOID
in the New England year that might not have been problematic had
a similar attitude not been extended to other holidays. But the
Puritans had disapproved so many causes for celebration that A
HOLIDAY VACUUM EXISTED IN THE YOUNG COLONIES.



Did you notice the Puritan settlers of the new colonies REJECTED
OUT OF HAND the Harvest Home -- one of the very "grandparents"
of our present-day Thanksgiving? In other words, the
Thanksgiving observed by the Pilgrim Fathers in 1621 WAS NOT a
part of the Puritan calendar!



Let's continue:

ALL SAINTS' DAYS HAD BEEN SWEPT OFF THE CALENDAR ALONG WITH
CHRISTMAS AND EASTER, on the grounds that these MIXED "POPISH"
RITUAL WITH PAGAN CUSTOM....Remaining to New England were three
holidays -- Muster Day, Election Day and the day of the Harvard
Commencement. (Facts On File Publications, N.Y. 1984. Pps.
18-20).



We can clearly see that Harvest Home was lumped right in with
Christmas, Easter and the saints' days, and FORBIDDEN in the
Puritan New England colonies.



Diana Appelbaum now discusses the next "GRANDPARENT" of
THANKSGIVING:

Like the Harvest Home, CHRISTMAS -- ANOTHER OF THE OLD-WORLD
"GRANDPARENTS" OF THANKSGIVING -- was REMEMBERED but not
celebrated by the Puritans The practice of designating the day
of Jesus' birth, and especially of making merry on that day,
were viewed as one of the GRAVE ERRORS of the churches of both
Rome and England and as a DEPARTURE FROM THE PURITY OF THE EARLY
CHURCH. Celebration of Christmas was so disparaged in the
seventeenth-century Bay Colony that the General Court FORBADE
laborers taking off from work on that day under penalty of a
five-shilling fine. Not until the nineteenth century did New
England relent in this attitude and the Congregational churches
began to observe Christmas -- but Massachusetts was two
centuries old before that happened. In the early years,
everything associated with Christmas was rejected out of hand;
EVEN THE LOWLY MINCE PIE, EATEN IN EVERY ENGLISH HOUSEHOLD AT
CHRISTMAS, was banished from the Puritan kitchen as being UNHOLY
FOOD AT ANY TIME OF THE YEAR.



Notice WHERE this "unholy" food ended up:



The spirit of Christmas, however, was SORELY MISSED, and during
the 1600s, when Thanksgiving was becoming a popular festival,
SMALL PIECES OF THE ENGLISH CHRISTMAS CREPT INTO THE CELEBRATION
OF THE YANKEE THANKSGIVING. Those quintessential English
CHRISTMAS DISHES, plum pudding and MINCE PIE became as
indispensable a part of the Thanksgiving menu as turkey and
pumpkin pie itself. (Page 24).



The next "grandparent" of Thanksgiving -- civil proclamations --
is now discussed:



Thanksgiving Day, our unique American holiday, ought not to be
confused with still a third "grandparent," the SPECIAL DAYS OF
THANKSGIVING PROCLAIMED BY CIVIL AUTHORITIES IN EUROPE AND
THROUGHOUT THE AMERICAN COLONIES. When some stroke of
extraordinary good fortune befell a nation, the civil
authorities often declared a day of thanksgiving and prayer,
marked by special services in every church...declarations of
this sort were FAMILIAR TO THE FIRST SETTLERS ON THESE SHORES.
Coronado, Popsham and the settlers at Jamestown, Plymouth and
Boston ACTED IN THIS TRADITION when they held their "first
Thanksgiving."

Settlers in both New Amsterdam and Plymouth were familiar with
the Dutch custom of celebrating October 3 as a day of
thanksgiving commemorating the independence of Holland from
Spain. English settlers recalled that the Anglican church marked
November 5, the anniversary of the discovery of the Gunpowder
Plot, as a day on which thanks were given that the scheme to
blow up Parliament had failed. PURITAN NEW ENGLAND UNDOUBTEDLY
DREW UPON THE TRADITION OF CIVIC THANKSGIVINGS IN CREATING THE
NEW HOLIDAY. (Page 25).



The fourth "grandparent" of the American Thanksgiving Day was
that of RELIGIOUS proclamations. Diana Appelbaum explains:



Fourth "grandparent" to the American Thanksgiving Day was the
tradition of INDIVIDUAL PURITAN CONGREGATIONS declaring days of
thanksgiving and prayer. The Puritans rejected all
ecclesiastical hierarchy in favor of the sovereignty of the
congregation. Authority equivalent to that belonging to Catholic
or Anglican bishops was vested in Puritan congregations, which
has SOLE POWER to ordain clergymen, admit or excommunicate
members and DECLARE DAYS OF FASTING AND OF THANKSGIVING. Like
the proclamations of civil authorities, congregational
thanksgiving days were declared for SPECIAL CAUSES. (Page 25).



Synthesis of Traditions



Let's now see how all these factors coalesced to generate the
Thanksgiving Day that appeared in Puritan New England in the
1630s and 1640s:



The Thanksgiving holiday born in Puritan New England in the
1630s and 1640s was SHAPED BY FOUR TRADITIONS -- the HARVEST
HOME, CHRISTMAS, proclamations of civic thanksgiving and
congregational days of thanksgiving and prayer....OTHER FEATURES
of the holiday developed in Connecticut. The Connecticut River
valley towns of Wethersfield, Windsor and Hartford were settled
in 1635 and 1636 by families from Massachusetts Bay who shared
with their sister colony a thoroughgoing dedication to
Puritanism. The church in each town followed the established,
Puritan custom of holding days of public thanks or of prayer and
fasting as the occasion warranted, but THE LEADERS OF THE COLONY
DEPARTED FROM TRADITION BY PROCLAIMING A DAY OF PUBLIC
THANKSGIVlNG EACH AUTUMN IN GRATITUDE FOR GENERAL WELL-BEING AND
FOR THE HARVEST JUST GATHERED. Although records from the early
years are incomplete, a proclamation of thanksgiving for
September 18, 1639, survives, as do proclamations for 1644 and
for every year from 1649 onward.



Connecticut led the way! Notice:



        THIS WAS THE CRUCIAL INNOVATION. The entire Western
world shares the custom of special thanksgivings for special
causes, and as we have seen, individual Plymouth Colony
congregations sometimes held harvest thanksgivings followed by a
festive meal. WHEN CONNECTICUT MADE THANKSGIVING DAY AN ANNUAL
FESTIVAL FOR GENERAL CAUSES, HOWEVER, A NEW HOLIDAY WAS BORN.
THANKSGIVING IN CONNECTICUT WAS HELD EVERY AUTUMN, NOT FOR
SPECIAL REASONS, BUT IN GRATITUDE FOR THE ORDINARY BLESSINGS OF
THE "YEAR PAST" AND FOR THE "FRUITS OF THE EARTH."
(Thanksgiving: An American Holiday, An American History, by
Diana Karter Appelbaum. Pps. 28-29).



As a result, the connection between the American Thanksgiving
and the old European HARVEST HOME was permanently cemented! What
the Puritans in their wisdom earlier SHUNNED, was now a regular
part of the American calendar.



The "Harvest Home"



What about this "HARVEST HOME" we keep reading so much about?
Where did it originate, and what were the customs or "rites"
involved in its observance? Let's turn to the Encyclopedia
Britannica for an overview:



HARVEST HOME, also called ingathering, traditional English
harvest festival, CELEBRATED FROM ANTIQUITY and surviving to
modern  times in isolated regions. Participants celebrate the
last day of harvest by singing, shouting, and DECORATING THE
VILLAGE WITH BOUGHS. The "cailleac," or last sheaf of corn,
which represents the SPIRIT OF THE FIELD, is made into a HARVEST
DOLL AND DRENCHED WITH WATER as a rain charm. This sheaf is
saved until spring planting.

The ANCIENT FESTIVAL also included the SYMBOLIC MURDER of the
grain spirit, as well as rites for expelling the devil. (1980,
Vol.5).



The same encyclopedia, 1943 edition, has a more detailed
explanation:



HARVEST. the season of the ingathering of crops....Harvest has
been a season of rejoicing from the remotest ages. The Romans
had their CEREALIA OR FEASTS IN HONOUR OF CERES. The Druids [of
Britain] celebrated their harvest on Nov. 1. In pre-Reformation
England Lammas Day (Aug. 1 O.S.) was observed at the beginning
of the harvest festival. Throughout the world harvest has always
been the occasion for MANY QUEER CUSTOMS which ALL have their
origin in the animistic belief in the CORN-SPIRIT OR CORN
MOTHER. This PERSONIFICATION OF THE CROPS has left its impress
upon the harvest customs of MODERN EUROPE. In West Russia, for
example, the figure made out of the last sheaf of CORN is called
the bastard, and a boy is wrapped up in it. The woman who binds
this sheaf REPRESENTS THE "CORN MOTHER," and an elaborate
simulation of childbirth takes place, the boy in the sheaf
squalling like a newborn child and being, on his liberation,
wrapped in swaddling bands. Even in ENGLAND vestiges of
SYMPATHETIC MAGIC can be detected. In Northumberland, an image
formed of a wheatsheaf, and dressed in a white frock and
coloured ribbons, is hoisted on a pole. This is the "KERN BABY"
OR HARVEST QUEEN, and is set up in a prominent place during the
HARVEST SUPPER. Hallowmas, is called the "MAIDEN," and the
youngest girl in the harvest-field is given the privilege of
cutting it.



Notice one of the features of the Harvest Home:



Throughout the world, as Sir J.G. Frazer shows, the semiworship
of the last sheaf is or has been the great feature of the
HARVEST-HOME. Among the harvest customs none is more interesting
than harvest cries; the Devonshire reapers go through a ceremony
which in its main features is a COUNTERPART OF PAGAN WORSHIP.
"After the wheat is cut they...pick out a bundle of the best
ears...; this is called 'THE NECK'; the harvest hands then stand
around in a ring, an old man holding 'the neck' in the centre.
At a signal from him they take off their hats, then all together
they utter in a prolonged cry. 'the neck!' three times, raising
themselves upright with their hats held above their heads. Then
they change their cry to 'Wee yen! way yen! or, as some report,
'we haven!' " (Vol.II, pps. 231-232).



The Harvest Home, as celebrated in various European countries,
is described by Marian Schibsly and Hanny Cohrsen:



        IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA there are two harvest celebrations,
one of which Posviceni, is the church consecration of the
harvest. The other, Obzinky, is secular in nature. When the
harvesting is over, the farm laborers make a WREATH of ears of
wheat, or rye and field flowers. It is usually PLACED ON THE
HEAD OF THE PRETTIEST OF THE GIRLS, who then with the other
harvesters, accompanied by music and song, proceeds to the home
of the land owner to whom the wreath is offered. It is held in
high honor and usually kept until next harvest. After the
ceremony there is dancing and feasting at the farmowner's
expense. At this feast are usually served ROAST PIG, ROAST GOOSE
and the famous Kolace, cakes square in shape and filled with
plum jam or sweetened cheese, or POPPYSEEDS.

In some sections of Czechoslovakia, instead of a wreath, or in
addition to a wreath, the last sheaf harvested is DRESSED AS AN
OLD WOMAN, THE BABA, and borne in state to the home of the
landlord where it occupies a place of honor till Christmas or,
in some places, till the next harvest. In Moravia an old woman,
or perhaps the woman who bound the last sheaf, is actually
wrapped up in the sheaf but she is not kept there till the next
harvest. (Foreign Festival Customs & Dishes, p.48)



Notice the connection between the Harvest Home,  Easter and
Christmas in Germany:



In GERMANY....ROAST PORK IS QUITE GENERALLY SERVED ON THIS
OCCASION [THANKSGIVlNG], and beer; in the grape-growing
sections, WINE FLOWS LIKE WATER. Dancing is part of the
celebration. BARN DANCES and square dances especially.

A large wreath of wheat and field flowers is presented to the
owner of the farm. Then all gather in the big hall of the
farmhouse; prayers of thanks are offered, after which the wreath
is hung in a place of honor. In some sections of Germany it
remains untouched till next harvest; in others, THE GRAIN IS
RUBBED OUT OF IT ON EASTER EVE AND SCATTERED AMONG THE YOUNG
CORN. Sometimes the straw of the wreath is PLACED IN THE MANGER
AT CHRISTMAS to make the cattle thrive.

