[Ohio-Talk] Are you curious about what the rest of the world is doing on Thanksgiving?

[Cheryl Fields]

Thanksgiving Trivia!

The true purpose of the holiday is often forgotten. The original 1621
meal in Plymouth, Massachusetts, which is believed to have set the
precedent for the American tradition, was to celebrate a successful
harvest. In fact, around the world, many cultures set aside days to
show their appreciation for the crops that Mother Earth provides.
While some countries began their traditions based on American
Thanksgiving, others have long had their own holidays to give thanks,
ranging from church services to all-night-long parties. Here’s how
other nations around the world show gratefulness. Maybe they’ll
inspire you to create new Thanksgiving traditions of your own!

Canadian Thanksgiving, Canada
 Credit: KaTci/ Shutterstock
>From a distance, Thanksgiving Day in Canada looks much like the
American holiday with family dinners centered around a large, roasted
turkey, but the timing is pronouncedly different. After all, the first
Canadian Thanksgiving came 43 years before the American tradition is
believed to have started, when explorer Martin Frobisher sailed from
England to Canada in 1578 and celebrated his successful journey with a
meal of salted beef and mushy peas.
Early on, the tradition was rooted in religion to thank God or
appreciate the bountiful harvests as God’s work. While the date has
moved around a bit, Canadians now give thanks on the second Monday of
October (celebrated as Columbus or Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the
U.S.) when the harvests end before the cold winter begins. But
Canadian Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated nationwide. Three Canadian
provinces — New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island —
don’t consider it an official holiday.
Homowo, Ghana
 Credit: Alexeg84/ iStock
Hunger plagued the indigenous Ga people of Ghana for years when
seasonal rains failed to come, leading to widespread famine. Once the
rain returned, they started celebrating by literally mocking their
past struggles with a holiday called Homowo, meaning “jeering at
hunger.”
At the heart of the celebration is the yams — before the seasonal
rain, the Ga people remain super quiet so they won’t disturb the yams
from growing, but once they do, they roast and stew them for a
delicious feast. Also on the menu is kpokpoi or kpekpele, a festival
food made of corn meal and palm nut soup. The lively festivities also
include maize sprinkled around town by the community leaders, along
with drum beating, chanting, dancing, singing, and face painting.
Chuseok, South Korea
 Credit: Sanga Park/ iStock
The lunar calendar shows that the largest full moon of the year
happens on the 15th day of the eighth month, which times perfectly to
the Hangawi celebration “Han” means big and “gawi” signifies the ides
of the eighth lunar month, better known as Chuseok.
Chuseok is a family affair, with a morning starting with ceremonies to
honor ancestors or charye, followed by a meal to celebrate the
harvest. Families often will sit down together before the meal and
make songpyeon, a rice powder ball filled with sesame seeds, beans, or
chestnuts. Legend even says that the one who makes the most artful
songpyeon will have the most beautiful child.
Mid-Autumn Festival, Taiwan and China
 Credit: wushoung wang/ iStock
According to legend, there were once 10 suns and heroic Hou Yi shot
down nine of them to cool down the Earth and earned an elixir that
would transform him into a god from the goddess of the heavens. But
instead, his wife Chang’e drank it and flew to the moon along with a
rabbit — the shadow of which can be spotted during a full moon. Hou Yi
put out food hoping she would appear every year on the moon’s
brightest day — falling on Zhong Qiu Je, meaning Mid-Autumn Festival,
or the Harvest Moon Festival. In essence, it’s the Taiwanese and
Chinese version of Chuseok, also held on the 15th day of the lunar
calendar’s eighth month, when the bright moon is believed to help
farmers working late in the fields.
The annual celebration emphasizes family connectivity, even in the way
that the festival’s traditional food, the moon cake, is served. The
intricately decorated, round cakes feature sweet fillings such as
sweet lotus seed paste and are cut into equal sizes for each family
member to emphasize equality among the family bonds.
Tết Trung Thu, Vietnam
 Credit: vinhdav/ iStock
The Vietnamese version of the Mid-Autumn Festival known as Tết Trung
Thu is also known as the Children’s Festival since it centers around
the young, who parade with lanterns at night to light the way to Earth
for the legendary Cuội, who has lived on the moon ever since he hung
onto a banyan tree as it floated up there.
Among the children in procession is a male dancer with a happy-face
mask who represents the moon and plenty of lion dancers that serve as
comic relief. The Vietnamese also enjoy moon cakes on Tết Trung Thu.
One of the most festive celebrations is in the ancient town of Hội An,
where dancers and drummers perform on the streets and along the Thu
Bồn river.
Erntedankfest, Germany
 Credit: Liliboas/ iStock
The cornucopia or horn of plenty that has become an icon of
Thanksgiving in the U.S. originated in Europe, which has been
celebrating harvest festivals even before Christianity. The horns
filled with fruits, vegetables, and grains were viewed as a token of
appreciation for the labor put in to ensure a successful harvest.
Quite literally, Erntedankfest means “harvest thank festival” in
German and is held the first Sunday of October. While a meal is a part
of the tradition (typically featuring chicken, rooster, or goose since
turkeys are North American birds), the day usually starts with a
church service followed by a procession where the erntekrone, or
harvest crown, is presented. The celebration continues with music,
dancing, and often parades and fireworks.

