Harvest is what it’s about, cooking the bounty then lazing about and saying, “Excuse me,” the rest of the day. But lots of us are in this together. Giving thanks, whether to a deity, the rain, laborers, or your mate, is universal and spectacular.
Canada – her Thanksgiving is older than ours, starting 42 years before the Plymouth Rock landing. It’s the second Monday in October. (Earlier harvest and all.)
China – under a full moon in September or October, this holiday is 2500 years old. Moon cakes, filled with sesame seeds, ground lotus seeds and duck eggs are the gastronomical highlight.
Germany – Erntedankfest, a festival of fireworks and music, with a goose presiding over the center of the table. It’s more religious than others, so danke schoen, Gott.
The Netherlands – the Dutch protected Pilgrims who were fleeing oppression before they got on the Mayflower. The Dutch gave us Douwe Egberts coffee and ladder back chairs, and they honor the Separatists who were brave enough to face uncertainty in a new world on the other side of a possibly flat earth.
Grenada – Giving thanks for an invasion? Really? In 1983, the U.S. invaded Grenada because a) Cuba wanted to be BFFs with Grenadians, and 2) 800 American med students were enrolled there. Grenadians secretly put together Thanksgiving feasts for American troops in 1983, and they still give thanks for us every Oct. 25.
Japan – their Nov. 23 Thanksgiving is 2,000 years old and originally offered thanks for the season’s first rice harvest. The Japanese bow and give thoughtful gratitude for workers’ rights, human rights, and the environment.
Norfolk Island – 900 miles from Australia, once full of prisoners and swashbucklers. An American showed up in the late 1800s and pronounced Thanksgiving to be so significant that they should all celebrate, even though there was an insufficiency of turkeys and Christians. They prepare an enormous feast, sell it as a fundraiser, then eat it.
South Korea – Chuseok Day, all about family and feasting until you just have to go to bed.
Liberia – Families return home to eat together – roast chicken and mashed cassavas and green bean casserole. The Liberian Constitution is based on ours, and they thank God for Americans who freed the slaves. Then they add cayenne to everything.
Vietnam – held on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. It’s how parents who have been busy with the harvest make it up to their children who have been neglected during the growing season.
Eureka Springs – there are so many wonderful people who were with us last year but aren’t this year, and it’s hard to give thanks for that other than, well, they’re not in pain anymore. Thank you for that, I guess.