In certain sections of Germany, the last sheaf, USUALLY
DESCRIBED AS AN OLD WOMAN, is carried in triumph to the farm, a
harvest custom formerly widely observed. In former times, in
many agricultural countries, THE PEASANTS BELIEVED THE CORN
MOTHER OR CORN SPIRIT WAS PRESENT IN THE LAST SHEAF; hence the
custom....In Holstein the "old woman" IS DRENCHED WITH WATER,
THE REMNANT of a PAGAN CUSTOM. (Foreign Festival Customs and
Dishes, pps. 48-49).



Of special interest are the customs in Britain:



GREAT BRITAIN: Fifty years ago or so, however, the HARVEST HOME
SUPPER, the "Kern Doll" or "Kern Baby," the "Kern Woman" or
"Cailleach" (Gaelic for old woman) as she is called in Scotland,
the ceremonies of Crying the Neck or Crying the Mare, and the
Hockey Cart WERE FEATURES OF THE HARVEST FESTIVITIES ON MANY
FARMS.

As in other European countries, the above-mentioned customs ARE
UNDOUBTEDLY REVIVALS OF PAGAN HARVEST RITES. The Kern Baby and
the Cailleach REPRESENT THE "CORN SPIRIT," which ACCORDING TO
PAGAN BELIEF ruled over the fields and to be propitiated by
certain rites; PERSEPHONE AND DEMETER WERE THEIR NAMES IN
GREECE. The last sheaf, known as the "Kern Baby" in case the
harvest was early, or the Kern Mother or Kern Woman or Cailleach
if it was late, was dressed in festive woman's clothing and
carried in procession to the farm house where it was honored by
various ceremonies. In some districts it was kept till the
coming harvest; in others it was FED TO THE CATTLE AT CHRISTMAS
to ensure their health for the coming year. "CRYING THE NECK" OR
"CRYING THE MARE" WAS PROBABLY ANOTHER PAGAN SURVIVAL. As the
harvest progressed, THE CORN SPIRIT was driven from place to
place, finally taking shelter in the last corn or hayloft left
standing. This was tied or plaited into what was known as a
"neck" or "nack" and then the reapers hurled their sickles at it
in an effort to cut it down. The successful reaper, was,
according to tradition, expected to cry, "I have her! What have
you?" the others were to ask. "A neck! A neck!" or "A Mare! A
Mare!" the winner would reply. "What will you do with her?"
"Send her to Farmer__________," naming a farmer who was behind
in his harvest.



Other British customs are important to consider:



Other old HARVEST CUSTOMS are still observed in Great
Britain....Hiring of servants, especially of farm servants,
traditionally takes place on Martinmas, November 11th. About
persons who were changeable or flighty, the old saying was "He
will not stay to eat Martin's kail." Kail, however, is not the
traditional Martinmas food, ROAST GOOSE is eaten in many homes
on that day in England, as well as in a NUMBER OF OTHER
COUNTRIES -- Germany and the Scandinavian countries, for
instance. According to popular belief it was possible to
FORETELL FROM THE BREASTBONE OF A GOOSE eaten on Martinmas Eve
WHAT THE COMING YEAR WOULD BE LIKE. In England THE CUSTOM OF
EATING GOOSE ON MARTINMAS has largely been transferred to
Michaelmas Day, September 29th. An old saying has it that "Those
who eat GOOSE on Michaelmas Day shall not want money all that
year."



Here we see the custom in London:



Harvest festivals are not wholly the property of the rural
regions of Great Britain. In London, the costermongers [street
hawkers of vegetables and fruit] have their Harvest festival, or
THANKSGIVING; it comes a month before the American
Thanksgiving....The most notable feature of their PROCESSIONS is
their COSTUMES, which are covered from head to hem with round
pearl buttons, edge to edge, solidly or in designs. The wearers
of the costumes are known as "pearlies"....There is always a
PEARLY KING AND A PEARLY QUEEN at these festivals. According to
tradition the fashion which is now the pride of the
costermongers dates back to the 18th century. (Foreign Festival
Customs and Dishes, p.50).



From Poland we hear about "Baba" being drenched with water:



There is also in POLAND a secular harvest festival called
"Dozyaki," or, more rarely, "Okrezne." When the harvesting is
over, the farmworkers gather around a small stack of grain which
has been left standing in the field and celebrate an ANCIENT
RITE known as "the decoration of the quail" or "THE DECORATION
OF THE GOAT"....In the district of Cracow the woman who binds
the last sheaf is known as the BABA, OR OLD WOMAN. She is
wrapped up in the sheaf so that only her head projects, and then
taken in a harvest wagon to the farm house where she is DRENCHED
WITH WATER by the whole family. She remains in the sheaf till
the HARVEST DANCE is over, and all through the year she is
called Baba.



The Thanksgiving or Harvest Home customs of the Scandinavian
countries elevate the GOOSE to a position of GREAT IMPORTANCE:



The end of the harvest is also the occasion for festivity and
THANKSGIVING in the SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES AND FINLAND. The
celebrations are usually local and occur when the individual
landowner has harvested and stored his crops. EATING AND
DRINKING AND DANCING are the regular features of these
festivals...in Norway, instead of passing, as is true in Poland
and some of the other European countries, the custom of a
THANKSGIVING FESTIVAL is gaining strength.

For America's turkey DENMARK SUBSTITUTES GOOSE, cooked as only
the Danes know how. The GOOSE COMES INTO HIS OWN on Mortens Dag,
or St. Martin's Day, and he CROWDS EVERYTHING ELSE INTO THE
BACKGROUND. The harvest being largely the cause of the jollity,
the celebrations reach their height in the country districts.
(Foreign Festival Customs & Dishes, p.57).



Now look at the intimate LINK between the Harvest Home and
HALLOWEEN:



The first Sunday in October the churches in FINLAND offer prayer
for the safe gathering of the harvest. It is known as "Mikkelin
paiva" (St. Michael's Day), and in the country districts it is a
DAY OF MUCH IMPORTANCE...Before the custom of giving thanks for
the harvest on "Mikkelin paiva" came into existence, there was
throughout Finland a celebration known as "Kekri." Like so many
harvest festivals, it had no fixed date but was celebrated by
each land owner as soon as his crops were safely in the barns.
THE FESTIVAL WAS PROBABLY ORIGINALLY SOME FORM OF PAGAN ANCESTOR
WORSHIP. The "Kekri" were the SPIRITS OF THE DEAD who were
believed to be interested in the farm work and to help with it.
When the harvest was over, in gratitude for their services
during the year and to preserve their good will, A FEAST WAS
PREPARED FOR THEM, usually in the stables, as the "Kekri" were
supposed to be especially helpful with the horses and cattle.
With the coming of Christianity the "Kekri" festival BE CAME A
PART OF "MIRKELIN PAIVA." (Pages 57-58).



Do you see the threads of similarity running through the harvest
festival customs in all these different countries: The HARVEST
QUEEN OR MAIDEN, sometimes an old woman representing the CORN
MOTHER OR SPIRIT; the DRENCHING WITH WATER; the COMMONALTY OF
FOODS -- the GOOSE in particular? WHERE did all these customs or
rituals originate?



The Harvest Home in England



Before we answer that question let's look more closely at the
Thanksgiving or Harvest Home in England. Since the Pilgrim
Fathers and the Puritans all came from England, it behooves us
to examine the harvest customs in the Old Country.



An old volume entitled Observations on the Popular Antiquities
of Great Britain, authored by John Brand, gives a complete and
detailed account of the Harvest Home. Notice:



Macrobius tells us that, AMONG THE HEATHENS, the heads of
families, WHEN THEY HAD GOT IN THEIR HARVEST, were wont to FEAST
with their servants who had laboured for them in tilling the
ground. In exact conformity to this, it is common among
Christians, when the fruits of the earth are gathered in and
laid in their proper repositories, to provide a PLENTIFUL SUPPER
for the harvestmen and the servants of the family. At this
entertainment all are, in the modern revolutionary idea of the
word, perfectly equal. Here is no distinction of persons, but
ruler and servant sit at the same table, converse freely
together, and spend the remainder of the night in DANCING,
SINGING, and etc. in the most easy familiarity....To the
husbandman, when the fear of wet, blights, and etc. has harassed
with great anxiety, the completion of his wishes could not fail
of imparting an enviable feeling of delight. FESTIVITY IS BUT
THE REFLEX OF INWARD JOY, AND IT COULD HARDLY FAIL OF BEING
PRODUCED ON THIS OCCASION, WHICH IS A TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF
EVERY CARE. (George Bell & Sons, 1908. Pages 16-33).



This sounds quite reasonable -- the harvest is over and the
farmer has made it through another year. It was certainly a time
for rejoicing and relaxing, for a while! However, even this
seemingly innocuous let down after the harvest has PAGAN
CONNOTATIONS. Notice:



        The respect shown to servants at this season SEEMS to
have sprung from a grateful sense of their services. Everything
depends at this juncture on their labour and dispatch. VACINA
(OR VACUNA, so called as it is said a VACANDO, THE TUTELAR
DEITY, as it were, OF REST AND EASE,) among the ancients, was
THE NAME OF THE GODDESS to whom rustics SACRIFICED AT THE
CONCLUSION OF THE HARVEST....Moresin tells us the
POPERY...brings home her chaplets of CORN, which she suspends on
poles, that OFFERINGS WERE MADE ON THE ALTARS OF HER TUTELAR
GODS, while thanks are returned for the collected stores, and
prayers are made for FUTURE EASE AND REST.



John Brand continues by discussing the Harvest Home in detail:



IMAGES, too, of straw or stubble, he [Moresin] adds, are wont to
be carried about on this occasion; and that in England he
himself saw the rustics [farmers] bringing home in a cart a
FIGURE MADE OF CORN, round which men and women were SINGING
PROMISCUOUSLY, preceded by a drum or piper. In a Journey into
England, by Paul Hertzner, in the year 1598, ed. 1757, p.79,
speaking of Windsor, he says 'As we were returning to our inn,
we met some country people celebrating their HARVEST HOME; their
last load of CORN they crown with flowers, having besides an
IMAGE richly dressed, by which perhaps they would SIGNIFY CERES:
this they would keep moving about, while men and women, men and
maidservants, riding through the streets in the cart, shout as
loud as they can till they arrive at the barn.'



Hutchinson, in his work, discusses the "image":



Hutchinson, in his History of Northumberland, ii. ad finem, 17,
says, 'I have seen in some places, an IMAGE apparelled in great
finery, crowned with flowers, a SHEAF OF CORN placed under her
arm, and a SCYCLE in her hand, carried out of the village in the
morning of the conclusive reaping day, with music and much
clamour of the reapers, into the field, where it stands fixed on
a pole all day, and when the reaping is done, is brought him in
like manner. This they call the HARVEST QUEEN, AND IT REPRESENTS
THE ROMAN CERES.'



The traditions of Northumberland tell about the Kern Baby or
Harvest Doll:



        An old woman, who is a respectable authority on a
subject of this nature, at a village in Northumberland, informed
us that, not half a century ago, they used everywhere to dress
up some thing similar to the figure above described at the end
of the harvest, which was called a HARVEST DOLL OR KERN BABY.
This northern word is plainly a CORRUPTION OF CORN BABY, OR
IMAGE, and is the KERN SUPPER, which we shall presently
consider, or CORN SUPPER. In Carew's Survey of Cornwall, f.20b,
'an ill-kerned or sacred harvest' occurs.



The Devonshire tradition of the "knack" and the HARVEST QUEEN
are discussed next:



At Werington, in Devonshire, the clergyman of the parish
informed me that when a farmer finishes his reaping, a small
quantity of the ears of the LAST CORN are twisted together or
tied together into a curious kind of figure, which is brought
home with great acclamations, hung up over the table and kept
till the next year. The owner would think it extremely UNLUCKY
to part with this, which is called a KNACK.