Dia de Ação de Graças, Brazil
 Credit: marchello74/ Shutterstock
A Brazilian ambassador to the United States apparently returned back
from a trip one November in the 1940s and was so impressed by American
Thanksgiving that he convinced Gaspar Dutra, who was president at the
time, that the South Americans should adopt the same tradition — or at
least that’s how the story goes.
While the veracity of the conversation may or may not hold up,
Brazil’s Dia de Ação de Graças, which translates to “Day of Action of
Thanks,” is definitely modeled after the American tradition since it’s
also celebrated on a Thursday in November. But more similarly to other
nations, it starts with a church service and ends with dancing in the
streets, almost in the vein of Carnival.
Crop Over Festival, Barbados
 Credit: cdwheatley/ iStock
Perhaps most made famous by Bajan superstar Rihanna’s extravagant
outfits to celebrate the annual holiday, the island nation’s
200-year-old tradition honors the end of the sugar cane season —
historically Barbados’ most essential crop — in the summer and is
celebrated for a full six weeks with overnight parties that often go
until dawn.
With arts and crafts markets and street food throughout the
celebrations, the festivities culminate in the final grand parade on
Kadooment Day in August, when the Bajans don flashy costumes with
sequins, feathers, and jewels and dance along Spring Garden Highway.
Sukkot, Israel
 Credit: photovs/ iStock
Five days after Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which is
also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths, is actually
a double Thanksgiving. The holiday centers around giving thanks to the
grains and fruits that were harvested, but also to  God for the
natural resources that allowed the Israelites to build huts called
sukkots made of four plant species during the Exodus.
During the celebration, a sukkah (singular for sukkot) is built using
a citron, palm branch, two willow branches, and three myrtle branches.
Observants eat inside the sukkah for the duration of the weeklong
celebration, while some also choose to sleep inside of it since they
are meant to spend as much time in there as possible.
Pongal, India
 Credit: Avantikaa M/ Shutterstock
In southern India, especially in Tamil Nadu, people give thanks to the
rice, sugarcane, and turmeric crops during the four-day harvest
festival in the month of Thai, which falls in January and February.
The word ponga means “to boil,” referencing the cooking of the crops,
but it’s also the name of a dish that’s eaten during the festival,
which is made of sweet rice boiled with lentils.
During the first day of Pongal, unused items around the house are
thrown into a bonfire for the god of rain and clouds. On the second
day, rice and milk are boiled together during a ceremony as an
offering to the sun god. The third day is dedicated to cows, which are
worshipped by dressing them up with bells and garlands. On the final
day, a ritual featuring food served on a turmeric leaf accompanies
visits with family.
Liberian Thanksgiving, Liberia
 Credit: IlonaBudzbon/ iStock
When the freed slaves returned to Liberia around the 1820s, they also
brought back the American tradition of Thanksgiving. It quickly became
part of the nation’s culture, so much so that the first Thursday in
November was declared  a national holiday in the 1880s.
Liberians begin the holiday by going to their places of worship, where
fresh fruit cornucopias are auctioned after the service. Afterward,
they go home and enjoy feasts with family and friends, much like we do
in the U.S. There are often concerts and dancing surrounding the
celebration, but at heart, Liberian Thanksgiving  is a time to thank
God for peaceful times.
Kinrō Kansha No Hi, Japan
 Credit: electravk/ iStock
For centuries, the Japanese celebrated the rice harvest during
Niinamesai, but it’s since evolved into Kinrō Kansha No Hi, which
translates to “Labor Thanksgiving Day.” The holiday focuses on the
rights of workers in the form of community-building, as labor
organizations hold events to reflect on issues ranging from
environmental concerns to human rights. In some regions, children make
crafts to show the local police and firefighters how grateful they are
for their protection.
Kaamatan, Malaysia
 Credit: Oknopo/ iStock
Celebrated in the Malaysian state of Sabah by the Kadazan-Dusun, the
harvest celebration in May, also known as Pesta Kaamatan marks the end
of the rice harvest. Revelers indulge in tapai (wine made of rice) and
celebrations include traditional games like tug-o-war and arm
wrestling, alongside buffalo races. Dancers also perform the
mangunatip bamboo dance and a beauty pageant is held to find the girl
who most looks like Huminodun, the daughter of a god who was
sacrificed to save the people from death during a harsh famine.
Grenada Thanksgiving, Grenada
 Credit: Nicola Pulham/ Shutterstock
Held on October 25, Grenada’s Thanksgiving commemorates when the
American military arrived to help put things in order after their
communist leader died in 1983.
These days, the feast resembles much of what Thanksgiving looks like
in the U.S., since it all started when the soldiers stationed there
would tell Grenadians what the holiday was all about. The locals ended
up throwing the Americans a surprise party with turkey, stuffing,
gravy, and other popular, delicious side dishes.
Norfolk Island Thanksgiving, Australia
 Credit: Robert Hiette/ Shutterstock
When American trader Isaac Robinson hosted an American Thanksgiving in
the remote Australian territory of Norfolk Island in the 1890s, he
successfully lured visiting American whalers to his celebration at the
All Saints Church in Kingston. Today, the holiday is celebrated on the
final Wednesday of November with hymns and fruits, vegetables, and
cornstalks decorating the church.
Leiden’s Breaking of the Spanish Siege, Netherlands
 Credit: rustamank/ Shutterstock
Before the Mayflower sailed across the Atlantic, many English
colonists lived in the city of Leiden in the Netherlands from 1609 to
1620. Upon their arrival in the New World, they ended up adopting many
Dutch traditions, including a holiday similar to Thanksgiving known as
 Leiden’s annual celebration touting the Breaking of the Spanish Siege
in 1574. The holiday is still celebrated in the 900-year-old church of
Pieterskerk, which hosts a Thanksgiving Day service.

This information can be found at triptrivia.com.

Enjoy the holiday, be safe. Mask on, Step back and wash up!


Happy Thanksgiving,

National Federation of the Blind of Ohio

Community Service Committee


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