We Gather Together (Prayer of Thanksgiving)

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Here's a ukulele tutorial for one of the oldest Thanksgiving songs, We Gather Together. Happy strumming!

https://youtu.be/y0j7eyJnIyw

Prayer of Thanksgiving, We Gather Together

The first Thanksgiving holiday in the United States (or the “New World” as it was called then) was celebrated in October 1621. It is interesting to note then that the origin of one of the famous Thanksgiving songs “Prayer of Thanksgiving,” which is also called “We Gather Together” actually precedes that first Thanksgiving season. 

“Prayer of Thanksgiving” was based from the original Dutch version written by Adrianus Valerius in 1597. From its earlier Dutch folk variety, it was modified into a religious hymn in celebration of the successful revolt of the Dutch lead by the famed military leader Prince Maurice of Orange against the Spaniards. Under the Spanish King Phillip II, who is Catholic, Dutch Protestants were not allowed to gather for religious worship. The celebration and the song signified an act of defiance to this religious persecution.

In the early 17th century, the Dutch version of “Prayer of Thanksgiving” was published as part of a collection of Dutch patriotic poems and songs entitled “Nederlandtsche Gedenck-Clanck.” With their move to the New World, Dutch immigrants took with them their religious hymns and patriotic songs; however, it will take centuries before this Thanksgiving song was officially translated into English.

The translation to English was done by Theodore Baker in 1894 – this English translation intended as a Thanksgiving prayer song to be harmonized by a choir. Baker was an American musical scholar who studied in Leipzig Conservatory from 1878 and later worked as an editor for Schirmer, a musical publishing company. Since 1903 when the English version now known as “We Gather Together” originally appeared in an American religious songbook, it has reached various American religious denomination including the largest one, Methodist Episcopal Church, which included the song to their hymnal in 1935.