Harvest festival
The harvest festival (also Thanksgiving, Harvest Festival ) in Christianity is a traditional celebration after the harvest in the fall, the faithful to thank God for the gifts in the harvest.
General
At the ceremony, which is usually held in a church, but also as a regional procession, crops, grains and fruits are placed decorative. There are also other products, referred to as gifts of special closeness to nature, such as flour, honey and wine.
In some places there is a braided from cereals or vines " harvest crown " in the church, or it is carried in procession through the municipality. In rural folk religious communities come to worship together many community members. With Thanksgiving to be remembered with gratitude the work in agriculture and gardens - and also that it is not solely in the hands of the people to have enough food. The harvest gifts are sometimes distributed after the feast to the needy in the community, in homeless shelters or charities.
Thanksgiving is celebrated in other cultures, which has evolved in South and East Asia, the tradition of great folk festivals, such as the Tamil Pongal or the Japanese Matsuri. In many regions, there are also in the spring and summer festivals, rites and prayers for a good harvest or favorable weather.
History
Harvest festivals existed even in pre-Christian times. Similar rites are known from northern Europe, Israel, Greece or the Roman Empire. In Judaism, there were and are the Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, after the beginning of the harvest, and Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles in the fall at the end of the read (2 Mos 23,16 EU).
In the Roman Catholic Church, a harvest festival is attested since the 3rd century. Since the crop is introduced depending on climate zone at different times, there was never a single appointment.
After the Reformation, the harvest festival at Michaelmas (29 September ) or on the Sunday before or was celebrated afterwards. Over time, naturalized predominantly the first Sunday after St. Michael as the date for Thanksgiving one. This goes back to, inter alia, a decree of the King of Prussia from 1773. This can lead to the harvest festival falls even into September.
Germany
The Roman Catholic German Bishops' Conference presented in 1972 the first Sunday in October as a fixed date is set to issue mandatory for all communities without the commitment. Official part of the liturgical year is the harvest festival but still not, ie the municipalities are not obliged to celebrate the festival. " The salvation history oriented year of the Church knows no harvest festival ". However, the custom of thanksgiving for a good harvest has long been engaged in many Roman Catholic communities has become common, so that in addition to herbs ordained on August 15, Ember, firstfruits blessing in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eucharist on the first Sunday in October by many as "Thanks for which earth has given and human hands " is celebrated on the surrounded by Thanksgiving gifts altar.
In the Protestant churches arose since 1985 ( with the in - force of the new Perikopenbuchs ) a change. This means that the first Sunday is the communities recommended in October as Thanksgiving deadline. Although September 30th is a Sunday, to be celebrated generally on the first Sunday in October. 2006, a liturgical calendar decided by the two mergers VELKD and ICE in the EKD, which specifies the thanksgiving day on the first Sunday after Michaelmas, when the Michaelis hard not fall on a Saturday. He is now on the first Sunday in October instead, except in 2007, where he was held on September 30.
The Free Churches celebrate the feast usually on the first Sunday after St. Michael. The New Apostolic Church celebrates in Germany on the 1st Sunday in October to Thanksgiving Day.
In some other dates are common. So the Mosel communities celebrate the festival after the harvest on the second Sunday of November.
1933 Adolf Hitler decreed first that Thanksgiving should be centrally celebrated on the first Sunday in October. With the passing of the holidays from 27 February 1934, the Thanksgiving Day on the first Sunday, after September 29 ( Michaelis ) public holiday. On this day the Nazi regime took particular note of the importance of the peasantry of the kingdom on the basis of the blood- and-soil ideology. Central event was the kingdom of Thanksgiving, the organization of which the Reich Ministry was responsible for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.
One widely used in Germany to Thanksgiving song is We plow and we sprinkle of Matthias Claudius.
In many communities in Germany are held pageants with floats, marchers and marching bands between mid-September and early October. The representation of ( historical ) harvesting situations is enriched with motifs reminiscent of Carnival parades. The flowers used for the carriage jewelry are genuine in most cases.
Known Thanksgiving parades ( with at least 50 groups ):
- Fürth ( 89 groups)
- Clarholz (65 groups)
- Heidenheim (61 groups)
- Hamburg- Kirchwerder (50 groups)
- Papenburg top end (50 groups)
- Pulheim- Stommelerbusch (50 groups)
Austria
In Austria, Thanksgiving is predominantly - celebrated in September or October - depending on the region and the predominant type of agriculture. The Catholic Church preferred in urban areas, the first Sunday in October.
Parishes in rural communities rather celebrate the end of September, as commemorated by the rural youth - although interdenominational - is heavily involved. Individual communities know the custom of a Thanksgiving pilgrimage or of moves, including in Tyrol. So a pilgrimage Reit im Winkl on the Saturday before Thanksgiving to Maria Kirchental, and Nassereith is known for its colorful processions.
North America
In the U.S., the "Thanksgiving Day" is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November and is an official holiday. The festival commemorates the first harvest festival of the Pilgrim Fathers. Traditionally, a turkey is eaten to the family circle. Other than this is usually depicted in the German media, Thanksgiving is not just the American version of Thanksgiving, but it is - at least in the U.S. - a festival for all the best and every success. The Pilgrim Fathers and all the presidents from Washington to Obama have proclaimed thanksgiving to God. Obama: " We lift up our hearts in gratitude to God for our many blessings, for one another, and for our nation." German: " To God we set up our hearts in gratitude for our many blessings, for one another and for our nation. " His family and social significance of the day but also celebrated by many atheists.
In Canada, "Thanksgiving" celebrated on the second Monday in October ( which is the Columbus Day holiday in the U.S. ). As in the United States is the Canadian Thanksgiving is an official holiday at the federal level and in all provinces and territories except Prince Edward Iceland, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia ( into which provinces still celebrated the feast ). The Canadian Thanksgiving is in this respect closely linked to his Christian background, as it is considered a liturgical feast in the Christian churches. In this sense corresponds to stronger European Thanksgiving traditions as the U.S. hard. Nevertheless, the Canadian Thanksgiving goes beyond a mere thanksgiving for the harvest.
Japan
In Japan, there was an old imperial Thanksgiving新 尝 祭( niinamesai " cost of the new rice "), a Shinto ritual in which the gods by the emperor freshly harvested rice is sacrificed. In the first year after the accession of the emperor, the festival is celebrated as daijôsai (Eng. "Big Costs"). A first mention of this ritual whose origin is believed earlier, can be found in the historical works Nihonshoki from the year 720, where it is reported by a ceremony in the year 678. From Thanksgiving is a national holiday has developed, which is celebrated on 23 November, and the day of thanksgiving for the work means.