No Thanksgiving here but really interesting to read how it originated. Thank you Gary.
No "thanksgiviing" here in England either. Not
exactly. When i was a kid, we had something called the "Harvest Festival" , which is clearly similar, though it was never a public holiday. It pretty much centred on schools and churches, and the main activity was collecting donations of foood , to be distributed to the elderly in the community. I think it's pretty much died out now? Now that State school assemblies have to be non-religious,come to think, I don't know how they'd reformulate a festival that was all about thanking God for his bounty? Who else could be thanked instead? Sainsburies? Tesco ? The farming corporations? ugh. Bring back supernatural agencies! It's easier to believe in their goodness
It also occurs to me that it was probably realised that it isn't altogether wise send children round , delivering hampers of food to lonely old men . (I do recall being invited in and propsitioned by one, much to my embarrassment ) . But then, all interaction between children and adults seems fraught with that particular danger. I don't know what the answer is, but surely not scrapping all such traditions and observing a strict segration between adults and children (aside from family who are safe , aren't they? oops , no they're not)
Oh! and ever-increasing urbanisation in Britain means that your average Brit has no connection whatsover with the food chain, except as a consumer. And what with all that imported fruit and veg, the little variations in supply caused by harvest are barely noticeable. They just make it easier for Supermarkets to pretend to be offering bargains.
(I used to shop at the local Market, where seasonal produce really
is substantially cheaper . Couldn't keep that up, unfortunately. The difference is shocking)
Anyway, I suppose those colonist were, essentially just carrying on British tradition, and that their circumstances made it all the more meaningful.
Indeed I belatedly thought to look it up Wikidedia (just now) The tradition's history appears to be less clear-cut than Google's story suggests, but it
does seem pretty clear that British Protestants brought it over.
So why didn't it catch on in Australia too? Hmm. Maybe British colonists in Oz just didn't find much to be thankful for?