As we’ve talked about before, Thanksgiving originally started out as a harvest festival as a way to celebrate and give thanks for a bountiful harvest. Although Thanksgiving is thought of as a truly American holiday, similar celebrations and traditions take place around the world. Although they spring from the same ideas, thanksgiving traditions in various places have their own unique ceremonies and stories and have their own way of showing and giving thanks.
I’ve been fortunate enough to witness some of these — mostly in the Far East,and while they don’t take place on a Thursday in November, they all have the common theme of giving thanks.
I’ve blogged about the Chinese Moon Festival a few times — it’s a descendent from old Chinese customs, but people of modern China use the occasion for gathering around a table, talking, eating and reflecting on the importance of togetherness.
In Malaysia the Kadazan festival is celebrated in May. Malaysians believe that “without rice there is no life.” The people of Malaysia believe the grain holds the spirit of life and creation. The Kadazan Festival is a day of giving thanks to the Creator who made the people’s most prized staple of life.
Erntedankfest is “Thanksgiving Day” in Germany, held on the first Sunday in October. It’s a religiously dominated celebration where the churches run the show — both Catholics and Protestants celebrate and attend church services for this thanksgiving celebration, centered on giving thanks for the year’s harvest and grain. The celebratory food is much the same as the Thanksgiving Day food consumed in America.
An African festival, Homowo, celebrated in August or September is dedicated to the hopefulness that the crops will be plentiful for the coming year and no one will experience famine. This “Festival of the Yams” is centered around the new yam harvest. The villages rejoice by dancing and singing with animal masks, acknowledging the end of the rainy season and the desire for a fruitful harvest to last well into the new year.
We may think of Thanksgiving as a uniquely American celebration, but harvest festivals around the world have the common theme of giving thanks for the natural gifts given by nature and the gods. They bring people together, give cultures reason to celebrate, and provide a time for all people to reflect back on the wonderful disposition of their culture’s prosperity for the year….
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