by Stacey Schifferdecker

Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday, but the idea of an annual celebration to thank God for his bounty stretches back through time and around the world. Here are some ways other cultures celebrate Thanksgiving. Maybe you can find some ideas to enrich your own family’s Thanksgiving celebration this year.

The ancient Greeks, Romans, Hebrews, Chinese, and Egyptians all held harvest festivals and thanksgiving celebrations. These celebrations continue today in various forms. Jewish families celebrate with a seven-day autumn harvest festival called Sukkoth. Sukkoth commemorates how God cared for Moses and the Hebrew people as they wandered in the desert for 40 years before entering the Promised Land. During Sukkoth, families build small temporary huts out of branches and foliage. Inside the huts, they hang fruits and vegetables such as apples, grapes, corn, and pomegranates. A special ceremony is held each day to remember their Hebrew ancestors and to thank God for the harvest. Families eat in the hut at night and sometimes sleep there as well.

The Chinese harvest festival is called Chung Ch'ui or the August Moon Festival and is celebrated in mid-August. During this three-day celebration, Chinese families celebrate the end of the harvest season with a big feast featuring roasted pig and mooncakes. These palm-sized round cakes symbolize family unity and perfection, so the Chinese people also give mooncakes to their friends and relatives as a way of giving thanks. Legend says that during wartime, the Chinese hid secret messages in mooncakes and were able to thwart their enemies

Vietnamese families also celebrate an autumn festival in mid-August. Their festival is called Têt-Trung-Thu (tet-troong-thoo) or the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is also called the Children’s Festival and many activities are planned for children. According to Vietnamese folklore, parents worked so hard on the harvest, they left the children playing by themselves. To make up for it, parents would show their love and appreciation for their children at the Mid-Autumn festival. One popular activity is a candlelit lantern procession at dawn, often with lanterns the children make themselves. The lanterns represent brightness while the procession itself symbolizes success in school.

Ghana, Nigeria, and Korea also celebrate the harvest is August. Ghana and Nigeria have a Yam Festival because yams are the most common food in many African countries and are the first crop to be harvested. The Korean festival is called Chusok. Families get together and eat special rice cakes made of rice, beans, sesame seeds, and chestnuts. They also visit the tombs of their ancestors and dance traditional dances.

Southern India celebrates the harvest at a festival called Pongal in January of each year. Named after a sweet rice dish, Pongal features a community feast during which neighbors get together to share their crops and give thanks to everyone who contributed to a successful harvest.

Thanksgiving Day in Canada dates back to 1578, when explorer Martin Frobisher held a ceremony in Newfoundland to give thanks to God. This celebration is the most similar to the American Thanksgiving, even featuring many of the same foods and hymns. The similarities stem from the American Revolution, when many Americans who remained loyal to England moved to Canada, bringing their American customs with them. However, the harvest season is earlier in Canada, so they celebrate Thanksgiving in October instead of November. Canadians also celebrate on Monday rather than Thursday.

Other harvest festivals around the world include the German Erntedankfest celebrated in September each year and a Brazilian public day of thanksgiving and prayer celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.

Comment from More4kids: While there is a lot of bad stuff happening around the world, we need to give pause and be thankful, for us, our kids and our family. From all of us here at More4kids, we wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving.  

Biography
Stacey Schifferdecker is the happy but harried mother of three school-aged children—two boys and a girl. She is also a freelance writer, a Children’s Minister, a PTA volunteer, and a Scout leader. Stacey has a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and French and a Master’s degree in English. She has written extensively about parenting and education as well as business, technology, travel, and hobbies.

No part of this article may be copied or reproduced in any form without the express permission of More4Kids Inc © 2011 All Rights Reserved

Hello, and Happy Turkey Day! From all of us here at More4kids we wish everyone a very happy and safe Thanksgiving. We know that with this economy it is hard for a lot of families this year, and we are not just saying that. The economy has hit us very hard at More4kids. Even if things are not perfect, it is important to reflect on what we have, and to help out those that may be less fortunate than us. No matter how bad things can be they can always be worse. Thanksgiving for me is a time to reflect and be grateful. It is a time for family and friends.

