Harvest Festivals

I've always been fascinated about the culture and heritage of Asia. It may not be as gaudy as Europe but it reveals the colorful life on other side of the world. Every street, every corner is a chance to meet friendly and hospitable Asian people. There are also a lot of ways to have fun. You can go shopping without burning down your pocket, and you can go clubbing or enjoy their eccentric cuisines. A change of atmosphere can be good at times. I was invited once by a Malaysian delegate for the Gawai Dayak festival and I came with the whole family to discover Malaysia.

I've heard a lot about Spanish fiestas, food, and music festivals, but Gawai Dayak doesn't fit in any of these categories. It's a harvest festival, a lavish celebration to give thanks to the spirits for all the blessings they've enjoyed. To be a part of it, I was like transported back to the primitive days when ethnic people conjure a spell or mantra. The whole thing is an ancient festivity when we see local folks dancing, singing, and worshiping their gods.

Part of the common tradition and practice is to dress in native costumes while they perform rituals or traditional rites. The Malaysian counterpart who invited my whole family was a native of Sarawak. He even introduced us to their customs and even served us a platter of different native varieties. If you're thinking that it's primitive and boring, well I assure you that they do know how to party. There were games, processions, and feast of food for everyone to taste. My son loved the culture. He said that Malaysia is a moving picture of energy and enthusiasm from people who didn't forget to trail back to old ways. They know how to preserve beliefs even in a bullet-paced world.

Chu'sok means "fall evening" and is celebrated every 24th of September, which is the 15th day of the eighth lunar moon. This serves as Korea's Harvest Moon festival and at the same time the Thanksgiving Day for the country. The holiday is said to have originated during the time of the Shilla Kingdom, when the king held a festival of games, entertainment, food, and drinks. Today, it is one of the most important festivals for the Koreans, which is observed by both farmers and the city dwellers.

The occassion is the day in the year when family members come together to share lots of special foods. They commemorate their ancestors by visiting the graves and pay respect. Children enjoy playing different games like see-saw, swinging, and other type of dances like Kang-gangsulle. The men played sirum, which a Korean wrestling. They also held races that has animals as a price. And of course, Thanksgiving will not be complete without the special dishes on the table. They serve Songpyon, which is a full-moon rice cakes stuffed with sesame, beans,chestnuts, or Chinese dates. They also have Khaegangjong, YakGwa, and yultanja (made of rice flour, chestnuts and honey) to share together. In general, the Korean Thanksgiving is not very different from ours. They still observe the very essence of the occasion, which is about the importance of family.

The Martinsburg, West Virginia has been celebrating the Apple Harvest Festival for many years now. The Mountain State Apple Harvest Festival is one of the most joyous events in the city. Locals and other visitors from neighboring cities gathered to witness the fun and excitement of this annual harvest festival. It highlights the significant roles of apple in the culture and tradition of West Virginia. This festival brings joy to many, especially for children and ladies. This fun event is memorable to every guest because it brings more than delicious apple recipes. It pays homage to the importance of apples in the country's rich history.

There are several events that organizers prepare for visitors. It features the agricultural tours, the exciting Gala Dinner, Sports Breakfast, Grand Ball, Arts and Crafts Show, Apple Pie Baking Contest, and the much awaited crowning of Queen Pomona. Vendors are also invited to show off their crafts and specialties for souvenirs and memorabilia. The fireworks show also brings surprises to visitors. And of course, this occasion is not complete without free entertainment shows. Indeed, apples are a part of the life and history of West Virginia. Aside from nutritional significance, apples give joy, laughter, and more surprises to people through this harvest festival.

Undoubtedly, rice feeds millions of people around the world. Our farmers invest their time and money to cultivate the rice fields to ensure that they will get the best crops from the land. Since rice is the basic food for many, it's just right to give recognition to people who harvest the rice for us.

Actually, one of my ways to recognize their efforts is to join in Louisiana's rice festival. I invited my friends to join me in this fest, and witness how people acknowledge those precious grains from our farmlands. Started in 1937, the International Rice Festival has been celebrated in the main town of Crowley by millions of people to highlight the significance of this food. As I do, you'll also enjoy different events in this festival.

Celebrated in every month of October, the International Rice Festival is the most popular affair in Louisiana. You'll certainly get hungry as you witness the Rice Cooking contest as well as the Rice Eating contest. You'll also enjoy the Farmers Banquet and Queens Ball. You should never miss the frog jumping part, too. The event will surely entertain you from morning to midnight; until you get hungry again.

