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Harvest Festivals Around the World
The harvest season falls at different times on the year depending upon region, climate, and crop, but festivals celebrating its arrival are held the world over. The following list highlights six particular harvest festivals.
The Rice Harvest Festival that is held in Bali, Indonesia, is a feature of the island’s Hindu culture. The harvest time follows the New Year when ceremonies are held to take evil spirits away from the land. The harvest festival is dedicated to Dewi Sri, the rice goddess, and is a time of joyous celebration. Small dolls of rice stalks representing Dewi Sri are placed in the fields as offerings, towns are decorated with coloured flags, and special bull races, among other festivities, are held.
One of the most important traditional holidays in China, Taiwan, and Vietnam is the celebration of the harvest. It is also known as the Moon Festival because it coincides with the full moon on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month; special delicacies called “mooncakes” are prepared during this time. Ceremonies are held both to give thanks for the harvest and to encourage the harvest-giving light to return again in the coming year. It is a time of family gatherings, matchmaking, and public celebrations.
The Ewe people of Ghana celebrate the end of the rainy season and the appearance of yam, the most important foodstuff. The duration and exact days of the celebration vary according to place, but, regardless of manifestation, the festival is held in hopes of preventing hunger in the coming year. Huge feasts and activities such as dances and parades are held. Similar festivals are held in Papua New Guinea and Nigeria.
Sukkoth, the Feast of Booths, begins on the 15th day of Tishri in the Jewish lunisolar calendar. Following shortly after the High Holy Days of the New Year celebration, the eight-day festival gives thanks to God for the harvest. Families build huts with roofs open to the sky. Then, here they eat, and sometimes sleep, for the next seven days. Booths are constructed to recall the period when the Israelites wandered the desert living in temporary shelters before entering the Promised Land.
In Italy, Magione’s two-day festival of Olivagando in November celebrates both the feast day of St. Clement and the local olive harvest, bringing together everyone involved in the production of olive oil. A priest blesses the new oil at a special Mass, and the town hosts a generous medieval dinner at its 12th-century castle.
The four-day festival of Pongal is a celebration of the rice harvest period. Held after the winter solstice, it celebrates the return of longer days of life-giving sunlight. It is similar to other festivals held in South and Southeast Asia, but Pongal (also called Thai Pongal, Thai being the name for January in the Tamil calendar) is celebrated mainly by Tamil-speaking people. Its name comes from a Tamil word meaning “to boil” and is also the name given to a rice dish that is prepared during this time.