True Meaning of Thanksgiving

A holiday skit that challenges the tradition—and reveals the truth.

What do Pilgrims, pumpkin pie, and football have in common with giving thanks to God?
Maybe not as much as we think...

In this lighthearted and eye-opening 3-person skit, a group of friends set out to prepare for their church’s Thanksgiving service—only to discover that most of what we celebrate has more to do with tradition than true thankfulness. With humor, history, and heart, True Meaning of Thanksgiving invites your audience to rediscover what the holiday is really all about: giving thanks to God.

• Run-time: 7-9
• 3 actors, any age
• No costumes or sets required
• Great for Thanksgiving services or family events. Just bring a Bible or a big book!

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV)

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."

Sample script:

(Jimmy enters the stage, followed by Tommy and Billie)

Tommy:
Hey Jimmy, how’s things?

Jimmy:
Hi Tommy, just getting ready for our Thanksgiving service here at (name of church).

Tommy:
So, where’s the Pilgrims and the football and the turkey and all that good Thanksgiving stuff?

Jimmy:
Well, no, I am planning the Thanksgiving (emphasize) service.

Tommy:
I heard you, but you can’t hardly have Thanksgiving without Pilgrims costumes and parties and turkeys and football games and stuff. After all, that’s what Thanksgiving is all about.

Billie:
Everybody knows that the Pilgrims and the Native Americans were the ones who started Thanksgiving, way back in the 17th century.

Tommy:
Yeppers! Very first Thanksgiving service in the New World, right there at Plymouth, way back in 1631!

Jimmy:
That isn’t quite true—there were other Thanksgiving services earlier than that.

Billie:
No way! Like I say, it was the Pilgrims.

Jimmy:
One of the earliest recorded celebrations happened a half-century before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1631.
A small colony of French Huguenots established a settlement near what is now Jacksonville, Florida. On June 30, 1564, their leader, Rene de Laudonniere, recorded:
“We sang a psalm of Thanksgiving unto God, beseeching Him that it would please Him to continue His accustomed goodness towards us.”

Billie:
Yeh, maybe so... but that wasn’t like a real Thanksgiving. It was just kinda like a church service, sounds like.
Bet they didn’t even have a football game back then!

Jimmy:
No, Billie, they didn’t. But then neither did they have a football game at Plymouth either.

Billie:
You’re not serious! Thanksgiving and no football?
Wow! How did they pass the time on Thanksgiving?

Jimmy:
Actually... by thanking God for all He had given them.

Billie:
Wow! Would never fly now!

Tommy:
So it was Jacksonville and not Plymouth that had the first Thanksgiving?

Jimmy:
Actually no, the first Thanksgiving service in North America didn’t happen at Plymouth or Jacksonville.

Billie:
OK, so then where in these United States did the first Thanksgiving service happen?

Jimmy:
Well, fact is, the first recorded Thanksgiving service didn’t happen in the U.S. at all.

Billie: (outraged)
It what?! It what?! OK now, Jimmy, you have just gone too far this time!
What you are saying here is simply heresy—sacrilege—blasphemy!
Why it’s... it’s high treason!

Tommy:
You mean the first Thanksgiving didn’t happen in America?

Jimmy:
Yes, it did—in North America.
The first North American Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1578, when English navigator Martin Frobisher held a formal ceremony in Newfoundland, in Canada.
He gave thanks for surviving the long sea journey. When other settlers arrived in Newfoundland, the tradition was continued.

Tommy:
Is that true, Jimmy?

Jimmy (looking in book):
Yes, appears it is. Just look here in this encyclopedia.
Says: “Many years later the Canadian Parliament declared the second Monday in October of each year to be ‘A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.’”

Billie:
See there, just proves how little you know.
Everybody knows Thanksgiving isn’t the second Monday in October!

Tommy:
Yes, it is in Canada—says so here.

Billie:
Well, Jimmy, I should hope you are very proud of yourself... spoiling Thanksgiving for all of us!

Jimmy:
Spoiling Thanksgiving? How did I spoil it for you, Billie?

Tommy:
How can we go around celebrating Thanksgiving if some foreigners were the first to do it?
Spoiled forever—that’s what.

Jimmy:
Why do you feel it is spoiled, Tommy?
Sounds to me like you’re celebrating tradition, not celebrating Thanksgiving.

Want to see how the story unfolds? DramaShare members get this complete script— and access to our entire library—free! Not a member? You can still grab this individual script and bring it to life.