On the fourth Thursday of November every year, America celebrates Thanksgiving. There is nearly no school or work, people meet with family and friends and have a big dinner. An estimate of 9 out of 10 American’s celebrate Thanksgiving. In Germany Thanksgiving is different. It is called Erntedankfest, a bit less popular and more a Christian celebration. But how do people in Germany celebrate, when do they celebrate, how popular is it and what are it‘s origins?
On the first Sunday in October churches usually celebrate Erntedankfest but it is not mandatory for communities or churches to celebrate. Most of them do and some even vary the day but all celebrate around the end of September and start of October. It is no holiday as it usually is celebrated on a Sunday. There are services and parades of people in traditional outfits, farmers and small wagons decorated with harvest results. Some regions also burn straw dolls or organize small markets.
First celebrations in Europe and the Roman Empire took place before Christ, with the people bringing a sacrifice on the day on which day and night are equally long. In the 3rd century after Christ the first Roman-catholic celebrations originated and from the reformation until 1773, the celebrations took place on Michaelmas, the 29th of September. Since the decree of the Prussian king in 1773 the celebrations are placed on the first Sunday after Michaelmas but in 1972 the Roman-catholic bishop‘s conference set the Erntedankfest on the first Sunday of October.
The Erntedankfest isn‘t as popular as other celebrations and not nearly everyone celebrates it but the celebrations are very neat and definitely worth to visit. There even are bigger events, for example the big parade in Hamburg with yearly 70,000 visitors, but the celebrations are not as big as in America, where 3.5 million people watch the Macy‘s Thanksgiving Parade every year. And although some people include a special dinner in their celebrations, that also it not as big of a tradition as in America. But no matter where, people enjoy their celebrations.
