Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Thanks-Giving-Thanks

Food Bank, one of subject in 'thanks-giving-thanks' 

In this November 28, americans celebrate thanksgiving day. Happiness spreads everywhere, across US. From the streets, shops, tourism sites, houses, companies, to the offices. Many kind of activities are done by americans ;  travelling, go to shop and hunting turkey, opening stores longer than the usual day, making countdown apps for gadgets, holding food drive for their workers by the store, enjoy Black Friday, up to preparing for Obamacare.

Everyone does thanksgiving, define it by their own way. For example, a group of vegetarian makes their unique thanksgiving.

All about sharing and caring, by various way.


Everybody is excited in celebrating the day. There are some kind of celebration ; making foods of the season, giving thanks, doing vacation, participating in parades, and playing football and other sports. All mass media, such as televisions and radios also involve in enliving the thanksgiving, by their broadcast.

About one month ago, Canada also celebrated thanksgiving, October, 13. There were also many kind of celebrations, not too different with what happening in US. The significance is to thank to God and everyone for every single good thing.

One day afterward, every muslim around the world also celebrated a kind of thanksgiving, it is called as Eid Al Adha, the other celebration in Islam, beside Eid Al-Fitr.

The Islamic festival of Eid Al-Adha, or "Festival of Sacrifice" follows close on the heels of the first Eid festival of the year, Eid Al-Fitr. The Arabic word "Adha"means "sacrifice", having its root in the word "duha", which also means "light" or "illumination".

The Muslim who can afford to, should buy a sacrificial animal well before Eid. This could be a male ram, goat, sheep, cow, or a camel. The more beloved and dear the animal is to its owner, the more meaningful will be its sacrifice.

The spirit of charity runs high as every Muslim who sacrifices an animal is eager to share their meat with their poor brethren. Some better-off families go as far as dedicating several animals solely for feeding the poor and hungry on the three days of Eid. It is heartening to witness the spirit of sharing and giving on this Eid, as no Muslim goes hungry during the tiring but joyous days of Eid Al-Adha.

The spirit of sharing and giving, it is same with the spirit in history of thanks giving.

In US, Thanksgiving Day has been an annual tradition since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens", to be celebrated on Thursday, November 26. As a federal and public holiday in the U.S., Thanksgiving is one of the major holidays of the year. Together with Christmas and New Year, Thanksgiving is a part of the broader holiday season.

The event that Americans commonly call the "First Thanksgiving" was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in 1621. This feast lasted three days, and was attended by about 53 Pilgrims and 90 American Indians. The New England colonists were accustomed to regularly celebrating "thanksgivings"—days of prayer thanking God for blessings such as military victory or the end of a drought.

While in canada, The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving are more closely connected to the traditions of Europe than of the United States. Long before Europeans settled in North America, festivals of thanks and celebrations of harvest took place in Europe in the month of October. The very first Thanksgiving celebration in North America took place in Canada when Martin Frobisher, an explorer from England, arrived in Newfoundland in 1578. He wanted to give thanks for his safe arrival to the New World. That means the first Thanksgiving in Canada was celebrated 43 years before the pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

North america, Europe, Islam in Asia and Africa, almost of world citizen, celebrate the universal value ; spirit of sharing and giving. For those things, they say thanks to each others.
So, that is the real meaning of thanks giving for world civilization.

The word ‘Thanks’ in Indonesian languange means ‘Terima kasih’. Terima means receiving and kasih means affection or love. So, thanks also means receiving affection or love.

If we combine, thanks giving means receiving affection or love from a giving. Giving and receiving, these two things not only happen in two persons, but also it must be happened in one person. Everyone has to realize for every single thing that they receive, it has to be a giving to another. It keep going to anyone.

That is what we call with thanksgiving cycle ; thanks-giving-thanks...

The thanksgiving cycle desribes a unique pattern. The pattern is explained by science. The science is created by The Creator. So thanksgiving must be about thanks to The Creator for giving a life for human.

Thanksgiving and Eid Al Adha, are only one day a year. One day which aims to remind us about their value to be applied in every single day.

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