The purpose and significance of Thanksgiving activities

The purpose and significance of Thanksgiving activities

The purpose and significance of Thanksgiving activities. Thanksgiving Day is on the fourth Thursday of June165438+1October every year. Although it was born in the west, it is also very popular in China. Many schools and units will hold Thanksgiving activities at this time. What is the purpose and significance of Thanksgiving activities?

The purpose and significance of gratitude activities 1 purpose:

The main purpose of gratitude is to tell us the beauty of human nature and show gratitude in everything. Greeting parents and friends and helping people in need are all expressions of gratitude.

Let's learn to be grateful, cherish, understand, tolerate and, above all, love.

That's what life really gives us.

Meaning:

1, thanks to my father for saving me.

What we receive is the grace given by the heavenly father, which is obtained in vain and cannot be obtained by human efforts. In the Garden of Eden, our ancestors did not see the grace given by God in vain, but only focused on what God prohibited, lost their gratitude, and thus lost the rich grace given by God.

We are descended from Adam, the ancestor of sin, but we are descended from Jesus Christ. Luke says that true salvation is not only to be blessed by the Lord, but also to be a grateful person.

2. Thank God for taking care of our lives.

The eternal life that God has given us is still far away in the eyes of the world, but in fact, God is looking after us everywhere. Just like Qiu Cheng, God cares about not only all the harvest in autumn, but also the abundant blessings in autumn brought by God's perennial conservation. He cares about the rich and the poor, regardless of seasons and adversity.

The Israelis not only let us see the power of God, but also let us see the depravity and rebellion of mankind. Prophet Elijah defeated 450 false prophets by himself with the power of God, but when he was forced by the king's "Tomorrow I will kill you", he was frightened and fled to the vine to beg for his death. This shows us two common situations in life: on the one hand, we can rely on God to overcome any environment; On the other hand, if there is a gap, alien forces can enter people's hearts, and a soldier can fall.

There are roses in life, and roses with thorns let us enjoy the fragrance of life. Thorns make our life more mature, stronger, more practical and more aware of ourselves. Suffering will practice our life and become the wealth of our life. Experiencing God's presence in reality makes us know God better and establish a good relationship with God, thus becoming grateful people.

3. Dedication

On Qiu Cheng Festival, people are used to offering the best agricultural products on our land, but what God sees is not what we offer, but what is behind the objects, which is our spiritual dedication to him. With gratitude, we have the opportunity to thank God with gifts. As for what to give, everyone should give gifts according to his own strength and according to the blessing given by the Lord God.

There are two points in this:

First, dedication lies not in how much you give, but in how much you leave for yourself. Only then can we know why Jesus values the widow's two pennies so much, but there is a metaphor that it is more difficult for the rich to enter heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.

Second, dedication is closely related to human behavior. When Cain's dedication was not accepted by God, he became angry and blamed his brother. God will be happy only when good behaviors are accumulated.

4. Learn to be grateful for everything

In fact, there is no lack of God's grace in life, but we lack a pair of eyes for discovery. It is with the lesson we have experienced called suffering that our life becomes mature and we can glorify God.

The purpose and significance of Thanksgiving activities. The origin of Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving originated from early settlers in Plymouth, Massachusetts. These Puritans left the Church of England and went to Holland. Later, they decided to move to a desolate place on the other side of the Atlantic, hoping to live freely according to their own wishes.

Statement 1: From the Bible.