Dr. E.D. Clarke, tells us that at the Hawkie, as it is called, I
have seen a clown DRESSED IN WOMAN'S CLOTHES, having his face
painted, his head DECORATED WITH EARS OF CORN, and bearing about
him other SYMBOLS OF CERES, carried in a waggon, with great pomp
and loud shouts, through the streets, the horses being covered
with white sheets; and when I inquired the meaning of the
ceremony, was answered by the people, that THEY WERE DRAWING THE
HARVEST QUEEN.



Clearly, then, the HARVEST QUEEN represents none other than
CERES, THE ROMAN GODDESS OF AGRICULTURE AND CROPS!



There was a VARIATION of this tradition in Scotland:



In the Statistical Account of Scotland, 1795, xix.550, Parish of
Longforgan, Perth, we read: 'It was very lately, the custom to
give what was called a MAID FEAST, upon the finishing of the
harvest; and to prepare for which, the last handful of corn
reaped in the field was called THE MAIDEN. This was generally
contrived to fall into the hands of one of the FINEST GIRLS in
the field, [who] was dressed up with ribands [ribbons], and
BROUGHT HOME IN TRIUMPH, with the music of fiddles or bagpipes.
A FINE DINNER was given to the whole hand, and the EVENING SPENT
IN 'JOVIALITY' AND DANCING, while the 'fortunate' lass who took
the Maiden was the QUEEN OF THE FEAST; after which this handful
of corn was dressed out, generally in the form of a 'cross', and
hung up with the date of the year in some conspicuous part of
the house.



The Harvest Home Dinner



John Brand goes on to discuss the harvest or Thanksgiving Dinner
itself:



In Cornwall, it should seem, they have HARVEST DINNERS. 'The
HARVEST DINNERS,' says Carew in his Survey, f.68, 'are held by
every wealthy man, or, as wee term it, every 'good liver'
betweene Michaelmas and Candlemas, whereto he inviteth his next
neighbours and kindred; and though it beare also with them, and
consume a great part of the night after in CHRISTMAS RULE.
Neither doth the 'good' cheere wholly expire but the end of the
weeke.'

In the Life of Eugene Aram, 2nd. edit. p.71, there is an essay
on 'the Mell-supper, and shouting the Churn,'...In this he
supposes these FEASTS TO BE THE RELICS OF PAGAN CEREMONIES....In
England we hear of it [Mell-supper] under various names in
different counties, as Mell-supper, Churn-supper,
Harvest-supper, HARVEST-HOME, FEAST OF INGATHERING.
(Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, pps.
l6-33).



There you have it. These are the traditions and customs the
Pilgrim Fathers had been exposed to all their lives before
immigrating to the New World. They took these customs with them
and DREW UPON THEM at that "FIRST THANKSGIVING" in 1621!



The Puritans, however, were a different story. They REJECTED
most of these customs before leaving England, and certainly
immediately after arriving in America, but were soon OVERWHELMED
by the onrush of traditional Old World concepts emanating from
the small towns of New England. Before very long, the PAGAN
RITES of the HARVEST FESTIVAL swept across America to become a
part of modern Thanksgiving celebrations.



The French Traditions



We have discovered that the CORN MOTHER and the HARVEST QUEEN
represent none other than the ROMAN GODDESS CERES!  The
traditions of France back this up. Sir James Frazer, in his
voluminous work The Golden Bough, shows this:



In FRANCE, also, in the neighbourhood of Auxerre, the last sheaf
goes by the name of the Mother of the Wheat, Mother of the
Barley, Mother of the Rye, or Mother of the Oats. They leave it
standing in the field till the last waggon is about to wend
homewards. Then they make a puppet out of it, dress it with
clothes belonging to the farmer, and adorn it with a CROWN and a
blue or white scarf. A branch of a tree is stuck in the breast
of the puppet, WHICH IS NOW CALLED THE CERES.



At the evening dance the following occurred:



At the dance in the evening THE CERES is set in the middle of
the floor, and the reaper who reaped fastest dances round it
WITH THE PRETTIEST GIRL FOR HIS PARTNER. After the dance a pyre
is made. All the girls, each wearing a wreath, strip the puppet,
PULL IT TO PIECES, and place it on the pyre, along with the
flowers with which it was adorned. Then the girl who was the
first to finish reaping sets fire to the pile, and ALL PRAY THAT
CERES MAY GIVE A FRUITFUL YEAR. (Abridged Version, Macmillan
Company, N.Y. 1951).



How plain that is! Now just WHO was this CERES of the Harvest
Home?



The Ceres-Demeter Connection



Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia explains:



CERES, in Roman mythology, the goddess of agriculture. SHE and
her daughter PROSERPINE were the COUNTERPARTS OF THE GREEK
GODDESS DEMETER AND PERSEPHONE. The Greek belief that her joy at
being reunited with her daughter each spring caused the earth to
bring forth an abundance of fruits and grains was INTRODUCED
INTO ROME IN THE 5TH CENTURY B.C., and her cult became extremely
popular, especially with the plebeians [common people of Rome].
Her chief festival, the Cerealia, was CELEBRATED FROM APRIL
12-19. (Vol.5, MCMLXXV. Page 296).



Did you notice the LENGTH of Ceres chief festival -- the
Cerealia? Exactly EIGHT DAYS IN LENGTH, the same length as the
Feast of Tabernacles, including the Last Great Day! Remember
that, it's important!



The Encyclopedia Britannica adds some detail about CERES:



ERES, goddess of the growth of foodplants, worshipped, alone or
with the god CERUS, OVER A CONSIDERABLE PART OF ITALY....Her
cult was early overlaid by that of DEMETER, who was widely
worshipped in SICILY AND MAGNA GRAECIA, cf. DEMETER. On the
advice of the Sibylline Books, a cult of CERES LIBER and LIBERA
was introduced into Rome in 496 B.C., to check a famine. LIBER
and LIBERA seem to REPRESENT THE IARCHOS AND KORE of the
Eleusinian cult. The ritual of this worship was largely if not
wholly Greek. The temple, which was built on the Aventine in 493
B.C., and was of Etruscan shape, but decorated by Greek artists,
became a centre of plebeian activities, religious and political.



The main festivals of the Ceres cult are now outlined:



CERES WAS REGARDED AS THE PATRONESS OF THE CORN TRADE, which
seems to have been early in plebeian hands. The chief festivals
of this cult were: (1) LUDI CERIALIS, introduced before 202
B.C., and ultimately LASTING FROM APRIL 12-19; (2) An annual
festival, instituted before 217 B.C, CELEBRATED IN SECRET BY THE
WOMEN and apparently dealing with the UNION OF KORE AND HADES;
(3) From 191 B.C. on A FAST (ieiunium Cereris), held every five
years, but later every year on Oct. 4. All these are on Greek
lines. (Vol. 5, 1943, page 159).



The Pilgrim Fathers and the "Sacred Meal "



Now notice what Robert Haven Schaumer relates about the annual
festival "CELEBRATED IN SECRET BY THE WOMEN" of Rome:



The harvest festival of ancient Greece, called the THESMOPHORIA
was AKIN TO THE JEWISH FEAST OF TABERNACLES. It was the FEAST OF
DEMETER, the foundress of agriculture and goddess of harvests,
and was CELEBRATED IN ATHENS, IN NOVEMBER, BY MARRIED WOMEN
ONLY. Two wealthy and distinguished ladies were chosen to
perform the sacred function in the name of the others and to
PREPARE THE SACRED MEAL, WHICH CORRESPONDED TO OUR THANKSGIVING
DINNER.  On the first day of the feast, amid great MIRTH AND
REJOICING, the women went in PROCESSION to the promontory of
Colias and CELEBRATED THEIR THANKSGIVlNG FOR THREE DAYS in the
temple of DEMETER.



On their return the festival degenerated into an orgy:



On their return a festival OCCURRED FOR THREE DAYS IN ATHENS,
sad at first but gradually growing into an ORGY OF MIRTH AND
DANCING. Here a COW AND A SOW were offered to Demeter, besides
FRUlT and honeycombs. The SYMBOLS OF THE FRUITFUL GODDESS WERE
POPPIES AND EARS OF CORN, A BASKET OF FRUIT AND A LITTLE PIG.
THE ROMANS WORSHIPPED THIS HARVEST DEITY UNDER THE NAME OF
CERES. Her festival, which occurred yearly on October 4th, was
called the CERELIA. It BEGAN WITH A FAST [Day of Atonement?]
among the common people who offered her a SOW and the FIRST
CUTTINGS OF THE HARVEST. THERE WERE PROCESSIONS IN THE FIELDS
WITH MUSIC AND RUSTIC SPORTS and THE CEREMONIES ENDED WITH THE
INEVITABLE FEAST OF THANKSGIVING. (Thanksgiving, Dodd-Mead,
1957. Pages 12-13).



Why am I stressing this THREE-DAY FESTIVAL TO CERES in Rome and
Athens? Because the Pilgrim Fathers OBSERVED A THREE-DAY
THANKSGIVING during the fall in 1621!! Did you get that?



Diana Karter Appelbaum CLEARLY brings this out in Thanksgiving,
An American Holiday, an American History:



The first autumn, an AMPLE HARVEST insured that the colony would
have food for the winter months. Governor Bradford, with one eye
on the divine Providence, proclaimed a day of thanksgiving to
God, and WITH THE OTHER EYE ON THE LOCAL POLITICAL SITUATION
EXTENDED AN INVITATION TO NEIGHBORING INDIANS TO SHARE IN THE
HARVEST FEAST IN ORDER TO GUARANTEE THAT THE FEAST SERVED TO
CEMENT A PEACEFUL RELATIONSHIP; THE THREE-DAY LONG MEAL WAS
PUNCTUATED BY DISPLAYS OF THE POWER OF ENGLISH MUSKETS FOR THE
BENEFIT OF SUITABLY IMPRESSED INDIAN GUESTS. (Pages 7-8).



Isn't that incredible? The Pilgrim Fathers celebrated the
ancient THREE-DAY THANKS- GIVING TO CERES OR DEMETER!



It is interesting to realize that Edward Winslow, an "historian"
among the Pilgrim Fathers, would have written about the
religious services held in those fall days if it was a day of
thanksgiving to God, but HE MENTIONED NO SUCH THING! Instead,
Diana Appelbaum states that "Oysters, clams and fish rounded out
the abundant, but far from epicurean FEAST THAT THE CELEBRATORS
WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE LIKELY TO CALL A 'HARVEST HOME' than a
'thanksgiving' celebration."



The Egyptian "Isis"



The identity of the Roman CERES with the Grecian DEMETER doesn't
stop here. Sir James Frazer identifies CERES WITH THE EGYPTIAN
ISIS! Notice:



        For if her [Isis'] brother and husband Osiris was in one
of his aspects THE CORN-GOD, as we have seen reason to believe,
SHE [ISIS] MUST SURELY HAVE BEEN THE CORN-GODDESS....For if we
may trust Diodorus Siculus, whose authority appears to have been
the Egyptian historian Manetho, THE DISCOVERY OF WHEAT AND
BARLEY WAS ATTRIBUTED TO ISIS, and at her festivals STALKS OF
THESE GRAINS WERE CARRIED IN PROCESSION to commemorate the boon
she had conferred on men.



Augustine adds some important information:



A further detail is added by Augustine. He says that ISIS MADE
THE DISCOVERY OF BARLEY at  the moment when she was sacrificing
to the common ancestors of her husband and herself, all of whom
had been kings, and that she showed the newly discovered ears of
barley to Osiris and his councilor Thoth or Mercury, as Roman
writers called him. THAT IS WHY, adds Augustine, THEY IDENTIFY
ISIS WITH CERES. Further, at harvest-time, when the Egyptian
reapers had cut the first stalks, they laid them down and BEAT
THEIR BREASTS, WAILING AND CALLING UPON ISIS. The custom has
been already explained as a LAMENT FOR THE CORN-SPIRIT SLAIN
UNDER THE SICKLE. (The Golden Bough, the Macmillan Co., N.Y.
1935. Vol. 6, pages 116-117).



