VISITING
AUTHOR/EDITOR ARTICLE
JANUARY
2010
Erntedankfest
Thanksgiving in
Germany
Forwarded
From German Cultural Society, St. Louis
America, again, celebrated the annual feast of Thanksgiving
Day. Turkeys were the centerpieces of numerous dinner tables, and side
dishes such as green bean casseroles, candied yams, and cranberries
will release their savory aroma into the air. On the fourth Thursday
of November, 2009 Americans commemorated the early settlers’
thanksgiving to God for their land, harvest, and continued survival,
by feasting, crafting, and family togetherness.
Germans, too, celebrate a day of thanksgiving to God for a
plentiful harvest. On the first Sunday of October (in most locations),
visitors to German churches will find a plethora of fruits,
vegetables, sheaves of grain, and also baked goods, as decorations
around the altars. Visitors to market places and fairgrounds will
oftentimes find Erntedankfest (literally: harvest gratitude festival)
dances, displays, booths, a special Erntefeuer (harvest fire), and
other festivities to celebrate this occasion. Since the Reformation
the “Michaelistag” on September 29 has been considered the end of
the harvest season, and Erntedankfest with a special church service is
celebrated on the first Sunday of October. Beautiful displays,
typically of colorful fruit and vegetables as well as grains and
breads, are set up before the altar as symbols of gratitude to God.
Afterwards all the produce may be donated to the needy.
Especially in rural areas, the end of the harvest is cause for
lively celebrations.
The U.S. Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in
November. It commemorates the Pilgrim’s Thanksgiving to the Almighty
for the land and for a plentiful harvest. They celebrated it with the
Indians and thus it is a celebration of brotherhood, where different
kinds of people are breaking bread together. It is a national holiday
and coincides with the opening of the winter holiday season. President
Franklin Roosevelt discerned Christmas’ economic potential as a
counter-cyclical celebration and attempted to move Thanksgiving from
the last Thursday to the third Thursday in November in order to get
Christmas shopping humming sooner.
Harvest celebrations were held in the Old World long before the
days of our pilgrim forefathers. “Erntefests” are thanksgiving
celebrations for the harvest of locally grown produce, ranging from
grapes to grain. They are great community affairs and many have their
origin in pagan rituals. They are traditionally celebrated in early
October, on the Sunday after the full moon that occurs nearest to the
autumnal equinox. In America that moon is known as “Harvest Moon.”
Through the centuries, villages all over Germany have marked the end
of this period of backbreaking work with mirthful festivals that
include dances, parades, games, banquets and pageants. They vary from
region to region - also by name - depending on the time and type of
harvest.
In the wine growing areas the “Winzerfest” is celebrated
with cider, new and old wine, food, and dancing, when the last grapes
have been picked. In the Alpine regions grain is brought into barns on
big wagons, pulled by decorated oxen. On top of the wagons may be
sheaves of grain, bound in the form of a figure, animal or human. The
last sheaves are left on the fields so that the next harvest may be
plentiful and for animals to glean. In some places these traditions
still survive even though modern machinery has hastened the process of
bringing in the crops. A harvest is reason to celebrate in (rainproof)
festival tents, with music and dancing, food and drink and
merrymaking.
In Germany the “Erntedanktag” (literally
“Harvest-Thanksgiving- Day”) is an official holiday. Harvest
Festivals (Erntefeste) are celebrated in churches and market places,
in homes and dance halls. While the German-speaking countries also
observe the principle of separation of church and state
“politically”, public displays of religious holiday traditions are
a part of the local culture, and are as accepted as they are expected
and enjoyed by the whole community.
There is no exact equivalent of Thanksgiving in the German-speaking
countries. They didn’t have any Pilgrims, of course. Since before
the time of Christ, though, there have been celebrations of the fall
harvest. Officially, Protestants in Germany celebrate toward the end
of September and Catholics in the first few days of October, depending
on dates. Different regions of the country celebrate differently. In
some, children make straw puppets. In others, public feasts and
dancing are the norm. In still others, there are tractor-led parades
with farm children driving sheep, pigs, etc. Everywhere, though,
people are thankful for the harvest and the food in front of them.
This celebration has not historically been limited to German-speaking
countries. The celebration is more of a regional one in the
German-speaking countries, not a national day off. It is also a bit
more religious in nature than our Thanksgiving. Regardless, there does
seem to be a very old, common practice of giving thanks for the
product of months of hard work.
By Helga
Thalheimer
