For as long as recorded history, Indonesia has held festivals in gratitude
for the rice harvest. In Java, and in Bali two colorful festivals are
held each year. Sri Lanka has had a well-defined Harvest Thanksgiving
for many centuries, as have India, Japan, Thailand, and others.
Many tribal expressions of gratitude are like this ancient prayer: "The year
has come around again, great Lord of our land--never can we thank you
for your good deeds and all your blessings."
The island peoples express in poetry and song their own special sense of gratitude.
The Harvest Thanksgiving of the German-speaking countries is observed in Protestant
and Catholic churches with special decorations on the altar (Ernte Dankfest).
In the Low Countries, a special time of gratitude has developed since
World War II on New Year's Eve. England's "Harvest Home" has been celebrated
since about 1843. Developed out of ancient traditions, it has spread over
the English-speaking world.
Before Columbus, the Native American said, "the plant has its nourishment from
the earth, and its limbs go up this way, in praise of its Maker...like
the limbs of a tree." Spanish, French, and Portuguese explorers brought
their own sense of Eucharistic Thanksgiving. The English settlers frequently
said, like Bradford at Plymouth, "being thus arrived in good harbor, they
fell upon their knees and blessed the God of heaven." The people of the
Americas (long called the "New World") comprise all the cultures of the
world and draw a special sense of thanksgiving from all these cultures.
All Humanity Celebrates: A Declaration of World Thanksgiving, started in 1982, is signed each year
by 12 different leaders from different religions and continents. In 1983,
it was presented by Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic leaders
to the Secretary-General of the U.N. for the peoples of the world.