According to Deuteronomy 16 in the Old Testament, the festival of booths in Israel is: "After you harvest from the threshing floor and wine, you shall observe the festival of booths for seven days. Rejoice in this festival, you and your children, your male and female servants, and the Levites, aliens, orphans and widows who live in your city. You shall keep this festival for the Lord your God for seven days in the place that the Lord chooses, for the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and make you full of joy. 」

Three times a year, that is, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles, all of you shall go up to the place chosen by the LORD and worship the LORD your God. But don't appear before the Lord empty-handed. Every man shall give a gift according to what the Lord your God has given you and according to his own strength. 」

According to the Bible legend, when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, Moses was called by the Lord to lead 600,000 people out of Egypt, and God's power led them across the Red Sea like a dry land to avoid the pursuers. However, because they only look at the environment and forget their minds in the face of difficulties, they could have walked the distance in more than ten days for forty years. But God kept them for forty years, their clothes and shoes were not worn out, and they were provided with food. During this period, they walked during the day, lived in sheds at night, and finally entered the land of Canaan. There was a bumper harvest in the first autumn after sowing. In order to thank God for saving them from slavery and letting them live and work in peace and contentment, the Israelites have kept the Feast of Tabernacles to express their gratitude until now.

Statement 2: The legend of "Mayflower"

1620, there were 102 people aboard the Mayflower in Britain. After 65 days of hard sailing, they came to the American continent and experienced a severe winter. In spring, there are only 53 people left. With the help of Indians, they planted seeds in spring and harvested in autumn, and then celebrated the hard-won harvest together, thanking God for extending their lives. Later, people commemorated this history through the tradition of Thanksgiving.

The purpose and significance of Thanksgiving activities 3. What do people do on Thanksgiving Day?

1, food delivery

Since18th century, the United States has had the custom of sending a basket of food to poor families. At that time, a group of young women wanted to choose a certain day of the year to do good deeds and thought Thanksgiving was the most suitable day. So as soon as Thanksgiving comes, they put a basket full of food and send it to the poor families. It was widely known, and soon many people followed their example.

Step 2 set the table

The layout of the Thanksgiving table is also very distinctive. Housewives don't put flowers as usual, but fruits and vegetables. There is often a big pumpkin in the middle, and some apples, corn and dried fruits are piled around. Sometimes, people empty apples or pumpkins, put dried fruits with shells in them or light candles. Usually, the hostess can let guests into the living room after dinner, but she won't do so on Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving dinner is sweet. Everyone wants to stay at the table for a while. They are happy to recall the past while eating until the last candle burns out.

Step 3 play games

After Thanksgiving dinner, some families often play some traditional games, such as dancing and competitions. Some of them have survived to this day.

Cranberry competition: put a big bowl with cranberries on the ground, and 4 to 10 contestants will sit together, and each of them will send a needle and a thread. At the beginning of the game, they thread the needle first, and then string the cranberries one by one. When three minutes arrive, whoever has the longest string will win the prize. As for the person who dresses the slowest, everyone jokingly gave him the worst prize.

Corn game: It is said that this game has been handed down to commemorate the distribution of five corn to each immigrant in the case of food shortage. During the game, people hid five corns in the house, and everyone looked for them separately. Five people who found corn participated in the game, while others watched. At the beginning of the competition, five people quickly peeled corn kernels in a bowl, and whoever peeled them first won the prize. Then people who didn't take part in the competition guessed around the bowl how many corn kernels were in it, and the prize for the closest guess was popcorn.

Pumpkin race: Participants push pumpkins with small spoons. The rule is never to touch the pumpkin with your hands. The first person to reach the finish line wins the prize. The smaller the spoon used in the game, the more interesting the game is, which often makes everyone laugh.

Step 4 eat turkey

Thanksgiving food is very traditional. Every Thanksgiving, Americans and Canadians eat a fat and tender turkey. Turkey is the traditional main course of Thanksgiving. After Europeans immigrated to America, they thought that turkeys looked like turkeys, so they were called "turkeys". During President Truman's administration from 65438 to 0947, a ceremony of releasing turkeys was added. In fact, this traditional ceremony can be traced back to the administration of President Lincoln. 1863 One day, Lincoln's son Ted suddenly broke into the cabinet meeting room and asked for forgiveness of a pet turkey named Jack. Because this turkey sent to the White House is about to become people's Thanksgiving dinner. On June 20th, 2007, President Bush released two turkeys named Mei and Hua at the annual ceremony. Together, their names mean "Mayflower", on which the Puritans came to the New World.