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

[Patricia McPherson]

Cheryl,

Thanks for sharing all those different Thanksgiving traditions and celebrations with us. Very interesting.
Pat





> On Nov 22, 2020, at 6:08 PM, Cheryl Fields via Ohio-Talk <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 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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