Thanksgiving Celebrations Around the World

By Ed Fingerling

Thanksgiving...it's a day to relax with your family, watch the big parades on TV, maybe play some touch football with your cousins...and eat, eat, EAT!

Other great things about Thanksgiving are two days off from school, and shopping. In the United States, the day after Thanksgiving is known as "Black Friday," one of the biggest shopping days of the year. In big cities, it's common to see shoppers on the TV news, lined up outside stores for hours, waiting to get doorbuster deals.

But what about other countries around the world, do they have Thanksgiving celebrations of their own? Well, American Thanksgiving is actually based on a much older, universal cultural expression of gratitude and reflection marked by the bounty of the Autumn Harvest. In fact, the modern American Thanksgiving celebration is actually based on an ancient British festival called Lammas, the festival of the first wheat harvest of the year. During Medieval times, loaves of bread were baked from the first grains of the harvest and brought to church, to be blessed in a ceremony known as the "loaf mass". Lammas Day is still practiced today in England and Scotland on August 1.

In Korea, Chuseok is a three-day holiday celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Korean lunar calendar. To celebrate the good harvest, Koreans return to their ancestral hometowns to pay respects to their ancestor's spirits. They share a feast of traditional Korean food, including Songpyeon, a crescent-shaped rice cake that is steamed upon pine needles. Because they believe that their ancestors' blessing causes good harvest crops, Koreans visit the tombs of their departed relatives and offer food, drink, and crops to their ancestors.

China's Moon Festival dates back over 3,000 years. In late September, when the moon is at its brightest and fullest, Chinese families and friends gather under the moon to celebrate the abundant summer harvest and eat traditional moon cakes (round, rich, and heavy pastries filled with lotus seed paste) and pomelos (Chinese grapefruits) together.

In Israel, the Jewish Harvest festival is known as Sukkot. For seven days, huts, or sukkahs, are built in the synagogues and in people's yards, and families gather in them to eat their meals. Sukkot is a time for remembering the journey of the Jews through the desert to the Promised Land, and sukkahs reflect God's generosity in providing for all the Jews' needs in the desert.

In Poland, at the end of the harvest, Sobotka, or Midsummer's Eve, is celebrated by lighting bonfires and tossing garlands of flowers into the rivers. This tradition is based on the ancient belief that fire protected against misfortune. It was believed that by filling the fields with smoke, a very good harvest could be ensured.

On November 11, Irish Catholics celebrate Martinmas, a feast held to honor the Hungarian Saint Martin of Tours. According to legend, when Saint Martin learned that he had been appointed a bishop, he hid in a barn because he felt he did not earn such an honor. His hiding place was revealed by honking goose, so roast goose became a traditional dish for Martinmas feast, along with wine made from the grape harvest.

In Northern India, when wheat is harvested in spring, the Hindu harvest festival of Holi, also called the Festival of Colors, lasts for two days. Because the change of seasons is thought to cause fevers and colds, people traditionally throw colored water, and powder, at each other. The colors are made from medicinal herbs to ward off illness. Bonfires are lit, and to bring good luck for the year ahead, the ashes are rubbed over people's foreheads. Later, in the evening, people invite each other to their houses for feasts and celebrations.

The Festival of Yams is held in some parts of Africa to celebrate a good harvest. When the rainy season ends, at the beginning of August, yams are the first crops to be harvested. People give thanks to the spirits by offering yams to the gods and ancestors before distributing them to the rest of the village.