{"id":1815,"date":"2014-11-27T08:39:37","date_gmt":"2014-11-27T13:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/?p=1815"},"modified":"2025-03-04T09:47:17","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T14:47:17","slug":"giving-thanks-waving-flags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/giving-thanks-waving-flags\/","title":{"rendered":"Giving thanks and waving flags"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"An<\/a>
An American eagle and a Thanksgiving turkey unite on a postcard, circa 1900<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1903, 300 children who attended St. Thomas Catholic School in Wilmington, Delaware, celebrated Thanksgiving Day in an unusual way. After attending Mass, they \u201cadjourned to the lawn about the church,\u201d according to a newspaper, where \u201ca new American flag<\/span><\/a> was raised.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the linking of Thanksgiving and flags is rare in the 21st century, it was common in earlier times. Americans back then made the connection between the Pilgrim feast and the birth of the United States. As a result, the first European settlers and the nation were regularly celebrated together.<\/p>\n

In 1895, for example, citizens in Trenton, New Jersey, dedicated a 100-foot flagpole<\/span><\/a> on Thanksgiving Day. The Evening Times informed readers that the staff was made from pine and \u201cembedded in stone and cement\u2026.For holiday display, [the flag] will be twenty by thirty-six feet, with thirteen stars.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"President<\/a>
President Taft surrounded by stars and stripes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When President Taft issued his 1911 Thanksgiving proclamation, he \u201cearnestly\u201d called on \u201cmy countrymen and upon all that dwell under the flag of our beloved county to meet in their accustomed places of worship\u201d to offer \u201cpraise to Almighty God.\u201d<\/p>\n

The people of Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, had another reason to marry the flag and the holiday in 1917. \u201cThe services this year will be more impressive than in former years because of the war,\u201d noted The Patriot newspaper.<\/p>\n

After listing several planned events, the article cited \u201can appropriate Thanksgiving program\u201d that was sponsored by the Fourth Reformed Church. \u201cPrayers will be offered for the sailors and soldiers,\u201d said the story, adding that \u201ca service flag will be unfurled. There are sixteen stars in the flag.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
An image of Evacuation Day, drawn in the 1880s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

New York City had a special reason for tying Thanksgiving to the flag, a reason that reached back to the American Revolution. On November 25, 1783, British troops left the city, boarded ships and sailed home, marking the final removal of English authority from the new United States.<\/p>\n

The city dubbed the event Evacuation Day, and its late-November date coincided with Thanksgiving celebrations. In 1880, in fact, the two fell on the same day, providing another reason to link flags and giving thanks.<\/p>\n

That year, a few veterans of the War of 1812 attended religious services and lifted an American flag on the Battery and another at an old fort in Central Park. Giving three cheers, they knew they had a profound reason for giving thanks and flying the star-spangled banner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1903, 300 children who attended St. Thomas Catholic School in Wilmington, Delaware, celebrated Thanksgiving Day in an unusual way. After attending Mass, they \u201cadjourned to the lawn about the church,\u201d according to a newspaper, where \u201ca new American flag was raised.\u201d While the linking of Thanksgiving and flags is rare in the 21st century,… continue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10,162],"class_list":["post-1815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-lessons","tag-american-flag","tag-thanksgiving"],"yoast_head":"\nGiving thanks and waving American flags<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While the linking of Thanksgiving and flags is rare in the 21st century, it was common in earlier times.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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