November Tide Table

ahead, including sauerkraut, of course, and John’s favorite stuffing. On the morning of, we watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the National Dog Show on television while preparing the feast. We give thanks and count our blessings when we sit down for dinner, talk about the year gone by, catch up on news, relax and reminisce.

Other families volunteer to serve meals for those in need, watch football, take walks, play games, etc. Homes are delightfully decorated with fall colors, pumpkins, door wreaths, scarecrows, straw bales and chrysanthemums, and candles and fi replaces are lit.

The origins of Thanksgiving can be traced back to ancient pagan rites around the world. People gave

Thanksgiving Traditions included holding religious services to give thanks. In the United Kingthanks in ceremonies and festivals dom, Thanksgiving is the Harvest for the bounties of the autumn har- Festival celebrated in late September vest and blessings of the year past. or early October, which evolved from Various historical, cultural and the pagan Saxons celebrating the religious traditions were celebrated harvest with food and festivities. over the centuries with gatherings Today, British Christian churches and feasting. observe the festival traditions.

Thanksgiving in America was Other countries around the world celebrated before the traditionally celebrate Thanksgiving, too. Our told story of the feast held by the neighbor to the north, Canada, celEnglish pilgrims and the Native ebrates much like we do, only on the Americans at Plymouth, MA, in 1621. second Monday of October. Their It was celebrated in the first English feast includes many of the same settlements in Virginia in 1619, and dishes ~ turkey, mashed potatoes, decades before that by Spanish gravy and pumpkin pie ~ and they settlers in the colonies who hosted spend time with family and watch yearly feasts for the Indigenous football. population. Brazil’s Thanksgiving holiday is

American Thanksgiving customs patterned after ours. A Brazilian amevolved from English customs that bassador introduced it in the 1940s after commemorating the holiday in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. Brazil’s rituals begin in the church and spill onto the streets as a carnival. They blend a traditional religious celebration with the annual harvest and giving thanks. In European countries, including Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the fall harvest celebration occurs in early October and is religious in nature. The more public celebration includes church services, music, dancing, processions, fireworks and food. I have to assume that their feasts would feature one of my favorites, sauerkraut. They decorate churches with autumn crops, which I now real-

Thanksgiving Traditions giving celebration with them. At least 17 countries celebrate some version of Thanksgiving, with varying traditions and commemoration purposes but with the same sentiments of thanks, appreciation and refl ection. Are you ready to celebrate your Thanksgiving traditions this year and maybe make a few new ones? Will you try a new side dish, dessert or recipe? Might you try creamed pearl onions or sauerkraut? Gather your family and friends. Share your bountiful table with others. Volunteer to serve a meal or donate to a ize is why we also decorate with hay food drive. Attend or watch religious bales, pumpkins, corn stalks, fl owers services, parades and football games. and garlands of leaves.

Oddly, Grenada, the most recent country to add the celebration to its calendar, gives thanks on October 25 to commemorate an American-led liberation in 1983. The Grenadians give thanks for the Americans’ coming to restore order in their country after an army coup and the execution of their prime minister. Let us all unite in giving thanks

Japan celebrates an ancient Shinto and forgiving others and ourselves. rice harvest ceremony annually Write down what you are thankful on November 23. Called “Labor for. Remember that the true meanThanksgiving Day,” the holiday com- ing of Thanksgiving is to celebrate memorates labor and community gratitude. Enjoy your past holiday issues such as human rights and the traditions and create new ones. environment. Happy Thanksgiving!

Liberia celebrates the American Thanksgiving, declared a national Bonna L. Nelson is a Bay-area holiday in the 1880s. Freed slaves writer, columnist, photographer who returned to Africa in the 1820s and world traveler. She resides from America brought the Thanks- in Easton with her husband, John.