That sounds awfully familiar, doesn't it? This "lamenting"
occurred in some of the English Harvest Home customs that we
just read about! Frazer continues by reporting:



According to Brugsch she [Isis] is "not only the creatress of
the fresh verdure of vegetation which covers the earth, but is
actually THE GREEN CORNFIELD ITSELF, which is personified as a
goddess. This is confirmed by her epithet "Sochit" or "Sochet,"
meaning "a cornfield," a sense which the word still retains in
Coptic. THE GREEKS CONCEIVED OF ISIS AS A CORN-GODDESS, FOR THEY
IDENTIFIED HER WITH DEMETER. In a Greek epigram she is described
as "she who has given birth to the fruits of the earth," and
"THE MOTHER OF THE EARS OF CORN"; and in a hymn composed in her
honour she speaks of herself as "QUEEN OF THE WHEATFIELD," and
is described as "charged with the care of the fruitful furrow's
wheat-rich path." Accordingly, GREEK OR ROMAN ARTISTS OFTEN
REPRESENTED HER [ISIS] WITH EARS OF CORN ON HER HEAD OR IN HER
HAND.

Such, we may suppose, WAS ISIS IN THE OLDEN TIME, A RUSTIC
CORN-MOTHER adored with uncouth rites by Egyptian swains. (The
Golden Bough, page 117).



The Universal World Reference Encyclopedia,  under the heading
"CERES," LUCIDLY shows the ISIS-CERES connection:

Ceres, the daughter of Saturn and Vesta, and GODDESS OF GRAIN,
HARVESTS, AND TILLAGE. To Jupiter she bore a daughter,
Proserpine. CERES CORRESPONDS WITH THE ISIS OF THE EGYPTIANS and
the DEMETER OF THE GREEKS. She is represented with a GARLAND OF
EARS OF GRAIN ON HER HEAD, holding in one hand a lighted torch
and in the other A POPPY, WHICH WAS SACRED TO HER. The Romans
instituted in her honor the festivals called CEREALIA. (1948,
vol. 34).



How much plainer does it have to be? CERES CORRESPONDS TO THE
ISIS OF THE EGYPTIANS AND THE DEMETER OF THE GREEKS!!



Alexander Hislop, in his authoritative work The Two Babylons,
confirms this:



In Egypt, the Mother and the Child were worshipped under the
names of ISIS AND OSIRIS...in Greece AS CERES, the Great Mother,
with the babe at her breast...(Loizeaux Brothers, Neptune, N.J.
1959. P.20).



The first-century B.C. Greek historian, Diodorus Siculus,
testifies that "Orpheus introduced FROM EGYPT, the greatest part
of the mystical ceremonies, the ORGIES that CELEBRATE THE
WANDERINGS OF CERES, and the whole fable of the shades below."



Hislop further notes that "It is UNIVERSALLY ADMITTED THAT ISIS
WAS THE ORIGINAL OF THE GREEK AND ROMAN CERES. But Ceres, be it
observed, was worshipped not simply as the DISCOVERER OF CORN;
she was worshipped as 'THE MOTHER OF CORN.' " (The Two Babylons,
page 160).



Obviously, the "Corn Mother" or "Harvest Queen" of the English
and European harvest customs was none other than the EGYPTIAN
ISIS!



Back to Babylon!



And WHO was Isis? NONE OTHER THAN THE INFAMOUS SEMIRAMIS OF
BABYLON! Notice Hislop once again:



The Druidic system [in Britain and France] in all its parts was
evidently THE BABYLONIAN SYSTEM. Dionysius informs us, that the
rites of Bacchus were duly celebrated in the British Islands
(Periergesis, v.565, p.29) and Strabo cites Artemidorus to show
that, IN AN ISLAND CLOSE TO BRITAIN, CERES AND PROSERPINE were
venerated with rites similar to the ORGIES OF SAMOTHRACE. (LIB.
IV. P 190.) It will be seen from the account of the Druidic
CERIDWEN [CERES] and her child...that there was a GREAT ANALOGY
between her character and that of the GREAT GODDESS MOTHER OF
BABYLON [SEMIRAMIS]. (Footnote, p.81).



Indeed there was! According to World Religions: From Ancient
History to the Present, "The great goddess ISHTAR gradually
absorbed the functions of MANY earlier female deities, and her
name became a synonym for 'goddess'....From Nineveh, her main
temple, her worship spread to the west where this goddess of
love and fertility was known as ISHTAR of Erlil. She was
considered the QUEEN OF HEAVEN and attracted Judean women
(Jeremiah 7:18; 44:19), Syrians as Anat, Arabs as Atar, GREEKS
AS ASTARTE and EGYPTIANS AS ISIS." (Edited by Geoffrey
Parrinder. Facts on File Publications, N.Y. 1983. P.117).



This book shows ISIS to be the same as both ISHTAR AND ASTARTE.
But who were they? Let Alexander Hislop explain:



This Babylonian queen [Semiramis] was not merely in character
coincident with the Aphrodite of Greece and the Venus of Rome,
but was, in point of fact, the HISTORICAL ORIGINAL of that
goddess that by the ancient world was regarded as the very
embodiment of everything attractive in female form, and the
perfection of female beauty; for Sanchuniathon assures us that
APHRODITE OR VENUS WAS IDENTICAL WITH ASTARTE, AND ASTARTE...IS
NONE OTHER THAN "THE WOMAN THAT MADE TOWERS OR ENCOMPASSING
WALLS" i.e., SEMIRAMIS. (The Two Babylons, pps. 74-75).



In the appendix to The Two Babylons we discover that "Semiramis,
under the NAME OF ASTARTE, was worshipped not only as an
incarnation of the Spirit of God, but as the MOTHER OF MANKIND,
we have VERY CLEAR and satisfactory evidence. There is no doubt
that 'the Syrian goddess' was ASTARTE (Layard's Nineveh and its
Remains, vol. ii, p. 456). Now, the Assyrian goddess, or
ASTARTE, IS IDENTIFIED WITH SEMIRAMIS by Athenagoras (Legatio,
vol. ii, p.179), and by Lucian (De Dea Syria,  vol. iii, p.382).
These testimonies in regard to Astarte, or the Syrian goddess,
being, in one respect, SEMIRAMIS, ARE QUITE DECISIVE." (NOTE J,
p.110, p.307).



A very interesting SYMBOL of Astarte is mentioned by Hislop on
page 109 of his book:



In ancient times EGGS were used in the religious rites of the
EGYPTIANS AND THE GREEKS...From Egypt these SACRED EGGS can be
distinctly traced to the BANKS OF THE EUPHRATES. The classic
poets are full of the fable of the MYSTIC EGG OF THE
BABYLONIANS; and thus its tale is told by Hyginus, the Egyptian,
the learned keeper of the Palatine library at Rome, in the time
of Augustus, who was skilled in all the wisdom of his native
country: "An EGG of wondrous size is said to have fallen from
heaven into the river Euphrates. The fishes rolled it to the
bank, where the doves having settled upon it, and hatched it,
OUT CAME VENUS, who afterwards was called the Syrian Goddess" --
that is, ASTARTE. Hence the egg became one of the SYMBOLS OF
ASTARTE, OR EASTER [ISHTAR]....



It is really amazing how all this dovetails together!



Ralph Woodrow, in Babylon Mystery Religion, states that "THE
PROCESSION OF CERES IN ROME WAS PRECEDED BY AN EGG." (Page 144).
Isn't that remarkable?



Also, in a footnote, Hislop authoritatively says "The
constellation Virgo, as admitted by the most learned
astronomers, WAS DEDICATED TO CERES, WHO IS THE SAME AS THE
GREAT GODDESS OF BABYLON [SEMIRAMIS], for Ceres was worshipped
with the babe at her breast, EVEN AS THE BABYLONIAN GODDESS WAS."



The rites of the CORN-MOTHER AND THE HARVEST QUEEN are nothing
more than THE ANCIENT WORSHIP OF SEMIRAMIS -- QUEEN OF BABYLON
AND HUSBAND OF NIMROD "the mighty hunter AGAINST the Lord."



The Pilgrim Fathers -- whether they realized it or not -- were
in fact WORSHIPPING THE "QUEEN OF HEAVEN" for those three days
in 1621. AND WE HAVE BEEN DOING THE SAME THING EVER SINCE!!



A Thundering Warning!



What does GOD have to say about this? HOW does HE view the
worship of SEMIRAMIS, THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN?



Semiramis was known to the Israelites as ASHTAROTH; and God
THUNDERED through the prophet Samuel: "If ye do RETURN unto the
Lord with all your hearts, THEN PUT AWAY THE STRANGE GODS AND
ASHTAROTH FROM AMONG YOU, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord,
AND SERVE HIM ONLY: and he will deliver you out of the hand of
the Philistines." (I Samuel 7:3, KJV).



The Modern Language Bible, in the following verse, states: "The
children of Israel then got rid of the Baals and ASTARTE, AND
SERVED THE LORD EXCLUSIVELY."



The Eternal God LOATHES any such worship -- ESPECIALLY that
surrounding the pagan queen of heaven; and He CONSIDERS IT SIN
OF THE WORST KIND! Notice I Samuel 12:10: "And they [the
Israelites] cried unto the Lord, and said, WE HAVE SINNED,
because we have FORSAKEN THE LORD, and have served Baalim and
ASHTAROTH..."



King Josiah of Judah abolished IDOLATRY during his reign and
reinstituted GOD'S HOLY DAYS in the land. II Kings relates the
story:



Then the king [Josiah] DEFILED the high places that were EAST OF
JERUSALEM, which were on the SOUTH OF THE MOUNT OF CORRUPTION
[THE MOUNT OF OLIVES], which Solomon king of Israel had built
for ASHTORETH THE ABOMINATION OF THE SIDONIANS....And he BROKE
IN PIECES the sacred pillars and CUT the wooden images, and
filled their places with the bones of men (23:13-14, NKJ).



These verses POWERFULLY indicate what God thinks about such
practices. Worshipping NIMROD AND SEMIRAMIS, whether it be
through the customs or rituals of CHRISTMAS, EASTER, HALLOWEEN
OR THANKSGIVING, is an ABOMINATION in the eyes of God!



Our Heavenly Father set up HIS holy days for us to worship HIM
-- days that REVEAL (not hide -- as in the Babylonian Mystery
Religion) our Creator's tremendous plan for all mankind -- and
He expects us to use these days to draw closer to Him in spirit
and truth. Anything else is simply NOT ACCEPTABLE to the Eternal
God!



Let's turn to Jeremiah 7:18 and 44:19, and see HOW God THUNDERS
His disapproval and anger:



The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and
the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the QUEEN OF
HEAVEN, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that
they may PROVOKE ME TO ANGER....Therefore thus saith the Lord
God; Behold, MINE ANGER AND MY FURY SHALL BE POURED OUT upon
this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the
field, and upon the fruit of the ground; AND IT SHALL BURN, AND
SHALL NOT BE QUENCHED. (Jeremiah 7:18, 20 KJV).



 The women also said, "And when we burned incense to the QUEEN
OF HEAVEN and poured out DRINK OFFERINGS to her, did we MAKE
CAKES for her, to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to
her without our husbands' permission?"....So the Lord could no
longer bear it, because of the EVIL OF YOUR DOINGS and because
of the ABOMINATIONS WHICH YOU COMMITTED.

Therefore your land is a DESOLATION, AN ASTONISHMENT, A CURSE,
AND WITHOUT AN INHABITANT, as it is this day. (Jeremiah 44:19,
22 NKJV).



I don't think another word needs to be said!



What's in a Meal?



It's almost a surety that some reading this article will say:
"So what, we don't practice the rituals of the corn mother -- we
don't worship Semiramis, we just enjoy family fellowship and end
the day with a Thanksgiving meal! There's nothing wrong with
that!''



DON'T BE SO SURE! HAVE YOU CONSIDERED THE TRADITIONAL FOODS THAT
ARE SERVED DURING THE MEAL? YOU HAD BETTER, BECAUSE YOU ARE IN
FOR SOME SHOCKS!



Consider the Turkey!



Let's start with the main fare -- the THANKSGIVING TURKEY. Why a
turkey? Why not a rack of lamb or barbecued beef ribs? The
turkey is actually a recent innovation to American Thanksgiving
dinners, and didn't even become widespread in this country until
the 19th century.



