I always think of Thanksgiving as a North American holiday. When my friend Catherine, from Farm, House, Home in Australia asked me to express the meaning of the holiday for her readers, it made me curious to investigate any other countries that might celebrate and give thanks for the harvest. The idea for this celebration dates back to ancient Greece, celebrating the Goddess Demeter and ancient grains. The 3 day festival known as Thesmophoria focused on food, and certainly that tradition continues into our modern day feasts of Thanksgiving.
My in-laws are Canadian, so I am well acquainted with the tradition of Thanksgiving north of the border. Since it falls on our Columbus day, it has always been symbolically the start of our family's celebration of the Harvest.
I'm sure if you dug deep, there would be some deep French/English differences between the two celebrations. Suffice to say that I found it a happy excuse to improve on the traditional butter tart with the addition of maple syrup and more square footage of filling in this pie version from NL Rock Recipes for one of my Canadian favorites.
Mooncakes, above from La Receta de la Felicidad, are the speciality of China's Chung Ch'ui festival. The three day harvest festival is celebrated in the 8th month on the full moon. Good fortune will come to anyone seeing flowers falling from the sky according to Chinese legend.
One of the most important Korean holidays is the lunar based Chuseok. A day filled with traditions and family, ancestors are celebrated and freshly harvested foods are prepared to give thanks.
The elemental shelter erected for one week each fall is traditional for the Israeli celebration of Sukkoth. Often built of branches laden with fruits of the season such as apples, grapes and pomegranates, the structures represent the makeshift huts made by the Israelites built neat the edges of their fields during harvest time. The sukkah is also said to represent the tabernacles in the temporary shelters constructed during the 40 years of dessert travel.
In Lithuania, the Thanksgiving tradition of Nubalgal involves the creation of a Boba or Harvest wreath. A procession follows, along with song, celebrating the crops that were rescued from a huge bison who was attempting to devour it.
To all of my American friends-enjoy family and good food as we give thanks for our blessings. To my readers elsewhere in the world, I give thanks for having you along for this journey!
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