My family and friends are the most important thing to me.  For me I am very happy and grateful to God to have two beautiful and healthy boys, and to have a loving wife which I cherish dearly. I am grateful for having the best mom in the world, a great sister and the best brother and law, niece and nephews one can have.

I have also made so many new friends that I am extremely grateful for. And to all our new friends on the internet service called Twitter, we are privileged to know so many new people and friends.

Perhaps most of all, everyone at More4kids feels extremely blessed and very humbled by the thousands of people that stop by and visit us online here at www.more4kids.info. This site is for you and all families.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday.

My son and I usually get up early the day after Thanksgiving and spend a couple hours hitting the Black Friday sales. And you know what? That is about all the “bricks and mortar” shopping I do. Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving is the start of the online shopping frenzy. I have discovered the joy of online shopping, and it sure does make Christmas a whole lot easier and more fun –

• I get my shopping done from the comfort of home after the kids are in bed. No schlepping through the mall, trying to find a parking place, waiting in line to check out, and then trying to sneak packages into the house.
• We get mail! What is more exciting for kids than the UPS truck stopping in front of their house and delivering a mysterious brown box? But I can leave the box securely taped shut until I am ready to open it far away from prying eyes.
• I can find more unusual gifts. My daughter collects Statue of Liberty items and one of sons collects owls. I have been able to find cool items for their collections that I would never find on a store shelf at the mall.

by Stacey Schifferdecker

Ask most people to name the main focus of their Thanksgiving celebration, and chances are you will hear about time spent with family and friends at a Thanksgiving feast. From turkey and dressing to pumpkin pie, Thanksgiving is all about the food and the chance to share a special meal with friends and family. But have you ever noticed how much time is spent preparing the Thanksgiving meal compared to the time that is spent sitting down at the table together eating it? Many Thanksgiving meals take hours to prepare, but the eating is over within minutes. If the dinner table is the site of your fellowship time with friends and family, this doesn’t give you much time to connect and share together.

To extend your time together, make cooking the meal as much a “togetherness” time as eating it is. And especially invite the children into the kitchen to help with meal preparations. Kids love to help in the kitchen and will feel proud and happy to be included.

Think your kids can’t handle any Thanksgiving cooking chores? The trick is to pick tasks appropriate to your child’s age and attention span. Your kids love you, but they don’t want to spend all day in the kitchen with you! Give them jobs that last for a little while or that only require sporadic attention so your children can also watch the Thanksgiving parade or run around with their cousins.

Good jobs for even young children include stirring jello, filling deviled eggs, putting together an appetizer tray of pickles and olives, and mashing potatoes. Older children can peel potatoes, make the devilled egg filling, make a pie filling, and even mix up the dressing or stuffing.

A fun activity for a group of children is to make their own butter. All you do is fill a small, lidded container with some whole cream and a dash of salt and then shake it. It takes about 15 minutes of shaking, so the children can pass the container around and take turns. When they are done, you will have a lump of delicious homemade butter to put on your Thanksgiving rolls.

If your children have an artistic bent, you can put them in charge of setting the table, including making place cards and other decorations. Sugar cones filled with fruit candies make miniature horns of plenty that look pretty on the dining table. Or find a book or website with napkin folding instructions and let your children have fun folding the napkins in different ways.

As you cook with your children, you can also teach them cleanup skills. How much easier is the Thanksgiving cleanup when you wash dishes as you go along rather than piling everything up as you go along! Teach your children to clean up after themselves as they cook (who knows, maybe the skills will spill over into everyday life – then we would definitely have something to be thankful for!)

Of course, some things will take longer if you cook with your children than if you do it yourself. The mashed potatoes might have a few lumps and the deviled eggs might not be picture perfect. But you will be teaching your children valuable life skills and creating wonderful holiday memories at the same time. What could be better than that?

Remember, have fun but stay safe. Adults should always supervise children, and keep them away from sharp or hot objects.

Biography
Stacey Schifferdecker is the happy but harried mother of three school-aged children—two boys and a girl. She is also a freelance writer, a Children’s Minister, a PTA volunteer, and a Scout leader. Stacey has a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and French and a Master’s degree in English. She has written extensively about parenting and education as well as business, technology, travel, and hobbies.

No part of this article may be copied or reproduced in any form without the express permission of More4Kids Inc © 2007 All Rights Reserved