In 1845, Methodist missionaries at the Shawnee Mission Indian
School in Mission, Kansas, invited some nearby Quaker
missionaries over for Thanksgiving. Notice the Quakers' record
of this event:



TURKEY was the MAIN MEAT course at this celebration. Wild
turkeys were plentiful and the Methodists had cooked several.
THE QUAKERS WERE SURPRISED; THEY HAD NEVER HEARD OF THE TURKEY
AS A BIRD OF THANKSGIVING. But, following a special religious
service, they pulled the roast from the wishbones with almost as
much gusto as the Methodists. (Thanksgiving: An American
Holiday, An American History, p. 103).



On pages 266 and 267 of this same book, author Diana Appelbaum
admits that "Turkey would not become the STAR ATTRACTION of the
Thanksgiving dinner UNTIL THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY;" and she
further states that "Early Thanksgiving dinners were simple but
ample, featuring fresh game, which was as likely to be venison,
duck or GOOSE as turkey, and Indian CORN boiled or steamed as
Indian pudding."



Here we see the GOOSE popping up again! We have already seen the
importance placed upon the GOOSE in the Scandinavian countries
-- and here it is again, appearing in the New World! Why?



Author Appelbaum mentions the GOOSE again: "In the 1700s and
early 1800s, a turkey, GOOSE or other bird would be roasted by
suspending it directly over the fire... "



In the early years of this nation, the GOOSE was the "MAIN MEAT
COURSE," and was only replaced by the turkey because of the
ABUNDANCE of this bird in the American wilderness. Diana
Appelbaum notes: "Whether our forebears admired the turkey for
its courage or for its flavor, whether it was chosen be cause it
could be HUNTED IN NOVEMBER WOODS or because it was the largest
fowl in the barnyard, we will never know. But early in the
nineteenth century, turkey became the American Thanksgiving
bird."



Even AFTER the turkey became the star attraction, a GOOSE was
still to be found on the Thanksgiving table. Look at this early
nineteenth-century account:



        Thanksgiving dinner was a feast that had been in
preparation for weeks and even months before the great day
arrived.... Turkey held the place of honor at Thanksgiving, but
our New England forebears had appetites heartier by far than
those of their modern-day descendants, and turkey was
accompanied by a huge chicken pie made of the meat of three or
four birds Besides these were placed roasted ducks and GEESE,
TWO OR MORE, DEPENDING ON THE SIZE OF THE COMPANY...and small
mountains of mashed vegetables...stood beside the turkey and
GEESE at the great feast. (Thanksgiving: An American Holiday, An
American History, p.69).



An account, circa 1827, shows the same thing:



The roasted turkey took precedence on this occasion, being
placed at the head of all the table [which the goose once
occupied]; and well did it become its lordly station....A GOOSE
and a pair of ducklings occupied side stations on the table, the
middle being graced, as it always is on such occasions, by that
rich burgomeister of the provisions called a chicken pie.
(Ibid., p.83).



Coming down to the Civil War, we find this extravagant account
in the New York Times of Thanksgiving day in the Union army:



The glorious host under Sherman, which is sweeping through
Georgia, bearing aloft in the sunlight the flag of the Union. It
is not impossible that as they marched along, cutting the wide
swathe of which we read, they took occasion to pick up and bear
aloft on their bayonets all the turkeys, GEESE and chickens of
Georgia to furnish themselves with a THANKSGIVING FEAST today.
(lbid., p. ).



As the Victorian era drew to a close, Thanksgiving completed its
transition from a regional holiday to a national one, and the
turkey was well-established as the premier meat on the table. In
the process, the GOOSE disappeared from sight AND THE SYMBOLISM
THAT WAS ASSOCIATED WITH IT WAS TRANSFERRED TO THE TURKEY!



And what was that SYMBOLISM? Once again, Alexander Hislop has
the answer:



Wilkinson, in reference to Egypt, shows that "the favourite
offering" of OSIRIS was "A GOOSE," and moreover, that the "GOOSE
could not be eaten except in the depth of winter." As to Rome,
Juvenal says, "that OSIRIS, if offended, COULD BE PACIFIED ONLY
BY A LARGE GOOSE and a thin cake." In many countries we have
evidence of a SACRED CHARACTER ATTACHED TO THE GOOSE It is well
known that the capital of Rome was on one occasion saved when on
the point of being surprised by the Gauls in the dead of night,
by the cackling of the GEESE SACRED TO JUNO, KEPT IN THE TEMPLE
OF JUPITER. The accompanying, woodcut proves that the GOOSE in
Asia Minor was the SYMBOL OF CUPID, just as it was the SYMBOL OF
SEB in Egypt. In India, the GOOSE occupied a similar position;
for in that land we read of the SACRED "BRAHMANY GOOSE," or
goose sacred to Brahma. Finally, the MONUMENTS OF BABYLON show
that the GOOSE possessed A LIKE MYSTIC CHARACTER IN CHALDEA, and
that it was offered in sacrifice there, as well as in Rome or
Egypt, for there the priest is seen with the goose in the one
hand, and his sacrificing knife in the other. (The Two Babylons,
Pages 101-102).



This, then, is WHY the goose has had such a PROMI- NENT POSITION
in the Harvest Home and Thanksgiving meals.



When partaking of the goose, or now the Thanksgiving turkey, YOU
ARE MAKING A FOOD OFFERING TO OSIRIS, OR NIMROD! Do you think
God closes His eyes to that?



Wilkinson, a nineteenth-century Egyptologist and author, has
some interesting comments about the goose:



The SYMBOLIC MEANING of the offering of the GOOSE is worthy of
notice. "The goose," says Wilkinson, "signified in hieroglyphics
A CHILD OR SON;" and Horapollo says (i.53, p.276), "It was
chosen TO DENOTE A SON, from its love to its young, being always
ready to give itself up to the chasseur, in order that they
might be preserved; for which reason the Egyptians thought it
right to revere this animal." (Wilkinson's Egyptians, vol. v.,
p. 227).



We see here that the TRUE MEANING of the symbol (the GOOSE) is a
SON, who voluntarily gives himself up as a sacrifice for those
whom he loves -- in other words the PAGAN MESSIAH NIMROD !



Actually, the Thanksgiving goose was BORROWED FROM CHRISTMAS, as
were many of the other foods on the table. Hislop mentions "that
'CHRISTMAS GOOSE' and 'YULE CAKES' were essential articles in
the worship of the Babylonian Messiah, as that worship was
practised both in Egypt and at Rome."



The GOOSE, believe it or not, was also IMPORTANT to the Indians
of the  New World! According to James Frazer:



The Mandans and Minnetarees of North America used to hold a
festival in spring which they call the CORN-MEDICINE FESTIVAL OF
THE WOMEN. They thought that a certain OLD WOMAN WHO NEVER DIES
[CORN MOTHER] made the crops to grow, and that, living in the
south, she sent the migratory waterfowl in spring AS HER TOKENS
AND REPRESENTATIVES. Each sort of bird represented a special
kind of crop cultivated by the Indians: THE WILD GOOSE STOOD FOR
THE MAIZE....So when the feathered messengers of the OLD WOMAN
began to arrive in spring the Indians celebrated the CORN
MEDICINE FESTIVAL OF THE WOMEN....They gave the name of the Old
Woman who Never Dies BOTH TO THE MAIZE AND TO THOSE BIRDS [THE
GEESE] which they regarded as SYMBOLS of the fruits of the
earth...(The Golden Bough, pages 204-205).



This takes us right to Nimrod and Semiramis again -- they BOTH
were personifications of the corn! Isn't that amazing?



A Pig in the Poke!



Another food frequently found on the Thanksgiving table is PORK.



A letter from a Boston schoolgirl to her "Dear Cousin Betsey",
describes a typical family Thanksgiving in the Boston of 1779.
This is what she said:



The tables were set in the Dining Hall and even that big room
had no space to spare when we were all seated....There were our
two Grandmothers side by side...and happy they were to look
around upon so many of their descendants....Then there were six
of the Livingstone family next door. They had never seen a
Thanksgiving Dinner before, HAVING BEEN USED TO KEEP CHRISTMAS
DAY INSTEAD, AS IS WONT IN NEW YORK AND
PROVINCE....Mayquittymaw's Hunters were able to get us a fine
red Deer, so that we had a good haunch of Venison on each Table.
These were balanced by HUGE CHINES OF ROAST PORK at the other
ends of the Tables. Then there was on one a big Roast Turkey and
on the other A GOOSE and two big Pigeon Pasties [pies].
(Thanksgiving: An American Holiday, An American History, pages 5
1-52).



A rather humorous episode came out of the Thanksgiving of 1874
-- once again showing the PREDOMINANCE OF PORK on the typical
Thanksgiving table:



A story making the rounds in Keokuk, Iowa, in 1874 told of a
physician who was called to treat a young man who "worries hash
at a fourth-class boarding house" but had been invited to dine
out on Thanksgiving Day. The doctor asked the patient what he
had eaten and the young man, noting that he might not be able to
recall everything, recounted that he had consumed: "Three dishes
of oyster soup, two plates of fish and two of turkey, two dozen
fried oysters, and a dozen raw; some gherkins, FOUR SLICES OF
ROAST PIG, a quart of coleslaw, two cups of coffee, four stalks
of celery, a liberal supply of boiled cabbage, SIX HARD BOILED
EGGS [remember the "symbol" of Astarte?], some turnip, a glass
of milk, APPLE DUMPLINGS, a bottle of native wine, TWO DISHES OF
PLUM PUDDING, two MINCE PIES, SOME FRUIT CAKE, and three dishes
of ice cream." The doctor, it was said, listened to this
recital, pronounced the case to be hopeless, and left to call
the undertaker!



This man certainly turned Thanksgiving into an ORGY!



The appearance of PORK on the Thanksgiving table has tremendous
symbolism, because THE PIG REPRESENTS DEMETER OR CERES! James
Frazer makes this abundantly clear in The Golden Bough:



Passing next to the corn-goddess Demeter, and remembering that
IN EUROPEAN FOLKLORE THE PIG IS A COMMON EMBODIMENT OF THE
CORN-SPIRIT, we may now ask whether the pig, which was so
CLEARLY ASSOCIATED WITH DEMETER, may not have been originally
the goddess herself in animal form. THE PIG WAS SACRED TO HER;
in art she was portrayed carrying or accompanied by a pig; and
the PIG WAS REGULARLY SACRIFICED in her mysteries, the reason
assigned being that the pig injures the corn and is therefore an
enemy of the goddess....And in fact the rites of one of her
festivals, THE THESMOPHORIA [THE THREE-DAY FESTIVAL, remember],
bear out the view that originally THE PIG WAS AN EMBODIMENT OF
THE CORN-GODDESS HERSELF, either Demeter or her daughter and
double Persephone. THE ATTIC [GREEK] THESMOPHORIA was an AUTUMN
FESTIVAL, CELEBRATED BY WOMEN ALONE IN OCTOBER, and appears to
have represented with mourning rites the descent of Persephone
(or Demeter) into the lower world, and WITH JOY her return from
the dead....



Notice how disgusting the rites of the Thesmophoria were:



Now it was customary at the Thesmophoria to throw PIGS, cakes of
dough, and branches of pine-trees into "the chasms of Demeter
and Persephone," which appear to have been sacred caverns or
vaults. In these caverns or vaults there were said to be
SERPENTS, which guarded the caverns and consumed most of the
flesh of the pigs and DOUGH-CAKES which were thrown in.
Afterwards -- apparently at the next annual festival -- the
decayed remains of the pigs, the cakes, and the pine-branches
were fetched by women called "drawers," who, after observing
rules of ceremonial purity for three days, descended into the
caverns, and, frightening away the serpents by clapping their
hands, BROUGHT UP THE REMAINS AND PLACED THEM ON THE ALTAR.
Whoever got a piece of the decayed flesh and cakes, and SOWED IT
WITH THE SEED-CORN in his field, was believed to be sure of a
good crop...Further, it is to be noted that AT THE THESMOPHORIA
THE WOMEN APPEAR TO HAVE EATEN SWlNE'S FLESH. The REAL, if I am
right, must have been a solemn sacrament or communion, the
worshippers PARTAKING OF THE BODY OF THE GOD. (The Golden Bough,
abridged version pps. 543- 545).



