Thanksgiving is a holiday in many countries. But not in all. Finland, for example, does not know an official day to give thanks for the blessings of the past period. Cédric Placentino writes about a new initiative to change this.
What does the word ‘Thanksgiving’ make you think of? Probably, you immediately have images of American families gathered to eat turkey. Or perhaps you think of the day after Thanksgiving, the so-called ‘Black Friday’, when the items sold for Thanksgiving are on sale and cause a rush to shopping centres in America.
These images are linked to a specific Thanksgiving, namely the one celebrated in the United States of America each last Thursday of November. But there are other Thanksgiving celebrations around the world.
In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October. In Liberia, it’s the first Thursday in November. And even in Europe, Thanksgiving is celebrated in several nations. In Germany, it is called Erntedankfest (Harvest Thanksgiving Festival) and is celebrated on the first Sunday in October. In the Netherlands, it is called Dankdag (Thanks Day) and is celebrated on the first Wednesday in November.
Although these Thanksgivings are celebrated on different dates, they all have one thing in common: they are intended to thank God for his faithfulness after gathering the harvests. Thanksgiving is generally celebrated in nations with a Protestant background, but not in all.
For example, the Nordic countries, though strongly shaped by the Reformation, do not celebrate it. In recent years, a small group of people in Finland, including myself, my wife and several members of Truth and Transformation Nordic, have come together to remedy this shortcoming. The date chosen is October 31st. How did this idea come about? And why such a date?
Pagan beliefs
Let’s first zoom in on the question of why Finland needs a Thanksgiving day. I discovered that Finland has a lot to thank God for when my family and I moved from Belgium to Finland, the country of my wife Elina, nearly ten years ago. Back then, one of my objectives was to understand how God had shaped Finland. Therefore, I began trying to find out as much as possible about the subject. Gradually, it became evident to me that Finland had experienced three crucial events that contributed to its transformation over the last millennium.
The first was the arrival of Christianity. It began to sweep away the ancient pagan beliefs that held the ancient Finns captive. Christian ethics slowly began to replace pagan practices. For example, it became illegal to abandon unwanted babies in the forests.
The second event was the Protestant Reformation. Thanks to this, the Finnish language was standardised, the Bible was translated, and Christian education began to spread to all levels of society.
Very few honest historians would dispute that these first two events were indeed crucial to the transformation of Finland.
Rebellion
The third crucial event, however, may come as a surprise to many. This event is the independence of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. This was granted in 1817, at the beginning of the era of Russian domination in Finland.
Before the Finnish church became independent, it was under the authority of the Lutheran Church of Sweden. According to Emperor Alexander I, this should change. And he had two options: either he would subject the Finnish Lutheran Church to the Russian Orthodox Church, or he would create an independent Lutheran Church. The latter was the obvious choice. Indeed, if he had chosen to submit the Lutheran Church of Finland to the Russian Orthodox Church, this would have caused a rebellion in the country.
But at the time, the Lutheran Church was the only organised body in Finnish society. It looked after the poor and the sick. It provided education for children, kept birth and death registers, and so on. All these functions, which are now carried out by the state, were in the hands of the church.
So, what did this mean in practice? Giving independence to the country’s only organisational structure was nothing less than paving the way for the country’s complete independence. This was achieved a century later, in 1917.
As I discovered all these facts, it became more and more clear to me how God had shaped Finland. Reason to say thanks, right?
Jogging
On a winter evening in 2019, I had just finished reading a chapter talking about the events surrounding the independence of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. I was surprised to discover that the date of the official independence was October 31st, 1817, exactly three hundred years after the start of the Protestant Reformation. This meant that, of the three crucial events that shaped Finland, two had their anniversary date on October 31st.
Despite the snow and the darkness outside, I decided to put on my sports clothes and go for a jog to get some fresh air. But as I ran, my thoughts were still on what I’d just read. I wondered: “How come the Finns don’t celebrate October 31st?” Finnish Independence Day is on December 6th, but it says absolutely nothing about how God shaped Finland. October 31st would allow the Finns to recognise that God has been at the centre of operations throughout history.
When I got home, I started discussing all this with my wife. Although she was schooled in Finland, she never heard about this. When I told her that the Finns should celebrate this day, she replied: “Why don’t we call it Suomen kiitospäivä, Finnish Thanksgiving?” She continued: “Thanksgiving could become the day we thank God for what he has done for Finland.” Her answer had a snowball effect.
First celebrations
We soon shared the idea with some friends. The first Finnish Thanksgiving was organised in the Covid year of 2020. A small group of around ten people got together via Zoom. I had the opportunity to present the vision and explain how God has shaped Finland. I could also explain why October 31st was crucial. Since then, other people have joined the movement, and we created a web page.
The initiative is supported by a number of people, including former MP Antero Laukkanen and jazz musician Juhani Aaltonen. The movement has gone from strength to strength since 2020.
Last year, we were amazed to see that our Zoom call saw more than 80 connections. Among them, several families were gathered to eat together and share a cake in the colours of Finland. More and more people are realising that it is essential to put this festival on the calendar. Romans 1 shows us that failure to do so leads to decadence in society. This is why Thanksgiving is an important aspect of Christian life, both personally and nationally.
Unlike other Thanksgivings which focus on God’s faithfulness manifested in the harvest, Finnish Thanksgiving recognises God’s faithfulness in transforming Finland into a fertile land, enabling it to be independent and, according to many indicators, one of the best nations in the world.