Thanks for the bounty: Top Harvest Celebrations
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If this was 1608 rather than 2008, instead of running down to the supermarket when we ran out of something we’d go out into our gardens and fields, patiently waiting until the right season before we could fulfill our cravings. If this was 1708, we, or our wives or mothers would probably have spent a lot of time each day making a meal from scratch, which in 2008 we can pull out of a packet and bung into the microwave. If this was 1808 rather than 2008 we’d all be coming in from the harvest about now, getting ready to celebrate with a proper session of feasting. We may have been away from home, working at building a stockpile of food to see us through the winter, missing our families and about ready for a knees up. We no longer have to toil as hard but is there any reason why we can’t show our gratitude via the medium of appreciating of a good feast? The Americans, appropriately, call it Thanksgiving, the Chinese have a Harvest Moon Festival, Korea has Chuseok, Vietnam, Trung Thu and on the other side of the world the Ga people of Ghana celebrate Homowo, but all these festivals share the same themes: being with family and being grateful that the harvest is in and bellies protected for another year. This timely event seems to cross barriers between beliefs, most of the larger religions mark the end of the harvest in some way. The story of the American Pilgrims celebrating the harvest with the Native Americans is a case in point. Harvest is a big time of year for travel, in many cultures people are traveling home to be with their families, but if you’re away from home it’s a time of year when people are feeling most generous, so be prepared to be unexpectedly welcomed into other people’s homes. An invitation like that would definitely give you something to be thankful for, 1008 or 2008, China or Ghana, we’re not that different – most of us like a good feast and a party. In most places the locals leave their travel 'till the last minute but if you stay put for the few days before you're more likely to see the sacred side of the festivals: the trips to the temples or churches, and of course to the huge markets which supply the raw ingredients for the feast. |
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More harvest celebrations » Big harvest feasts
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Moon FestivalFestivals in Beijing, China China’s Moon Festival is the second most important occasion on the Chinese calendar after Chinese New Year. It’s a 3000 year old tradition, celebrating the summer’s harvest under the light of the autumn full moon, so family feasting is the main way of marking the date. Eating moon cakes and Chinese grapefruits, which are also very moonlike, under the moon is the most authentic way to ‘do’ the Moon Festival, but lighting lots of lanterns in your house, burning incense, planting trees and giving the gift of dandelion leaves are also ways to celebrate. This is a big occasion so parades, lighting lanterns in the streets, parties, feasts and dragon dancing will be excused as well – after all this is also a celebration of an ancient love story between the sun and the moon, which is why on this day around the 15th of September the moon is so luminous, it’s the only day of the year they get to be together. Celebrated all over China and in many other places where Chinese traditions hold strong sway.
Review by Photo by flickr user jimmiehomeschoolmom |
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Trung ThuFestivals in Hanoi, Vietnam Trung Thu is the time in Vietnam when people reconnect with their families, especially their children, after working so hard during the harvest. Held at the same time as China’s Moon Festival, under a gaping full moon, which represents the fullness of life, the festival is like a cross between Halloween and Thanksgiving. Children walk the streets carrying lit lanterns and people give moon cakes filled with lotus seeds. As well as celebrating by eating, people dance and communities hold parades and performances, but most importantly people are focused on the younger generation – see, Dad, not every day is ‘Children’s Day’!
Review by Photo by flickr user Ganesh V |
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Homowo FestivalFestivals in Accra, Ghana This festival remembers a time when the people who celebrate it, the Ga, were migrating to a new territory in modern day Accra and they suffered a severe famine brought on by poor rainfall. When the rains returned to normal over the following seasons the Ga remembered this catastrophe by ‘hollering or jeering at hunger’, which is the literally translation of the word Homowo. The festival starts in May with the sowing of the crops before the rainy season and ends with the August harvest. During June noise is banned though the state and people migrate to the homes of their fathers. At the beginning of August the first sign of festivities show though with a Yam feast festival and as the Ga who live out of state return to their father’s houses for Homowo the celebration proper kicks off. Festival Thursday is for parades and the fraternising of the young, Friday to remember the people who have died in the preceding year then Saturday it’s all feasting and partying before the Ga new Year on Sunday.
Review by Photo by flickr user [ B.A.M. ] |
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ChuseokFestivals in Seoul, South Korea Chuseok is the Korean version of the Chinese Moon Festival and is held at the same time on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month – around mid-September for the rest of us. This version has lost some of it’s mysticism in the move and is much more a celebration of a good harvest and a time to get together with family and feast! If you don’t live in your home town Chuseok is the time to visit, not just to feast with the living but also to pay homage to the spirits of your ancestors. Chuseok originated around 2000 years ago and as well as the harvest feast a month long cloth weaving competition was held. This has been forgotten but different places in Korea have retained differing local traditions, such as Lion dancing, tug of war contests and mini Olympics.
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