 The PORK on the table, like the goose itself, was also BORROWED
FROM THE CHRISTMAS TABLE! Frazer brings this "Yule" connection
out:



But the idea of THE CORN-SPIRIT AS EMBODIED IN PIG FORM is
nowhere more clearly expressed than in the Scandinavian custom
of the Yule Boar. In Sweden and Denmark at YULE (CHRISTMAS) it
is the custom to bake a loaf in the form of a BOAR-PIG. This is
called the Yule Boar. THE CORN OF THE LAST SHEAF is often used
to make it. All through Yule the Yule Boar stands on the table.
Often it is kept till the sowing-time in Spring, when part of it
is mixed with the seed-corn and part given to the ploughmen and
ploughhorses or plough-oxen to eat, in the expectation of a good
harvest. In this custom THE CORN SPIRIT, IMMANENT IN THE LAST
SHEAF, APPEARS AT MIDWINTER IN THE FORM OF A BOAR MADE FROM THE
CORN OF THE LAST SHEAF; and his quickening influence on the corn
is shewn by mixing part of the Yule Boar with the seed-corn and
giving part of it to the ploughman and his cattle to eat.



Do you see the BLENDING of the Thanksgiving AND Christmas
customs here? The appearance of the CORN SPIRIT at MIDWINTER
(Christmas) in the FORM OF A BOAR made from the CORN OF THE LAST
SHEAF?



        It is becoming very apparent that Thanksgiving draws on
BOTH Christmas AND Halloween for its very existence as we know
it today!



Frazer continues:



Formerly a REAL BOAR was sacrificed at Christmas, and apparently
a MAN in the character of the Yule Boar. This, at least, may
perhaps be inferred from a Christmas custom still observed in
Sweden. A man is wrapped up in a skin, and carries a wisp of
straw in his mouth, so that the projecting straws look like the
bristles of a boar. A knife is brought, and an OLD WOMAN, with
her face blackened, pretends to SACRIFICE him.

On Christmas Eve in some parts of the Estonian island of Oesel
they bake a long cake with the two ends turned up. It is called
the CHRISTMAS BOAR, and stands on the table, till the morning of
New Years Day, when it is distributed among the cattle....In
other parts of Estonia, again, the CHRISTMAS BOAR, as it is
called, is baked of the FIRST RYE CUT AT HARVEST; it has a
conical shape and a cross is impressed on it with a PIG'S BONE
or a key, or three dints are made in it with a buckle or a piece
of charcoal. It stands with a light beside it on the table ALL
THROUGH THE FESTAL SEASON....In some places the Christmas Boar
is PARTAKEN OF [EATEN] by farmservants and cattle at the time of
the barley sowing, for the purpose of thereby producing a
heavier crop. (The Golden Bough, 3rd Edition. The MacMillan
Company, N.Y. 1935. Pps. 300-303)



Not only was the PIG a symbol of Semiramis (Ceres, Demeter), but
it ALSO IDENTIFIES Osiris or Nimrod:



The view which IDENTIFIES THE PIG WITH OSIRIS derives not a
little support from the SACRIFICE OF PIGS TO HIM ON THE VERY DAY
ON WHICH, according to tradition, OSIRIS HIMSELF WAS KILLED; for
thus the killing of the pig was the ANNUAL REPRESENTATION OF THE
KILLING OF OSIRIS, just as the throwing of the pigs into the
caverns at the THESMOPHORIA was an annual representation of the
descent of Persephone into the lower world; and BOTH CUSTOMS are
parallel to the European practice of killing a goat, cock, and
so forth AT HARVEST AS A REPRESENTATION OF THE CORN-SPIRIT.



See how Shem came to be associated with the pig:



Again, the theory [is] that the pig, originally Osiris himself,
afterwards came to be regarded as an embodiment of his enemy
TYPHON [TYPHO]....Thus, the annual sacrifice of a pig to Osiris
might naturally be interpreted as vengeance on the HOSTILE
ANIMAL that had SLAIN OR MANGLED the god. But, in the first
place, when an animal is thus killed as a solemn SACRIFICE once
and once only in the year, it generally or always means that the
animal is divine, that he is spared and respected the rest of
the year as a god and slain, when he is slain, also in the
character of a god. In the second place, the examples of
Dionysus and DEMETER, if not of Attis and Adonis, have taught us
that the animal which is sacrificed to a god on the ground that
he is the god's enemy may have been, and probably was,
ORIGINALLY THE GOD HIMSELF. Therefore, THE ANNUAL SACRIFICE OF A
PIG TO OSIRIS [NIMROD], coupled with the alleged HOSTILITY OF
THE ANIMAL TO THE GOD, tends to show, first, that originally the
pig was a god, and, second, THAT HE WAS OSIRIS (The Golden
Bough, p.551).



This TYPHON (or TYPHO) -- who was hostile to Nimrod -- was SHEM
the son of Noah, a POWERFUL instrument of the Eternal God in the
years immediately following the flood. He strode across the
landscape of the Middle East, combating apostasy and error
wherever he found it; AND HE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATH OF
THE FATHER OF APOSTASY -- NIMROD! As a warning to all others who
might perpetuate the worship of Nimrod and his wife, Shem had
the body of Nimrod CUT UP INTO PIECES and distributed throughout
the land of Egypt. This is important to remember because there
is a THANKSGIVING CUSTOM that reflects the horrible end of
Nimrod! More about that later.



The ever dependable Hislop, in his ever dependable book The Two
Babylons (which, incidentally, has been WRITTEN OFF by the
Worldwide Church of God as being TOO PROVOCATIVE to the Catholic
Church and mainstream "Christianity"), confirms the research and
analysis of James Frazer:



In many countries THE BOAR WAS SACRIFICED TO THE GOD, for the
injury a boar was fabled to have done him. According to one
version of the story of the death of Adonis, or Tammuz, it was,
as we have seen, in consequence of a wound from the tusk of a
BOAR that he died. The Phrygian Attes, the beloved of Cybele,
whose story was identified with that of Adonis, was fabled to
have perished in LIKE MANNER, by the tusk of a boar. Therefore,
DIANA, who though commonly represented in popular myths only as
the huntress Diana, WAS IN REALITY THE GREAT MOTHER OF THE GODS
[SEMIRAMIS], has frequently the BOAR'S HEAD as her
accompaniment, in token not of any mere success in the chase,
but of HER TRIUMPH OVER THE GRAND ENEMY [SHEM] OF THE IDOLATROUS
SYSTEM, IN WHICH SHE OCCUPIED SO CONSPICUOUS A PLACE.



Take note of what Theocritus had to say:



According to Theocritus, VENUS was reconciled to the boar that
killed Adonis, because when brought in chains before her, it
pleaded so pathetically that it had not killed her husband of
malice prepense, but only through accident. But yet, in memory
of the DEED that the mystic boar had done, MANY A BOAR LOST ITS
HEAD OR WAS OFFERED IN SACRIFICE TO THE OFFENDED GODDESS....On
CHRIST- MAS DAY the Continental Saxons offered a boar in
sacrifice to the Sun, to propitiate her for the loss of her
beloved Adonis [Nimrod]. In Rome a similar observance had
evidently existed; for a BOAR FORMED THE GREAT ARTICLE AT THE
FEAST OF SATURN....Hence the BOAR'S HEAD is still a STANDING
DISH IN ENGLAND AT THE CHRISTMAS DINNER, when the reason of it
is long since forgotten. (Pages 99-101).



Not only does eating PORK at the Thanksgiving table represent
SACRIFICING TO NIMROD AND SEMIRAMIS, but it is FORBIDDEN BY GOD
to be eaten AT ANY TIME -- see Leviticus 11.



A slice of pork, anyone?



Apple Pie and Apple Cider!



APPLES have always been an important part of Thanksgiving. Of
all the delicacies laid out on the Thanksgiving table, I
probably enjoyed APPLE PIE the most -- with the possible
exception of the turkey, that is! My eldest daughter makes one
of the best French apple pies I have ever come across, and I
always looked forward to making an absolute glutton of myself on
her handiwork every Thanksgiving! But APPLES didn't become a
part of Thanksgiving fare by accident.



If you are at all observant, you will realize that APPLES play
an important role at HALLOWEEN TIME. Just recently, while
visiting a local supermarket, I noticed a large barrel of APPLES
sitting right in the middle of a large Halloween display. When
the neighborhood children came "trick or treating" to your door,
it was customary to give them APPLES as well as candy. WHY? How
did APPLES become so important in HALLOWEEN AND THANKSGIVING
trad- itions?



The Yearbook of English Festivals, by Dorothy Spicer, gives some
insight into these questions:



Fun-loving Americans HAVE BORROWED from their British ancestors
many Hallow E'en games, such as APPLE-BOBBING, nut roasting and
TOSSING OF APPLE PARINGS. Translated to New World soil, the old
practices have become revitalized and currently are observed
with MORE ENTHUSIASM than in the country of their birth...Next
to nuts, APPLES FEATURE IN ALL HALLOW E'EN DIVINATIONS.
APPLE-BOBBING still is as popular in the North Country as in
rural America. Even PIPS AND PARINGS come in for their share of
attention. This old rhyme accompanies the SWINGING OF A [APPLE]
PARING, to learn the loved one's initials:



I pare this pippin round and round

 again,

My sweetheart's name to flourish on

 the plain:

I fling the unbroken paring o'er my

 head,

My sweetheart's letter on the ground

 to read.



(1954, pps. l53-157).



The Book of Holidays, by J. Walker McSpadden, contains the
following information:



Nuts and APPLES are the invariable attendants upon ALL Halloween
feasts, both then and now. In fact, in the north of England
Halloween is often called "Nutcrack Night.'' And in Penzance and
St. Ives, in Cornwall, the Saturday nearest Halloween is known
as "Allen Day," AFTER THE BIG RED APPLES OF THE REGION -- apples
from ancient orchards which have SUPPLIED MANY GENERATIONS OF
HALLOWEEN      BELIEVERS (Pps. 149- 153).



The same book states that " 'Trick or treat' means of course
that the young Halloween visitors who come to your door will
play no tricks on you if you will 'treat' them -- ask them for
cookies, or CIDER, maybe, and help fill their bags with FRUIT
[APPLES], nuts, cake, candy, or anything else you think they
might like." As chance(?) would have it, APPLE CIDER is also
very prevalent on Thanksgiving!



And WHAT does the APPLE -- or WHO does the apple -- represent?
Let J. Walker McSpadden explain:



When you duck for apples, or throw an apple paring over your
shoulder to see what initial it makes on the floor, YOU ARE
DOING AS THE ROMANS DID -- HONORING POMONA, THE ROMAN GODDESS OF
ORCHARDS AND ESPECIALLY OF APPLE ORCHARDS. (The Book of
Holidays, pps. l49-153).



        And WHO, exactly, was POMONA? You guessed it -- none
other than our old friend CERES THE CORN MOTHER or, ultimately,
SEMIRAMIS THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN! Every thing goes right back to
the original post-flood apostates NIMROD AND SEMIRAMIS!



The reason apples are COMMON to both Thanksgiving and Halloween
is shown by Marguerite Ickis in her work The Book of Festival
Holidays:



HARVEST FESTIVALS came at a time of the year when the last
warmth of Indian summer is gone, and bleak winds and gray skies
begin to appear. It is the time of year when barns are made
snug, THE LAST OF THE APPLES and vegetables are stored away in
bins and people sit in front of a roaring fire to relax from
their long summer's work. IN SHORT, IT IS A REJOICING OVER
EARTH'S GIFTS.

The custom of holding a festival AT HARVEST TIME goes back over
two thousand years. THE LAST DAY OF THE YEAR ON THE OLD PAGAN
CALENDAR OCTOBER 31, served the TRIPLE PURPOSE of bidding
good-bye to summer, welcoming winter AND REMEMBERING THE DEAD.
(1964, pps. l25-126).



And that is PRECISELY why we find Halloween customs or rites
mixed in with those of Thanksgiving!



Now do you see WHY Thanksgiving is TOTALLY PAGAN and belongs to
what I call the "UNHOLY TRIO" -- HALLOWEEN, THANKSGIVING AND
CHRISTMAS? To be at all LOGICAL, if you continue to observe
Thanksgiving, you should also observe Easter, Halloween and
Christmas! Why? Because they ALL COME FROM THE SAME SOURCE --
the Babylonian Mystery Religion of Nimrod and Semiramis!!



