The Land of the Rising Sun has more things in common with us in the US than we can imagine. Yes, their history has more pages than ours but that does not mean we can’t share things. (Yes, we all love their food). Among the things we share there is Thanksgiving Day, created to celebrate the year’s harvest.
A Little Background on Thanksgiving
Having its roots in Britain since the time of the Protestant Reforms, Thanksgiving started as a Catholic holiday. Every religion or cult celebrated the passing of seasons and the wealth of a harvest before winter and this was exactly our holiday’s intention.
Aa a Holiday in Japan…
The Japanese holiday is actually called Thanksgiving Labor Day or kinrōkanshahi. Celebrated annually every November 23rd, it now has the status of National Holiday. It isn’t their ancient tradition though, although the Japanese are very thankful and appreciative of their blessings (however big or small), of nature and of their families.
Thanksgiving Day in Japan was created and established during the American occupation after World War II, to celebrate labor and production as well as to celebrate your peers. People will have festivals and parties celebrating their hard labor. A big difference is the fact that the Thanksgiving dinner is not carried out, so don’t go to Japan expecting to have turkey and gravy!
And as the full name suggests, it’s Thanksgiving Labor Day, so it is more about showing gratitude for the workers who do their jobs well all year around. It is not unusual for school kids to send thank you cards to local or public workers.
The Western version of Thanksgiving
The stories defer between the origins of the Canadian and US celebrations. The story behind Thanksgiving in the States is one well known. In 1621 the feast at Plymouth is widely regarded as the first Thanksgiving celebration in honor of the great harvest they had that year. People from southern states will debate this fact and provide their own origin for the holiday. In Canada, on the other hand, there isn’t a clear origin of Thanksgiving. One story says that it wasn’t in celebration of harvest but as gratitude for surviving the dangerous voyage. On the other hand, French-Canadian tradition does say that it was the settlers’ way of giving thanks for a good harvest.