Harvest festivals have deep roots

By Kathy Hatfield
Columnist

While we usually think of Thanksgiving as a strictly American tradition, many other countries have an equivalent to our day of feasting and giving thanks. They may refer to it by another name, but whatever people call their celebration, it's a time of special foods, festivities and music.

Through the years, various ethnic groups have observed harvest festivals as thanks for nature's bounty. The menus of these feasts reflect the ethnic background of the people, so that "Thanksgiving" has had unique regional characteristics.

The Chinese believe that the moon affects their crops, so they have a Harvest Moon Festival on the 15th day of the eighth moon, when the moon is the brightest. Families celebrate by preparing moon cakes - golden pastries filled with ground lotus seeds or sweetened bean paste. In addition to the moon cakes, they eat fruit, particularly fruit with lots of seeds, to symbolize fertility. Sometimes, they will place moon cakes, fruit and incense on a rooftop or balcony to honor the moon. Then at midnight, when the moon is full, they "capture" the moon by catching the moon's reflection in a pool or basin of water.

Many Native American tribes have corn harvest festivals involving prayer, dancing and sacred rites, often lasting a week or more. The Iroquois prepare a huge fire under a special arbor, and only after properly thanking the Creator for the harvest, can the corn be eaten. The Cherokee people celebrate Itse Selu (pronounced "it say Shay LOO") every year after the corn is ripe. They give thanks for a year of good harvest and hunting, then have four days of dancing, games, music and food.

The American celebration of Thanksgiving may be an adaptation of an old English tradition. Farmers celebrated Lammas Day, or Loaf Mass Day, but only when the wheat harvest was abundant. They prepared loaves of wheat bread and took them to church on Aug. 1 to be blessed, giving the bread as thanks for a bountiful harvest.

The Pilgrims celebrated their first Thanksgiving in America in 1621, thankful that the new land had been good to them and they had plenty to eat. After that first Pilgrim feast, Thanksgiving didn't become an overnight tradition. It was reserved for those occasions when there was cause for celebration. In 1623, two years after the Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving, a drought destroyed most of the crops and Gov. William Bradford ordered a day of prayer and fasting! There was no official national observance of Thanksgiving until President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as an annual national Thanksgiving holiday. But it was still some time before the national holiday was widely accepted.

With the development of mass communication and transportation in the 19th century, a spirit of nationalism evolved. Then too, the story of the Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving, told to most school children at some point in their education, fostered a sense of patriotism, and the various harvest festivals began to blend into an official Thanksgiving Day.

Here in Colorado, Gov. John Routt did his part to encourage observance of the national holiday by issuing his own wordy statement:

"Now, therefore, I, John L. Routt, Governor of the state of Colorado, in accordance with the said proclamation of the President, do hereby earnestly request the citizens of this Commonwealth to abstain from the usual avocations on the day so set apart, and unite in observing it as one of special thanksgiving and prayer to Almighty God for peace, prosperity and all the blessing conferred upon us." - Nov. 7, 1878

At least some Fort Collins residents followed the governor's suggestion. There was a Thanksgiving service at the Methodist church and principal business places in town were closed for the afternoon. The evening festivities included a dance at Wilson Hall where, for $1, "an excellent string band furnished music for the assemblage and the gay dancers tripped the light fantastic until along into the wee small hours." The Standard Restaurant catered the affair, providing a supper "of which all speak in the highest terms," according to the Fort Collins Courier of Nov. 30, 1878.

The Fort Collins newspaper also advertised a corset sale at Tedman Brothers for ladies who indulged too heavily in Thanksgiving treats. And that's evidence that at least one tradition has not changed over the years: Thanksgiving is one day when we are expected to be gluttons, no apologies necessary.