A generic Thanksgiving in a common mind has to do with pumpkins, turkeys, and pilgrims. However, not all Thanksgiving celebrations share these traits. Instead, the most common factor is spending time with family and basking in what you are thankful for, a holiday based on gratitude and appreciation for what surrounds you. So, let’s dig deeper into how exactly Thanksgiving is celebrated around the world.
Canada
Surprisingly, Canada’s first recorded Thanksgiving celebration surpassed America’s by over forty years. In 1578, English navigator, Martin Frobisher, led an expedition to the new world, and during this time, in what is now modern-day Nunavut, he organized a celebration in order to show his appreciation of the safety of his fleet. This is thought to be the first-ever Thanksgiving celebration in North America. However, the indigenous peoples of Canada had been holding harvest festivals long before Europeans ever stepped foot in the New World. Canada’s Parliament officially recognized Thanksgiving as a holiday on November 6, 1879.
Japan
In Japan, Thanksgiving comes in the form of Kinro Kansha no Hi, descended from an ancient rice harvest festival called Niinamesai. A holiday that goes back all the way from the seventh century A.D. during the Meiji Era (1868-1912) and is celebrated on November 23, a tradition that remains to this day. The modern form of Thanksgiving that exists in Japan today began in 1948, approximately three years after World War II ended, as a way of celebrating the rights of Japan’s workers. Fast forwarding to the present day, Thanksgiving in Japan is not in any way advertised like it is in the United States. Rather than celebrating a trademark Thanksgiving, labor organizations lead events in which Japanese citizens celebrate the principles of hard work and community. Children usually make thank-you cards for police officers, and other public service workers.
Germany
In Germany, Thanksgiving’s parallel is known as Erntedankfest (“harvest festival of thanks”). This religious holiday traditionally occurs on the first Sunday of October, and usually lasts throughout the duration of the day. People celebrating the popular holiday may carry an Erntekrone (“harvest crown”), consisting of grains, fruit and flowers, and the evening is usually accompanied by musical performances, dancing, food, leading up to a lantern parade and fireworks.
The Netherlands
It’s a forgotten fact of history that some of the English Settlers who traveled to the New World on the Mayflower spent a great deal of time living and working in the Dutch city of Leiden. It is because of this, that some say the first Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving celebration was influenced by Leiden’s annual commemoration of the breaking of the Spanish siege in 1574. Nevertheless, people living in Leiden today continue to honor and commemorate their affiliation with the Mayflower and it’s passengers, by organizing non-denominational church services on the fourth Thursday of November.