Thanksgiving Day in Different Countries

Thanksgiving Day is a traditional festival of Americans, which is the second most important holiday for them, after the Christmas. In fact, there are many other countries that celebrate the festival in their own ways. So let's learn about the origins and customs of the Thanksgiving Day in different countries.

Thanksgiving Day in America

Every Thanksgiving Day, you can feel the excitement throughout the country. Turkey is the must-have food at every family dinner table, as well as some traditional dishes such as zucchini, creamed onion, mashed potato and pumpkin pie. On this day, American are always trying to come back from different places, the family sitting together round and round.

Holiday parade is held every year during Thanksgiving Day in Macy's

At the same time, costume parades, drama performances, and sports competitions will be held in urban and rural areas. Schools and shops will open according to regular holiday break hours. Children put on strange clothes to imitate the Indians, paint their faces or wear masks, and sing and playtrumpets on the streets. According to customs, people have to pray on Thanksgiving Day so churches are especially crowded on that day.

Thanksgiving Day in Canada

In Canada and America, Thanksgiving is a very important festival. But the holiday falls on two different days in both of the two countries. In Canada, Thanksgiving is the second Monday of every October; while in America, Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday of every November. Why is Thanksgiving earlier in Canada than that of the southern neighbor? One commonly accepted reason is that Canada is in the north so that the harvesting season is much earlier.

Thanksgiving Day in Egypt

The Harvest Festival of Ancient Egypt is a ceremony to honor the God of Crops. Spring is their harvest season and the festival is in this season as well. A parade is held first and then the festival feast, as well as other celebrations such as concerts, dancing parties and sports competition.

When celebrating the corn harvest, the ancient Egyptians usually pretend to cry in order to cheat the spirit they think that exists in corn, because they're afraid of provoking the spirit when harvesting their corn.

Thanksgiving Day of Jew

Jews celebrate the harvest too, the name of the festival is Sukkoth, which is held in autumn and has a history of over 3000 years. Sukkoth begins on the 15th day of Tishri (one month of Jews) and the 5th day of Yom Kippur (the holiest day for Jews).

During the eight days of Sukkoth, Jews build a small house made from branches to commemoratethe altars that their ancestors once worshiped. Fruits and vegetables are suspended in the house including apples, grapes and pomegranates.