It is very common to hear the saying, "An apple a day, keeps the doctor away". Well, this is very popular especially if you are a health-conscious individual. And like many people, I also love to eat apples. I believe that apples bring a lot healthy benefits to people.

But what I really enjoy about this fruit is the celebration of apples in Pennsylvania Apple country. The National Apple Harvest Festival is celebrated annually on every first 2 weekends of October. If some countries are celebrating the Oktoberfest, the Pennsylvania Apple country is feasting on this apple festival. And if you are an apple-addict, you will definitely enjoy this fun-filled celebration.

Under the leadership of Donald Trostel and Clair Fetters, the "1st Apple Harvest Holiday" was celebrated on October 14, 1961. For 40 years, the festival presents beautiful crafts, entertaining sounds, and tasty foods made from apple for all people celebrating the affair. I really love to go to this festival because I usually join in different contests, and buy perfectly made arts as well as home crafts.

Catholic is the major religion in the Philippines ever since the archipelago was colonized by the Spaniards in the 1500's. The Catholic religion plays a big role in the Philippine culture and traditions. There are several festivals held in the country that honors a patron saint. One of those is the ever colorful Pahiyas Festival in the Quezon province.

When you arrive at Lucban, Quezon during the Pahiyas season the first thing you'll notice are the "kiping" that decorates almost every house in town. This colorful adornments are wafers made out of rice. They are molded into the shape of a leaf and are usually colored yellow, pink, or green. Together with the "kiping", numerous harvested fruits are also put up as decorations in front of the house. Sometimes, the "kiping" is assembled to resemble a chandelier or the petals of a huge flower. A parade of floats is also held during Pahiyas. Fresh produce are virtually everywhere and you could just pick them up along the way.

The Pahiyas Festival is held in honor of San Isidro, the patron saint of farmers. The festival can be traced as far back as the 16th century and it was a sign of thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest. The Pahiyas Festival is held annually and is one of the most colorful festivals of the world.

The "harvest" has always been a celebration for many countries. It has become one of the most important occasions and traditions for many civilizations. Now, why wouldn't it be? When, we get our daily basic staple food from harvested crops. In Jewish traditions, the harvest is one of the most important occasions. For a long time now, the Jewish people have been celebrating the first harvest every year. For over 3000 years, they have been celebrating a harvest festival called the "Sukkoth".

The Sukkoth takes place every autumn season. It's known for the Hebrews in two names. The first one is the "Hag ha Succot." The Hag ha Succot means the "feast of the Tabernacles". The second name is the "Hag ha Asif" which means the "feast of the ingathering". The Sukkoth festival starts every 15th of the Jewish month of "Tishri." The Tishri begins after five days of the Yom Kippur. The Yom Kippur is the most solemn day in the Jewish traditions.

The Sukkoth comes from the name succot. A succot was a hut wherein Moses and the people of Israel lived in when they wandered the deserts for 40 years. Anyway, the Sukkoth festival lasts for 8 days. The Jewish people build small huts to remember the "succot." These huts are only temporary. The Jews would hang freshly harvested fruits; fruits and vegetables such as the grapes, apples, corn and pomegranates are displayed. The first two nights of the Sukkoth festival, the Jews would sit under the night sky and eat good food from their first harvests.

Just like any other ancient city, Rome celebrates a harvest festival. The Roman Harvest Festival is called the Cerelia. The Cerelia is dedicated to Rome's goddess of corn named Ceres. In Rome, the people celebrate the harvest festival in autumn. It is, in fact, autumnal, while several harvest festiavls are celebrated in spring. The Cerelia festival is held on the 4th day of October each year.

The grain crops begin to ripen in the month of June. In Rome, June is believed to be named after the Roman goddess "Juno". She was the goddess of fruitfulness and fertility. Each month of June, the farmers would begin to say prayers for a good harvest. When the season changes from summer, the weather gets colder. The days in European countries become shorter. So, what they do is they build bonfires to keep the witches away from the crops.

When October comes, the celebration begins. The grain crops are finally ready to be harvested. The people would offer their first harvested fruits and pigs to Ceres. They would celebrate with lively music, dancing, colorful parades, sports fests, and a grand thanksgiving feast. This is a joyful occasion for the people because the cold winds have passed. Although it's still cold in autumn, they still have their first harvests for the year.

The British people always have fascinating traditions and beliefs. Their celebrations are also very fun and fascinating to watch and even participate in. They celebrate almost anything! Thus, the reason they celebrate harvest with a grand and ceremonious festival. Usually the British Harvest Festival begins in church.

