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Thanksgiving in the United States is celebrated on the 4th Thursday in November.\u00a0 It is often thought of as a particularly American holiday because of the story of the Pilgrims and the Indians.\u00a0 You will find, however, that most cultures, religions, and\/or countries have some kind of a holiday that involves giving thanks.\u00a0 Many of them are associated with harvest time.\u00a0 Some of them are still celebrated as separate holidays.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In ancient times the Hebrews had a feast at which they gave thanks to God for their harvest.\u00a0 It was called Sukkot and Jews still celebrate it today.\u00a0 The ancient Greeks had a harvest festival in honor of Demeter, the goddess of the harvest.\u00a0 They brought gifts of honey, fruit and grain to her shrines.\u00a0 The Romans honored Ceres, the goddess who protected their crops.\u00a0 They called it the festival of Cerelia, and that is where the word “cereal” is derived.\u00a0 For hundreds of years the Chinese have celebrated a festival of the harvest moon.\u00a0 This brightest moon of the year shines on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunar calendar.\u00a0 The festival is called the Mid-Autumn Festival.\u00a0 The Vietnamese call this festival Tet Trung Thu.\u00a0 Koreans celebrate it as Chu-Sok.\u00a0 People in Southern India celebrate at least 2 harvest festivals, Onam in the fall and Pongal in the midwinter.\u00a0 Onam is a harvest festival associated with the legendary King Mahabalia.\u00a0 Pongol is the celebration of the rice harvest, the biggest festival of the year.\u00a0 In England, the thanksgiving celebration was called Harvest Home.\u00a0 It took place when the last field was harvested and the crops were brought safely to the barns.\u00a0 Thanksgiving has also been celebrated in Canada for a long time.\u00a0 It\u00a0probably began many years before the Pilgrims landed in America.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So when the Pilgrims did land in their new home on December 21, 1620, they already knew about the ceremonies of thanksgiving.\u00a0 They had, of course, come from England and were familiar with the custom of giving thanks after the harvest.\u00a0 So, one year later, after a year of terrible hardship and frighteningly little success, Governor William Bradford proclaimed the first day of Thanksgiving in the Plymouth Colony.\u00a0 This was the feast day that many think of when we hear “the first Thanksgiving.”\u00a0 It was the one shared with the Indians, who had helped the Pilgrims and introduced them to the native foods and strange farming practices of the New World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"