On that note, we here at Rossi1931 are extremely grateful that you take the time to read our blog and we extend a gracious thank you for your support. We couldn’t do what we do without you, your loyalty and your passion for paper.
There are many places in the world that celebrate Thanksgiving during the fall season… some in October and some in November… The United Sates obviously being the most well-known. But Canada and many other countries also have celebrations of gratefulness.
Canada, though not with as much fanfare as the US, celebrates their Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October. While Americans pay tribute to the pilgrims and Native Americans, Canadians give thanks for a successful harvest, a tradition dating back to European festivities honoring the bounty of the harvest and hope for a pleasant winter to come.
The first Canadian Thanksgiving is believed to have occurred in present-day Newfoundland in 1578, making it 43 years older than its American counterpart.
In Germany, a religious holiday that often takes place on the first Sunday of October, Erntedankfest is essentially a harvest festival that gives thanks for a good year and good fortune. Festivities may include a procession where one wears Erntekrone, a harvest crown made of grain, flowers, and fruit.
They celebrate American Thanksgiving in the Netherlands; from 1609 to 1620, many of the Pilgrims who came to America lived in the Netherlands. In Leiden, the connection is still strong enough that every year, on the day of American Thanksgiving, people gather in a 900-year old church known as Pieterskerk to celebrate the determination and good fortune of the early American settlers.
Labor Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in Japan. It takes place annually on November 23 as an occasion for commemorating labor and production and giving one another thanks. It has roots in an ancient harvest ceremony titled, Niiname-sai which celebrates gratitude for everything they receive from nature. And to the gods for a successful harvest. The celebration was also believed to bring blessings to the community.
The Chinese celebrate an annual holiday around the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. The celebration, known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, typically falls in late September or early October, when the moon is fullest and brightest. The festival originated as a holiday to express gratitude for the changing of the seasons and to celebrate the fall harvest.
The Harvest Festival of Thanksgiving does not have an official date in the United Kingdom, however it is traditionally held on or near the Sunday of the full harvest moon that occurs closest to the autumnal equinox. Harvest Thanksgiving in Britain pre-dates Christianity when the Saxons would offer the first sheaf of corn to fertility gods. When the harvest was finally collected, communities would come together for a harvest supper. In but in Northern Ireland, it is more a religious celebration where thanks is given for a good harvest.
Pumpkin pie is commonly served on and around Thanksgiving in North America.
In the United States Thanksgiving, currently celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November by federal legislation in 1941, has been an annual tradition in the United States by presidential proclamation since 1863. Historically, Thanksgiving has traditionally been a celebration of the blessings of the year, including the harvest. What Americans call the Holiday Season kicks off with Thanksgiving.