The Symbolism of Pumpkins



Another "attendant" upon the Thanksgiving feast is the good ol'
PUMPKIN PIE! Here again, you don't have to be too observant to
realize pumpkins also play an IMPORTANT ROLE IN HALLOWEEN.



Holidays Around the World, by Joseph Gaer, makes the following
observation:



THANKSGIVlNG is a holiday of pleasant aromas. Every home is
pungent with the commingling odors of APPLES AND APPLE CIDER,
PUMPKINS AND PUMPKIN PIE, brown sugar in the baking, autumn
leaves and mountain herbs, and the slightly gamey odor of turkey
roasting. It is a day for people with good appetites.

In many rural areas the holiday begins with a solemn church
service, followed by a great feast at home, and ending with
dances and games in some community center or a barn. If the
REVELRY is held in a barn, THE PLACE IS DECORATED WITH autumn
leaves, fox grapes, APPLES AND PUMPKINS. (Little, Brown and
Company, Boston, 1953. P.162).



PUMPKINS became an integral part of Thanksgiving the same way
apples did, because the HARVEST FESTIVAL fell at the end of the
year on the old PAGAN CALENDAR -- the same time summer was bid
good-bye, winter welcomed AND THE DEAD REMEMBERED!



Pumpkins became a part of Halloween in this country through the
influence of the Irish. Many years ago, people began hollowing
out turnips and pumpkins and placing lighted candles inside TO
SCARE EVIL SPIRITS from the house. The pumpkin and candle became
known as a "jack o'lantern" because "tradition says that an
Irish Jack, too wicked for heaven and expelled from hell for
playing tricks on the devil, was condemned to walk the earth
with a lantern forever." (The Book of Festivals, p. l25).



This custom, in turn, originated with the Celtic Druids of
northern Britain, who lit a fire to scare away winter and the
evil spirits who were waiting to come rushing in when summer was
over.



There is ANOTHER WAY, however, that the PUMPKIN became a
traditional part of Thanksgiving in America. In Mexico a young
girl REPRESENTING THE MAIZE GODDESS OR CORN-SPIRIT was
sacrificed on a heap of corn and PUMPKINS. James Frazer
describes the bloody scene:



The honor of living for a short time in the character of a god
and dying a VIOLENT DEATH in the same capacity was not
restricted to men in Mexico; women were allowed, or rather
compelled, to enjoy the glory and to share the doom as
representatives of goddesses. Thus, AT A GREAT FESTIVAL IN
SEPTEMBER, WHICH WAS PRECEDED BY A STRICT FAST of seven days,
they sanctified a young slave girl of twelve or thirteen years,
THE PRETTIEST THEY COULD FIND, TO REPRESENT THE MAIZE GODDESS
CHICOMEOOHUATL [just like the Harvest Queen?!]. They invested
her with the ornaments of the goddess, putting a mitre on her
head and MAIZECOBS round her neck and in her hands, and fastened
a green feather upright on the crown of her head to imitate an
ear of maize....

In the evening all the people assembled at the temple, the
courts of which they lit up by a multitude of lanterns and
candles. There they pass the night without sleeping, and at
midnight, while the trumpets, flutes, and horns discoursed
solemn music, a portable framework or Palanquin was brought
forth, bedecked with festoons of maize-cobs and peppers and
filled with seeds of all sorts. This the bearer set down at the
door of the chamber in which the WOODEN IMAGE OF THE GODDESS
stood. Now the chamber was adorned and wreathed, both outside
and inside, with wreaths of maize-cobs, peppers, PUMPKINS.
roses, and seeds of every kind, a wonder to behold....Then they
made her mount the framework, where she stood upright on the
maize and peppers and PUMPKINS with which it was strewed, her
hands resting on two banisters to keep her from falling....And
the end of the festival was this. The multitude being assembled,
the priests solemnly incensed THE GIRL WHO PERSONATED THE
GODDESS; then they threw her on her back on the heap of corn and
seeds, cut off her head, caught the gushing blood in a tub, and
sprinkled the blood on the WOODEN IMAGE OF THE GODDESS, the
walls of the chamber, and the offerings of corn, peppers,
PUMPKINS, seeds, and vegetables which cumbered the floor ...



This girl clearly personified the maize goddess:



In the foregoing custom THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE YOUNG GIRL
WITH THE MAIZE GODDESS appears to be complete. The golden
maize-cobs which she wore around her neck, the artificial
maize-cobs which she carried in her hands, the green feather
which was stuck in her hair in imitation (we are told) of a
green ear of maize, ALL SET HER FORTH AS A PERSONIFICATION OF
THE CORN-SPIRIT..the practice of beheading her on a heap of corn
and seeds and sprinkling her blood, not only on the image of the
Maize Goddess, but on the piles of maize, peppers, PUMPKINS,
seeds, and vegetables, can seemingly have had NO OTHER OBJECT
but to quicken and strengthen the crops of corn and the fruits
of the earth in general by infusing into their REPRESENTATIVES
the blood of the CORN GODDESS herself (The Golden Bough: A Study
in Magic and Religion, Abridged Version. MacMillan Company, N.Y.
1951. Pps. 682-685).



Keep that in mind next time you bite into a piece of
Thanksgiving pumpkin pie!



It's not at all improbable that Chief Massasoit and his braves
were familiar with SIMILAR CUSTOMS amongst their own people, or
in those tribes around them. The presence of pumpkins at that
"first Thanksgiving" in 1621 may not have surprised the Indians
at all and, in fact, the Indians showed the Pilgrim Fathers how
to successfully grow pumpkins along with the corn.



Chopped Up Meat & the Death of Osiris!



Finally, we come to the LOWLY MINCE PIE -- "eaten in every
English household at Christmas" and transferred to the
"celebration of the Yankee Thanksgiving."



The MINCE PIE "was banished from the Puritan kitchen as being
UNHOLY FOOD AT ANY TIME OF THE YEAR" -- WHY?



According to Diana Appelbaum, "Of the infinite variety of pies,
two, the PUMPKIN and THE MINCE, are INTIMATELY ASSOCIATED WITH
THANKSGIVING DINNER.... There is no more QUINTESSENTIAL
Thanksgiving dish than MINCE MEAT PIE, and yet, unlike the
native pumpkin pie, MINCE MEAT was a tradition borrowed from the
CHRISTMAS FEASTS of merry old England. Puritans in both England
and America BANNED CHRISTMAS; the 'high-shoe lords of Cromwell's
making' frowned on ALL of the ancient Yuletide customs: 'Plum
broth was Popish, AND MINCE PIE -- /O, THAT WAS FLAT IDOLATRY!'

"But by the early 1700s, MINCE PIE was enshrined in the New
England Thanksgiving menu." (Thanksgiving: An American Holiday,
An American History, pps. 270-27l).



That's a pretty strong statement to make -- mince pie considered
FLAT IDOLATRY? When we examine what the MINCEMEAT represents,
you'll understand why!



Let's turn back the pages of time and see what was involved in
the PREPARATION of a typical nineteenth-century Thanksgiving
meal:



Meat, vegetables and sauces were all prepared in impressive
array, but the truly distinguishing feature of the Thanksgiving
feast, and the task that OCCUPIED HOUSEWIVES FOR DAYS
BEFOREHAND, was the variety of pies to be baked and served; for
pies are the CROWNING GLORY of New England cuisine.

Thanksgiving really began on that morning, ten or more days
before the feast itself, WHEN MOTHER BEGAN TO CHOP MINCEMEAT for
the pies. Young members of the family were drafted to seed the
raisins, shell the nuts, PEEL THE APPLES AND MINCE THE BEEF.
These ingredients were turned into a huge wooden bowl, and THE
WOMENFOLK TOOK TURNS CHOPPING UNTIL EACH FELT SURELY HER ARM
COULD LIFT THE CHOPPER NO MORE. (Ibid., p.71).



The chopping of the meat was an ANNUAL RITUAL and REPRESENTED
THE CHOPPING UP OF OSIRIS' BODY by Shem! Now do you see WHY the
Puritans ABHORRED MINCE PIES?



The faithful Hislop explains what happened after the death of
NIMROD (OSIRIS) those many centuries ago:



How Nimrod died, Scripture is entirely silent. There was an
ancient tradition that he came to a VIOLENT END....Then, in
regard to the death of NINUS [Nimrod under another name],
profane history speaks darkly and mysteriously, although one
account tells of his having met with a VIOLENT DEATH SIMILAR TO
THAT OF PENTHEUS, LYCURGUS, AND OPHEUS, who were said to have
been TORN IN PIECES. The identity of Nimrod, however, and the
Egyptian Osiris, having been established, we have thereby light
as to Nimrod's death. OSIRIS MET WITH A VIOLENT DEATH, and that
violent death of Osiris was the CENTRAL THEME OF THE WHOLE
IDOLATRY OF EGYPT. If Osiris was Nimrod, as we have seen, that
VIOLENT DEATH which the Egyptians so pathetically deplored in
their annual festivals WAS JUST THE DEATH OF NIMROD.



The death of Nimrod was observed in many countries:



The accounts in regard to the death of the god worshipped in the
several mysteries of the different countries are all to the same
effect. A statement of Plato seems to show, that in his day the
Egyptian Osiris was regarded as identical with TAMMUZ; and
Tammuz is well known to have been the same as ADONIS, the famous
HUNTSMAN, for whose death Venus is fabled to have made such
bitter lamentations. As the women of Egypt WEPT FOR OSIRIS, as
the Phoenician and Assyrian women WEPT FOR TAMMUZ, so in Greece
and Rome the women WEPT FOR BACCHUS, whose name, as we have
seen, means "The bewailed," or "Lamented one." And now, in
connection with the Bacchanal lamentations, the importance of
the relation established between NEBROS, "THE SPOTTED FAWN," and
NEBROD, "THE MIGHTY HUNTER," will appear. THE NEBROS, OR
"SPOTTED FAWN," WAS THE SYMBOL OF BACCHUS, AS REPRESENTING
NEBROD OR NIMROD HIMSELF. Now, on certain occasions, in the
mystical celebrations, THE NEBROS, or "SPOTTED FAWN," WAS TORN
IN PIECES, expressly, as we learn from Photius, AS A
COMMEMORATION OF WHAT HAPPENED TO BACCHUS, whom that fawn
represented. THE TEARING IN PIECES OF NEBROS, "the spotted one,"
goes to confirm the conclusion, THAT THE DEATH OF BACCHUS, EVEN
AS THE DEATH OF OSIRIS, REPRESENTED THE DEATH OF NEBROD, whom,
under the very name of "The Spotted one," THE BABYLONIANS
WORSHIPPED. (The Two Babylons, pps. 55-56).



Now Hislop earlier mentions that Osiris, or Nimrod, was
represented under the form of a YOUNG BULL OR CALF. Notice:



The ordinary way in which the favourite Egyptian divinity Osiris
was mystically represented was under the FORM OF A YOUNG BULL OR
CALF -- the calf APIS -- for which the golden calf of the
Israelites was borrowed. There was a reason why that calf should
NOT commonly appear in the appropriate symbols of the god he
represented, FOR THAT CALF REPRESENTED THE DIVINITY IN THE
CHARACTER OF SATURN, "THE HIDDEN ONE," Apis being only another
name for Saturn. The COW OF ATHOR, however, THE FEMALE DIVINITY
corresponding to Apis, is well known as a "SPOTTED COW," and it
is singular that the DRUIDS OF BRITAIN also worshipped "a
spotted cow." Rare though it be, however, to find an instance of
the DEIFIED CALF OR YOUNG BULL REPRESENTED WITH THE SPOTS, there
is evidence still in existence, THAT EVEN IT WAS SOME TIMES SO
REPRESENTED (Ibid., pps. 45-46).



If we go now to Photius, we find that he quotes Demosthenes as
saying that "spotted fawns (or nebroi) were TORN IN PIECES for a
certain mystic or mysterious reason;" and he himself tells us
that "THE TEARING IN PIECES OF THE NEBROI (OR SPOTTED FAWNS) [OR
THE YOUNG BULL OR CALF] WAS IN IMITATION OF THE SUFFERING IN THE
CASE OF DIONYSUS" OR BACCHUS [NIMROD]. (Photius, Lexicon, Pars.
i. p. 291).



