> is it a specifically Christian thing or is it secular?
As far as the US holiday is concerned, it's secular, by which I mean it is celebrated by pretty much everybody regardless of religious persuasion (or lack thereof).
It is Christian in origin, albeit a minor local Christian tradition (developed in the US) rather than a major near-universal one. Like many Christian traditions, it has been secularised, just as Christmas has been. I think the big difference between Thanksgiving and Christmas, is the Christian origins of the later are much harder to forget. That’s why relatively few Jews (for example) are willing to celebrate Christmas even in a wholly secularised form, whereas the majority of American Jews have no problem with celebrating Thanksgiving-Christmas is still identified with its Christian origins in a way in which Thanksgiving is not.
That said, not all American Jews do view Thanksgiving as acceptable. Among ultra-Orthodox Jews, the belief is widespread that celebrating Thanksgiving violates Jewish religious law against observing non-Jewish festivals. Likewise, some conservative Muslims (Salafis in particular) view Thanksgiving as haram for parallel reasons. You might say these Jewish and Muslim objectors are paying more attention to the festival’s Christian origins than most Americans do.
Thanksgiving isn’t the only example of a minor American Christian tradition being secularised - the same is true of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Unlike Thanksgiving, which is rarely observed outside of North America, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day have spread to most of the rest of the English-speaking world, even if not always on the same date. Many cultures have indigenous traditions of festivals to celebrate motherhood and/or fatherhood, going back centuries or more; but in Anglophone countries, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are generally American in origin, and only date to the 20th century, not due to one of those older traditions.
> It is Christian in origin, albeit a minor local Christian tradition (developed in the US) rather than a major near-universal one.
It is Christian only in the sense that the people who celebrated it were Christian. The events that led to the festival were purely political in nature, and not necessarily wholesome either.
Thanksgiving, as a consistent national holiday formally observed every year, was established by Abraham Lincoln’s proclamation in 1863, which declared it a day for “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens”. Clearly religious in nature, although no doubt Lincoln had political motivations as well - the two are not mutually exclusive. 1621 was in itself a one-off event; the fact that it was later cited as justification for a regular observance says more about those later times than about 1621, and how 1621 was presented at those later times (such as in 1863, but also various earlier times too-it was observed at the state/local level, and intermittently nationally too, before Lincoln made it a regular national observance) is more important than what really happened for the purpose of determining whether it should be classified as religious. Abraham Lincoln appears to have not believed in Christianity personally (his personal beliefs are obscure, but he may have been some kind of deist); but when he made that proclamation I think he was expecting most Americans to understand it in Christian terms and most Americans at the time in fact did.
Interesting. Money in the US has "In God We Trust," and it's not inherently religious. So I'm not sure the proclamation makes Thanksgiving religious. The origins might, though. I don't know enough about it to tell, and I'm not sure I care enough to research it. I don't really celebrate it as other than a day off from work though. Travel is a nightmare at that time, and, although this may sound like humblebragging, I try to be grateful at all times anyway.
> Money in the US has "In God We Trust," and it's not inherently religious
US currency in itself isn't inherently religious, but the decision to put that phrase on the currency was religious, and so is the decision to keep it there today. Now, it is not just religious, it is also very political, but the two are very often intertwined: it is a form of politicised religion, or religious politics.
> So I'm not sure the proclamation makes Thanksgiving religious. The origins might, though
I think to most Americans in the 19th century and earlier, the idea that Thanksgiving was a religious festival would have seemed obvious–it was about giving thanks to the deity, assuming a Judaeo-Christian conception of deity. Now, no denying that it became quite secularised through the course of the 20th century, and to many 21st Americans it is an entirely secular occasion, and if "thanksgiving" is anything more than an empty word, it is thanks directed at one's friends/family/colleagues/acquaintances/community/etc, maybe even at the cosmos, but not at God in whom one quite possibly doesn't believe.
As I said in my original comment, other religious festivals, such as Christmas, have also become highly secularised. But, even though many celebrate Christmas in an entirely secular way, people still remember its association with Christianity, which makes many non-Christians feel uncomfortable celebrating it even in a secular form. Thanksgiving was never so explicitly Christian, so Jews and Muslims and others feel more comfortable in celebrating it.
interesting. So its an American Settler Christian event thats been, as usual typically watered down for the mass marketability.
We dont have it here in Australia (except apparently on a small island off to the side of the mainland). We don't really have any sort of festival or celebration that is comparable.
I think the equivalent for the majority of Australians really is Christmas. Americans tend to see extended family on Thanksgiving, whereas Christmas (for those who observe it) tends to be a smaller affair more likely to be spent with immediate family only. By contrast, Australians are much more likely to see extended family at Christmas. Also, our traditional equivalent to the Black Friday sales is the Boxing Day sales, which is another way in which Australian Christmas = American Thanksgiving. Very many secular Australians celebrate Christmas in a completely secular way, with no religious component.
Of course it is not entirely equivalent, in that Thanksgiving is a more religiously inclusive holiday than Christmas is. While there are people with a religious objection to both, there are many more with a religious objection to the later but not the former.
Day after Thanksgiving when stores reopen having been closed the day before. Traditionally called “Black Friday” because it put retail businesses books back into the black.
I think this recent adoption of Black Friday in Australia is dumb, for two reasons:
(1) It makes zero sense given we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving
(2) Given the term’s historical association in Australian culture with mass death (1939 Black Friday bushfires that killed over 70 people, 2009 Black Saturday bushfires that killed over 170 people), using it for sales could be seen as disrespectful and culturally insensitive
As far as the US holiday is concerned, it's secular, by which I mean it is celebrated by pretty much everybody regardless of religious persuasion (or lack thereof).