2023-09-30 18:14:33
Fields, trees and bushes have been harvested and will ensure food for people and animals in the coming winter. If that is not a reason to celebrate …
On Sunday, October 1st, Thanksgiving is traditionally celebrated, especially in rural areas. With church services, processions, feasts and dancing.
Here you will find out what traditions and roots Thanksgiving has, where it comes from and what significance it still has today.
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The tradition of Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is primarily a Christian festival. But the roots lie deep in pre-Christian times – with the ancient Germanic people!
They sacrificed barley, peas and millet to their god Wotan every autumn. So they gave thanks for a good harvest. The ancient Romans and Greeks also celebrated their harvest festival.
After Christianization, Wotan was replaced by the Archangel Michael, the patron saint of the Roman Empire at the time.
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The first evidence of Thanksgiving in the Catholic Church dates back to the third century. At that time it was celebrated on September 29th and called Michaelmas Festival.
The harvest and the thanks for it had great meaning, because people’s lives directly depended on the harvest!
In the Middle Ages, Thanksgiving also took on more and more secular meaning. The farmers had to hand over their share of the harvest to their landlords and in return they received payment and a festival with food and dancing.
Overall, the importance of Thanksgiving has continuously declined since industrialization and technology.
Parade to the harvest festival in Bernburg (Saxony-Anhalt)
Photo: Heiko Rebsch/dpa
How we celebrate today
Today, Thanksgiving plays an important role, especially in regions with a lot of agriculture. Christians still traditionally decorate their church altars with harvest fruits and thank God equally for the wealth of the earth and that of human work.
During the day there are often parades with colorfully decorated Thanksgiving floats and musical accompaniment. There will be a party later.
By the way: Thanksgiving is also an important and official holiday in the USA. “Thanksgiving”, a festival of gratitude for all goodness and success, is celebrated in November. The families visit each other, eat turkey together and start the pre-Christmas season.
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