Author: Maria Alfano
Thanksgiving in July allows us to expand the time for celebrations. Many will argue that Thanksgiving is a time for family, friends, and a great feast. Others contend it signifies the oppression of the North American Native Peoples. We will not argue for or against your thoughts on this day of the year.
Instead, we will look at what Thanksgiving means to other countries around the world and attempt to glean some of their cultures and traditions. It is a time to celebrate and enjoy all that Thanksgiving in July means to places around the world. Who says that you can only be thankful in November. Create your own tradition with these awesome ideas borrowed from other cultures around the world.
The USA celebrates thanksgiving for 2 days in late November. Historians say this started at a time when Pilgrims gave thanks for the harvest in the new world. However indigenous people were honoring the harvest with a festival long before the Europeans arrived. Pilgrims’ contribution to the festival was the introduction of a cooked fowl. While the turkey was a pretty common bird roaming around New England. some believe the fowl could have been a duck or goose.
Today Americans celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends. It is a day of gratitude for all the good that has transpired throughout the year. Large feasts with turkey and all the fixings are prepared all across the country. Although it marks the start of the Christmas season, many will argue that it is a bigger holiday than Christmas.
This post is all about the thanksgiving traditions celebrated around the world and how you can create your own Thanksgiving in July celebration by adopting some of these ways.
8 Unparalleled Thanksgiving In July Ideas Borrowed From Traditions Around The World
In many countries around the world, thanksgiving is related to the harvest of the season’s crops. Some were adopted from the American culture while others are thousands of years old. Explore how other countries “do” thanksgiving to make your own tradition more unique and to give it more meaning.
Canada
The closest neighbor to the USA is Canada. It’s not surprising that there are similar festivities between the two countries. Did you know that Canada actually had their first thanksgiving in circa 1578 approximately 40+ years before it was first introduced to the US? Martin Frobisher, an explorer, gave thanks on the day his ensemble successfully landed on the terra firma. This was originally held on November 6 each year from 1879.
Thanksgiving became an official holiday in 1957 for most of the provinces in Canada. Not all have chosen to adopt this as an official day. On the 2nd Monday in October each year, friends and family gather together in celebration. Like in the US, Thanksgiving Day is time for food, family, and sports. The Canadian Football League (CFL) has an exhibition game every year on that day. Families enjoy the game while munching on turkey, ham, or chicken with corn, sweet mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. It is not uncommon for Canadians to have a big feast with different sets of family and friends over the course of the long weekend as they visit different homes on different days on this weekend.
Adopting – Take the sweet corn on the cob and bbq it. Make it part of your Thanksgiving in July celebration and replace turkey with ham.
Liberia
Liberia was founded in the 1820s after the slaves were freed from America and were returned to Africa. Bringing with them many American traditions, the Liberians added their own twist to Thanksgiving. In 1880 the first official Thanksgiving holiday was established for the 1st Thursday in November.
Today this is a mostly Christian holiday. Churches hold auctions for baskets full of food from the current local harvest. Families celebrate with music, dancing, and a feast comprised of spicy roast chicken, mashed cassava, and green bean casseroles.
Adopting – Give a basket of food to your local food bank. Try mashed cassava (root veggie like a potato) instead of mashed potatoes
Japan
Kinro Kansha no Hi is Labor Thanksgiving Day in Japan. This is the time to celebrate the harvest of the new rice crop. Dated back to the 7th century A.D. Around 1868, November 23rd became the official day for this festival.
Transformed to celebrate Japanese workers’ rights after the end of WWII, in 1948, the festival was renewed and became what it is known as today. Nagano Is home to the Ebisuko Festival of fireworks which coincides with Labor Thanksgiving Day and over the years, the two celebrations have become synonymous. Over 400,000 people enjoy these bright lights every year.
There is no grand feast to be enjoyed, just the celebration of peace and human rights. Children are encouraged to write thank-you notes to police and firefighters.
Adopting – thank your local essential workers. If COVID has taught us anything, it’s how dedicated they were to do their best for the people they came in contact with. A gift card to your local coffee shop for $5-$10 won’t break your bank but it will make their day.
Grenada
This small island of the Caribbean honors its own traditions for giving thanks. October 25, 1983, is marked as the day that the US and other Caribbean troops landed on Grenada to restore order to the country after their political leader was assassinated. Ronald Regan had a particular interest in Grenada because many of the students at St. George’s University were US citizens.
American soldiers introduced the tradition of thanksgiving to Grenadians who quickly adopted it to show their gratitude to the soldiers who saved their country and their lives. The large feast includes the usual turkey and cranberry sauce. Today, this is a largely urban celebration not used in rural areas.
Adopting – invite someone to your Thanksgiving in July celebration that is not likely to be a regular at your dinner parties
Brazil
Dia de ação de graças is Brazil’s version of thanksgiving traditions. The first ambassador to the US from Brazil returned in the early 1940s to his homeland with many American ways of doing things. Although this is not an official holiday and not all choose to celebrate it, this starts with a church gathering. to give thanks for the seasonal harvest. A large carnival ensues after the service. Friends and family gather together to enjoy a feast of turkey, mashed sweet potato, and pumpkin pie. Replaced with jaboticaba which is a grapefruit-based sauce, the cranberry does not have a seat at this table.
While not all Brazilians celebrate thanksgiving, Black Friday is one tradition that has caught on fire in this country.
Adopting – try your hand at making jaboticaba instead of cranberry sauce.
https://kitcheninbrazil.wordpress.com/2007/11/22/an-alternative-to-cranberry-sauce/
Korea
Chuseok or Hagawi is the holiday where Koreans honor the harvest. This typically falls on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. This can fall any time between early Sept to early October. It happens to coincide with both the Chinese and Vietnamese harvest festivals. Chuseok is the first day of the full harvest moon.
Families gather together the day before and bond over making the traditional treats for this day. Songpyeon is a rice cake ball made from the newly harvested rice that is ground to a fine flour and filled with sesame seeds, chestnuts, and red beans. The feast for the day of the party includes taro soup, mushrooms, and a variety of rice dishes. Koreans will travel to their hometown and visit the graves of their dearly departed.
Adopting – instead of pumpkin pie, try Songypeon from your local Korean bakery.
India
Pongal is the time in Southern India where the people rejoice over the crops of the year. This 4-day party is held in mid-January annually. Lots of rice, turmeric, and sugarcane are consumed during these events.
Day 1 is a day of prayers to Lord Indra for blessing them with the water for their crops that provides a bountiful harvest. People intentionally water their plants/crops on this day in honor of Indra.
Day 2 – Puja is a day of worship. Rice boiled in milk is offered up to the Sun God. Sugarcane, bananas, and coconut are placed into a small dish and included in the offering. This is a time where traditional Indian garments are donned by all enjoying the celebrations.
Day 3 – Mattu is the day for cows. Cows are dressed up with beads, corn, and flowers and marched around the city. The ringing bells signify the party has started.
Day 4 – the women wash a turmeric leaf and place it on the ground, surround it with new rice, and ask for prosperity for their families and those of their brothers.
Adopting – replace mashed potatoes with rice
This post was all about different ways you can build a new tradition for Thanksgiving in July using some of the different cultures from around the world.
We would love to hear from you. Which of these did you adopt as part of your new traditions? Or, share one of your own with us!