Harvest Festivals

Hello everyone!
I taught a class yesterday for The Hawthown Institute on "Feast Foods" and Thanksgiving. I did a bit of research into harvest celebrations around the world throughout history and found it very interesting. Here are some of the celebrations:

The ancient Romans held a yearly feast in October to thank Ceres, the goddess of agriculture (the word cereal is derived from her name), for a good harvest. They celebrated with parades, dances, music, games, and lots of food. Ceres was worshipped at her temple on the Aventine Hill, one of the Seven Hills of ancient Rome. Her festival, the Cerealia, was celebrated on April 19. Another special time for Ceres was Ambarvalia, a Roman agricultural fertility rite held at the end of May. Ceres is portrayed holding a scepter or farming tool in one hand and a basket of flowers, fruits, or grain in the other. She may also be wearing a garland made from ears of corn.
The Greeks honored Demeter, goddess of the harvest. The feast gave thanks for the ending harvest season and asked that Demeter grant a successful crop the following season. Celebrants offered fruits and pigs to their goddess, and a festive meal was part of the celebration. Demeter was the great Olympian goddess of agriculture, grain, and bread, the prime sustenance of mankind. Demeter was depicted as a mature woman, often crowned and holding sheafs of wheat and a torch.
The Mid-Autumn Festival or Chinese Moon Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. Mid-Autumn is a time for family and loved ones to gather and enjoy the full moon that is a symbol of abundance, harmony and luck. Families enjoy picnics or special dinners. Adults will usually indulge in many different varieties moon cakes with a good cup of piping hot Chinese tea. Along with the delicious moon cakes, children enjoy brightly lit lanterns, puppet shows, and lantern processions.
The Jews have celebrated a harvest festival every autumn for thousands of years. The feast is called Sukkoth and lasts for eight days. Sukkoth refers to the huts of biblical times, called succots, which were used to store food (they hung fruits and vegetables, including apples, grapes, corn and pomegranates) and in which Moses and his followers lived in the desert on their way to the Promised Land.
In America, the Algonquin tribe celebrated six thanksgiving festivals a year. Each one was to give thanks for a specific crop or crops or for food in general -- first the maple tree for its syrup, then the planting celebration with the blessing of the seeds, next the strawberries, then the corn, then the harvest of most of the foods, and last the winter crop. Many of the foods served at those early celebrations -- corn, pumpkin, berries, squash, sweet potatoes, apples, and maple syrup -- are still part of the traditional Thanksgiving meal. Fish was also part of the meal. The fish was usually salted and the meat smoke cured.

All of these festivals have things in common; this meal is a celebration of harvest. What are our harvests foods? Typically our meals include a turkey with stuffing and gravy, potatoes, yams, green beans or other vegetables, cranberry jelly and pumpkin pies.
How can we make our celebration meal nutritious while honoring tradition and not using this day as an excuse for gluttony? I suggest looking to our ancestors. Let’s prepare our meal simply and with thanks for our bountiful harvest. Remember, sometimes we are not hungry for food but for a sense of family and community which is abundant on this day. I believe that we is why we all enjoy Thanksgiving so much.

I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Warmly,
Patty