Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 279, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 November 1915 — Not Copied From the Jews. [ARTICLE]

Not Copied From the Jews.

Undoubtedly our present Thanksgiving day has its prototype in the Plymouth thanksgiving festival of 1621. It has been asserted repeatedly that the Plymouth festival was suggested to the Pilgrims by the Jewish “Feast of Ingathering.” That is not probable, as the differences between them are more striking than the likenesses. They were of the same duration, each lasting a week; and in common with all other harvest festivals they had the same intent. But in the Jewish festival sacrifice and worship were the prevailing characteristics, while in that of the Pilgrims they were entirely wanting.