When the farmers cut the first wheat, the church begins the celebration. They would decorate the churches with lovely fresh flowers and green plants. There are also a wide array of fruit and vegetable displays all around the churches. There's always a big loaf of bread at the center of the displays. Sometimes, the people would bring along their ploughs to church, so that the church can grant blessings and prosperity to next year's harvest. A corn dolly is also created by the British people from the freshly harvested wheat stalks. The corn dolly is displayed until spring time comes.

Like the Egyptian Harvest festival, the British people also believed that spirits lived inside the corn. They would keep the corn dollies, so when spring comes the spirits would transfer to the wheat. The corn dollies are also believed to possess the power of good harvest. They would hang the dollies in their barns for a bountiful harvest the next year.

Almost all countries celebrate their harvest. But, I found Egypt's harvest festival to be most interesting and fascinating. Egypt is one of the world's most ancient civilizations. For the longest time, the Egyptians have been practicing their rites and traditions. This includes the different kinds of festivals. Their harvest festival is quite simple, and yet it has been around for centuries.

The Egyptian Harvest Festival is celebrated in spring, the perfect time for harvest in Egypt. The harvest festival has always been dedicated to "Min," the Egyptians' god of vegetation and fertility. The celebration would always start with a grand and colorful parade. This parade always featured Egypt's Pharaoh. After the much-awaited parade, the festival would start with the parties, the dancing, the delicious feasts, and some traditional Egyptian outdoor sports.

This celebration can last for as long as everyone's still enjoying. When it's already time for the actual harvest, the farmers become character actors! You may want to ask why. Well, every time the farmers would begin their harvest, they would cry. They're only pretending of course, they pretend to weep and grieve. They cry because they are deceiving the spirits that they believe are living inside the corn. The farmers are afraid that these spirits might get angry because they're cutting the corn down. Now, what did I tell you, interesting, isn't it?

It’s good to know that traditions are alive and well in Slovakia. There, they even have two versions of their harvest: the Posviceni, which is church-based (with a dose of folklore), and the Obzinky. In the latter, little girls are made to wear freshly woven wreaths of stalks on their head, after which they will approach the landowners and transfer these crowns to them. This ritual ensures that the next harvest will be ample as well.

The Posviceni, on the other hand, involves much rolling on the newly harvested field, a kind of communion with the soil, which is believed to grant farmers the strength to work the whole year round. Of course, as with any other feast, there is dancing and singing and eating and being merry for a well-deserved harvest.

You’d think avant-garde Japan with its robotic dogs and bullet trains would easily forget its traditions and its past, but not so fast, dear casual reader.
If anything, the Japanese’s unstoppable ascent to technosphere is due in part to their firm recognition of the olden ways.

Enter the Japanese Harvest Festival as the golden stalks of rice, Japan’s staple food, come swaying every autumn. Everywhere, villagers make colorful floats of the gods who have rewarded them with bountiful harvest. The Emperor himself lays down offerings of new grain and produce to the god at the Imperial Palace. Meanwhile, a procession and lively dances to the beat of drums, flutes, and bells (the dance being a precursor to the Noh Theater) become the prelude to a huge banquet for everyone.

Come the second week of January the next year, another festival takes place: The Koshogatsu, which means "Small New Year." This time around, villagers pray to the gods for yet another good harvest.

There are many festivals around the world celebrating the abundant harvests of fruits, but in the Philippines, there is a unique kind of fruit that they associate with the festival. The Kadayawan festival in the south, particularly in Davao, is a tribute to the durian fruit. What is a durian, you ask? Well, if you travel to Davao, the smell of these stacked thorny yellowish green tropical fruits will already fill your nostrils. Its insides, however, are delicious and considered as aphrodisiac.

The Kadayawan feast lasts for about a week, and the activities involve a colorful parade of fresh flowers, orchids and fruits, horsefights, local sports activities, musical acts, and live street dancing. The highlight of the festival is a floral parade featuring amazing mobile floats with bands and dancers.

When talking about festivals, two things will certainly come into the people's minds. In any celebration, wine and food are always present. In an Italian town, such combination is made into one. It is a rare event when a festival is held for wine and food tasting. Every year, the town of Monta located in Northern Italy stages a very grand festival featuring wines and foods. People gather around to have a sip of the finest Italian wine and have a bite of the best Italian dishes. Even miles away, the spirit of the wine travels like the wind and the aroma of the food makes it a complete pairing. In this town, people pride on their ability to make wines and cook food. This event is known all over the world. It is considered as one of the best festival being held in Italy.

The Poteet Strawberry Festival is one of the oldest events in Texas. This agricultural festival is recognized by the state of Texas as one of the biggest and most popular event that takes place every April on Highway 16. This 100-acre site is 20 minutes away from South Antonio.