You may be wondering WHY I am leading you through all these
details concerning the various representations of Nimrod; be
patient it will soon become very CLEAR!



If we go now to Frazer once more, we will see the CONNECTION
between the death and dismemberment of Nimrod and the HARVEST
HOME cele- brations:



On the whole we may perhaps conclude that both as a goat AND AS
A BULL Dionysus was essentially a god of vegetation. The Chinese
and EUROPEAN CUSTOMS which I have cited may perhaps shed light
on THE CUSTOM OF RENDING A LIVE BULL or goat at the rites of
Dionysus. THE ANIMAL WAS TORN IN FRAGMENTS, as the Khond victim
WAS CUT IN PIECES, in order that THE WORSHIPERS MIGHT EACH
SECURE A PORTION of the life-giving and fertilising influence of
the god. THE FLESH WAS EATEN raw AS A SACRAMENT, and we may
conjecture that some of it was taken home to be buried IN THE
FIELDS, or otherwise employed so as to convey to the fruits of
the earth the quickening influence of the god of vegetation. The
resurrection of Dionysus, related in his myth, may have been
enacted in his rites by stuffing and setting up the slain ox, as
was done at the ATHENIAN BOUPHONIA. (The Golden Bough, p. 543).



And, furthermore, the BULL OR CALF was considered to be the
CORN-SPIRIT! "...The corn-spirit IN BULL FORM is sometimes
believed to be KILLED AT THRESHING. At Auxerre [in France], in
threshing the last bundle of corn, they call out twelve times,
'We are killing the Bull.' In the neighbourhood of Bordeaux,
where a BUTCHER KILLS AN OX ON THE FIELD IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE
CLOSE OF THE REAPING, it is said of the man who gives the last
stroke at threshing that 'he has killed the Bull.' At Chambery
the last sheaf is called the sheaf of the YOUNG OX, and a race
takes place to it in which all the reapers join. When the last
stroke is given at threshing they say that 'the Ox is killed',
AND IMMEDIATELY THEREUPON A REAL OX IS SLAUGHTERED BY THE REAPER
WHO CUT THE LAST CORN. THE FLESH OF THE OX IS EATEN BY THE
THRESHERS AT [HARVEST] SUPPER "



We can see CLEARLY that the partaking of the flesh of the divine
animal -- in this case a BULL, OX OR CALF -- during the meal of
the ancient Greek and Roman festivals parallels the HARVEST
SUPPERS of modern Europe where, as we have just seen, the flesh
of the animal which stands for the corn spirit (in this case
Nimrod) is EATEN by the harvesters.



YOU ARE DOING EXACTLY THE SAME THING AT THANKSGIVING WHEN YOU
SIT DOWN AND EAT A MINCE PIE!!



The beef (and sometimes pork -- which also represents Nimrod) is
CHOPPED UP beforehand -- REPRESENTING THE DEATH OF NIMROD -- and
mixed with APPLES, which we have already seen, REPRESENTS POMONA
THE GODDESS OF THE ORCHARD! And who was Pomona? None other than
CERES OR SEMIRAMIS!!



When you eat the mince pie you are partaking of a SACRAMENT --
that of the BODIES OF NIMROD AND SEMIRAMIS AND THE ENTIRE SYSTEM
OF IDOLATRY THAT THEY ORIGINATED! It is plain to see WHY the
Puritans ABHORRED mince pie and what it represented, and WHY
they UNEQUIVOCALLY STATED that it was UNFIT TO EAT AT ANY TIME
OF THE YEAR. How about you?



If we return to Hislop we will learn more detail about the death
of Nimrod:



The Egyptians say, that the grand enemy of their god [Shem]
overcame him, not by open violence, but that, having entered
into a conspiracy with seventy-two of the LEADING MEN OF EGYPT,
he got them into his power, put him to death, AND THEN CUT HIS
DEAD BODY INTO PIECES, and sent the different parts to so many
different cities throughout the country. The real meaning of
this statement will appear, if we glance at the JUDICIAL
INSTITUTIONS of Egypt. Seventy-two was just THE NUMBER OF THE
JUDGES, BOTH CIVIL AND SACRED, who, according to Egyptian law,
were required to determine what was to be the PUNISHMENT OF ONE
GUILTY OF SO HIGH AN OFFENSE AS THAT OF OSIRIS....



In Egypt two tribunals were necessary in determining the
punishment for someone committing such a crime:



In determining such a case, there were necessarily TWO TRIBUNALS
concerned...As burial was refused him, both tribunals would
necessarily be concerned; and thus there would be exactly
seventy-two persons, UNDER TYPHO THE PRESIDENT [SHEM] to condemn
Osiris to die AND TO BE CUT IN PlECES....when the DISMEM- BERED
PARTS OF OSIRIS were sent among the cities by the seventy-two
"conspirators" -- in other words, BY THE SUPREME JUDGES OF
EGYPT, it was equivalent to a solemn declaration in their name,
that "whosoever should do as Osiris had done, so should it be
done to him; SO SHOULD HE ALSO BE CUT IN PIECES " (The Two
Babylons).



THIS IS HOW THE MYSTERY RELIGION started! "Now when Shem has so
powerfully wrought upon the minds of men as to induce them to
make a TERRIBLE EXAMPLE of the great Apostate, and when that
Apostate's DISMEMBERED LIMBS were sent to the chief cities,
where no doubt his system had been established, it will be
readily perceived that, in these circumstances, IF IDOLATRY WAS
TO CONTINUE  if, above all, it was to take a step in advance, IT
WAS INDISPENSABLE THAT IT SHOULD OPERATE IN SECRET. The terror
of an execution, inflicted on one so mighty as Nimrod, made it
needful that, for some time to come at least, THE EXTREME OF
CAUTION should be used. IN THESE CIRCUMSTANCES, THEN, BEGAN,
THERE CAN HARDLY BE A DOUBT, THAT SYSTEM OF "MYSTERY," WHICH,
HAVING BABYLON FOR ITS CENTRE, HAS SPREAD OVER THE WORLD."



And, I might add, into the custom of Thanksgiving!



The Inferior Substitute



When you come to think about it, it is absolutely amazing how
Satan has ENGINEERED this system of religious perversion that,
starting in Babylon right after the flood, spread to Egypt,
Greece, Rome and finally into the modern world through the
countries that were under the control of the Roman Empire.



Through this system, Satan has UNDERMINED the TRUE RELIGION
established by the Eternal God; and through HIS DAYS AND
FESTIVALS, has drawn a VEIL over the eyes of the greater part of
mankind -- a veil that is only lifted by a select few servants
of God who are led by the spirit of God to "search the
scriptures daily," and profane histories, to uncover this PLOT
against the truth of God.



Thanksgiving is nothing more than a perversion of, and an
inferior SUBSTITUTE for the FEAST OF INGATHERING or the FEAST OF
TABERNACLES. But mankind, led by Satan through the Mystery
Religions, has perverted this wonderful OUTLINE of God's
redemptive plan for them by SUBSTITUTING INFERIOR DAYS full of
pagan ritual and meaningless symbolism.



The fact that Thanksgiving is a COPY OF THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES
has not gone unnoticed by secular historians. John Brand, whose
work has been quoted throughout this article, makes this comment:



Bourne thinks the ORIGINAL of both these customs [the HARVEST
FEAST and the REVELRY that followed] is JEWISH, and cites
Hospinian, who tells us that THE HEATHENS COPIED AFTER THIS
CUSTOM OF THE JEWS, AND AT THE END OF THE HARVEST OFFERED UP
THEIR FIRST FRUITS TO THE GODS. For the Jews rejoiced and
feasted at the getting in of the harvest. (Observations on the
Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, George Bell & Sons, 1908.
P. 16.).



Marian Schibsby and Hanny Cohrsen also noticed the
Thanksgiving-Tabernacles con- nection --



Many centuries before a day for nationwide thanksgiving and
prayer was established in this country, THE JEWISH PEOPLE
OBSERVED SUCH A CUSTOM. One of the most important Jewish
festivals is that of the "Feast of Tabernacles," also called the
"Feast of Ingathering" or "Succoth," which begins on the
fifteenth day of the seventh month, the month of Tishri -- that
is sometime between the last week of September and the middle of
October. It marks the END OF THE HARVEST "after that thou hast
gathered in from thy threshing floor and from thy wine press"
(Deut. xvi, 13,l6, RV) and is a season of joyousness and
gratitude for the bounty of nature in the year that has passed.
(Foreign Festival Customs and Dishes, American Council for
Nationalities Service, N.Y. 1974, P.53).



Let me repeat what author Robert Schauffler said about the
Grecian THESMOPHORIA: "The harvest festival of ancient Greece,
called the Thesmophoria, WAS AKIN TO THE JEWISH FEAST OF
TABERNACLES. It was the FEAST OF DEMETER..." In Rome, the same
feast occurred in October and BEGAN WITH A FAST DAY -- the pagan
equivalent of the Day of Atonement!



Thanksgiving is just another attempt TO MASK the days the
Eternal God SET APART for mankind to observe. Not only was the
Feast of Tabernacles a harvest celebration, but it also OUTLINED
AND POINTED TO the future fulfillment of an important part of
God's plan in developing the incredible human potential possible
for each and every one of us. The INGATHERING of the harvest
SYMBOLIZES the INGATHERING OF MANKIND -- the future ingathering
of the great harvest of spirit-begotten human beings into God's
Family during the Millennium.



Our Righteous God used the two yearly harvest seasons in the
Northern Hemisphere to PICTURE THE FUTURE SPIRITUAL HARVESTS of
mankind into His divine family. The small spring harvest --
Pentecost -- is represented by a single day, and symbolizes the
small spiritual firstfruits of a very small number of people
whom God has called into His Church before the return of His
Son, when they will be BORN into God's Family.



But the Feast of Tabernacles LASTS A FULL SEVEN DAYS! This
indicates that the Eternal God's great SECOND HARVEST of mankind
will take a LONG PERIOD OF TIME to be reaped -- in fact, the
ENTIRETY of the Millennium!



The Feast of Tabernacles is a time of joy and great rejoicing.
For the Israelites, it was a time of rejoicing because the
abundant winter's food supply was GATHERED IN just before the
Feast.



But the Feast of Tabernacles is a time of joy for those God has
called because it gives us a FORETASTE of the joy, happiness and
universal peace that will exist WORLDWIDE under the reign of
Jesus Christ on this earth during the Millennium.



So WHY observe a MANMADE feast that is a MERE "SHADOW" of these
wonderful things to come? WHY observe a feast that is loaded
down with PAGAN CUSTOMS and nuances that VEIL the TRUE plan of
God? The Feast of Tabernacles, with its tremendous import, makes
Thanksgiving seem totally irrelevant to a TRULY begotten son of
God!



Shallow Scholarship?



For the Worldwide Church of God to say, in their booklet on
Thanksgiving, that "the American Thanksgiving Day does NOT have
a PAGAN ORIGIN" and "is not usually celebrated with PAGAN
CEREMONIAL CUSTOMS in honor of PAGAN TRADITIONS AND GODS, as are
Christmas, Easter and Halloween" is TOTAL BUNK, and shows a
depth of scholarship that is sadly lacking and extremely shallow!



Or, perhaps, they really don't want to pursue this avenue in
depth because, as it stands, they have one day in the year when
members can have "one foot in the world" to celebrate as the
world does. To uncover the TRUE ORIGIN of Thanksgiving would
mean the one day in the year, when church members can get
together with unconverted family members for "football,
fellowship, feasting and frolic," would have to be avoided and
set aside like Easter, Halloween and Christmas. This, I'm
afraid, the Worldwide Church of God is unwilling to do.



HOW ABOUT YOU?





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GOD, DOCTORS, AND DRUGS!



Does God condemn doctors and drugs, and all medicine and
hospitals? Or does God sometimes work WITH doctors, drugs and
medicines? A strange question? Not at all! For some have DIED
due to ignorance and lack of wise understanding regarding the
truth about doctors, drugs and medicine as revealed in the
inspired Word of God!







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