This festival celebrates all things strawberry and Texas oriented. There are concerts featuring well-known Country singers and celebrities who all come to the festival to celebrate with the people of Texas. Rodeo events, different contests and dancing events are all present in this Festival Weekend so even those non-Texans can travel here and enjoy as much as the locals.

Those who are interested to come can bring with them their children because of the puppet shows and other children-oriented activities. Children who are 12 years old and under and those who are in the military are admitted free of charge.

A harvest festival is a celebration held every Harvest Moon (full moon) or on Sundays nearest to this period of time to give thanks for the harvests. Harvest festival is originally a pagan tradition that has been adopted by many countries and different religions and has stemmed out in many celebrations such as the halloween of Christians.

During harvest festivals, churches are decorated with the produce from the harvest of farms, its bells ringing to remind people of the special thanksgiving day. People also make corn dollies, originating from the belief in corn spirits of the pagans. Families celebrate the harvest festival in their homes by preparing a festival meal called the harvest supper and playing games after the meal.

Spain is one rich country when it comes to festivities. All throughtout the year, there is surely a festival celebrated whether in a large city or in a small pueblo. The usually week long fiestas include parades or processions, bullfights, fireworks, and other activities wherein local people and tourists join together for fun. These are also the perfect time to enjoy the rich taste of Spanish recipes and dishes.

One of the well known festivals in Spain is La Tomatina. The name itself denotes what the occasion is all about. Yes! It is the time when all people go out on the streets and throw thousands of tomatoes to each other or to anyone. The festivity is held in the small town of Buñol, Valencia during the last Wenesday of August. Introduced in 1944, La Tomatina still continues to gain popularity drawing crowds not only within Spain but from all over the world.

There's a special holiday celebrated every fourth Thursday of November, and it's become a very famous one. In this holiday, family and friends all gather together and have a good time, treating themselves to roast turkey, pumpkin pie, and the ever-present cranberry sauce for the big bird.

It is a time when one should be thankful for the blessings they have received in the past year, and be grateful for the chance to come together with friends and family to celebrate this special day. This holiday was originally a harvest festival, as the early settler gave thanks for the bounty from the earth they have toiled upon.

Have you guessed yet what holiday I'm referring to? Here's a hint: It sure as heck ain't Christmas, that's for sure.

In Dollywood, country music will never die. In Dollywood, hillbillies rule supreme. And in the month of October, Dollywood will hold its Harvest Festival!

What? You don't know what Dollywood is? Dollywood is the be-all and end-all of country music theme parks, named after Country music legend herself, Dolly Parton! And for the whole month of October, Dollywood will celebrate its Harvest Festival with more handicraft workshops, lye soap making and animal call contests than you can shake your cowboy hat at!

If you enjoy the country life, or even Country music, then head on out to Dollywood and celebrate the Dollywood Harvest Festival ASAP!

Harvest time is a very stressful time for a farming community. Not only do farmers have to gather their crops before they spoil, they must also fight tooth and nail to garner any buyers for their produce.

But harvest time can also be a very happy time for the farmers as well. This is the time they can earn a lot and the culmination of a year's worth of farming. It is also the time when they pause and smell the roses and thank whoever gods they pray to for their bountiful harvest.

Harvest festivals are not just for the locals. It is common nowadays that tourists come and join in the festivities, some even make themselves part of the festivals!

Held on every 14th and 15th of September, the Danjiri Festival (mobile shrine festival) is held in the city of Kishiwada. It was started way back in 1703 by a local lord to pray for a bountiful harvest. The townspeople would build beautiful floats as offerings to the gods for a good crop that year.

Today the festival has grown and evolved into a competition between local danjiri making teams to produce and race the best floats through the city streets. Teams are organized by their city blocks and the contest to build the best float is usually a heated one. The race in no less as heated, with the teams pulling their danjiris almost recklessly through the city streets in a mad dash to the local temple.

An exciting and colorful event, the Danjiri Festival of Kishiwada City is an excellent example of a traditional cultural festival surviving to this day.

This harvest festival is celebrated in Singapore and Malaysia, but it has its origins in ancient China. Celebrating the harvest moon, this festival also commemorates the overthrow of the Mongols from ancient China.

Children create paper lanterns while adults dine under the light of the harvest moon with tea and exotic culinary dishes such as fried chicken and roast pork, with the titular moon cakes being the focus of this moonlit feast. The moon cake became the symbol of this celebration because at the time of the rebellion against the Mongols, the messages were hidden inside these moon cakes.

A procession, usually starting from a temple or other such community center precedes the festivities.