Walk into a grocery store any time of year and you’ll encounter a bounty of “fresh” food – most of which comes from faraway factory farms. For most of us, the concept of harvest is, at best, a remote one. But that’s hardly been the case throughout history. In fact, since ancient times, every society that has raised its own food has had at least one important ceremony or ritual celebrating plentiful harvests. After all, food equals survival!

People across the globe – past and present – have found countless ways to celebrate successful harvests. Why the big deal? Throughout much of history, a hardy harvest meant that you just might get through the cold winter or dry season ahead. Each society’s festivals reflected the primary crops that sustained it – and in most cases, the society’s spiritual beliefs. People sometimes offered parts of the harvest to their gods as a way to say thanks and ensure future harvests. Some cultures feared that if gods got angry, they might harm the crops. The solution? Offer the deities special sacrifices to avoid offending them.

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Think! Ask your students what experiences might have made people think their gods were angry. Discuss the fact that today we recognize that events such as floods and drought are caused by shifts in weather and climate.
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Harvest traditions varied (and still do), but they shared some common themes. After working long hours together to bring in the goods, people celebrated the fruits of their labors with feasts, dances, stories, games, and events. Many of these historic festivals are still celebrated today in original or modified forms. (See a Snapshot of Harvests Across Cultures.)

Related Curriculum Ideas

A Snapshot of Harvests Across Cultures Feasts, music, and more are part of the Crop Over festival in Barbados, which celebrates the sugar cane harvest. Thousands of years ago in what is now Britain, farmers offered the first cut sheaf of grain to one of their gods of fertility to ensure a good harvest the following year. The ancient Chinese celebrated their mid-autumn festival on what they believed was the birthday of the Moon (the day it’s at its brightest each year). Special foods included cooked taro root, edible snails (from the rice paddies), and “moon cakes.” During one of the Egyptian harvest festivals in the spring, people honored Min, the god who they believed made the soil fertile. When the farmers harvested their grain, they reportedly pretended to cry in an attempt to appease the spirit they believed was inside the grain. In Ghana, a yam festival called To Hoot at Hunger is celebrated to ensure that famine will not hit in the coming year. This root crop is a staple in the region. Incas offered the first corn to their gods during their harvest festival, which was called Song of the Harvest. In parts of India, the 10-day Onam festival in September features flowers adorning every home, a procession of elephants, fireworks, and dances to celebrate the harvest. During the colorful, joyous four-day Pongal harvest festival in southern India, people celebrate the harvest of rice, sugar cane, and turmeric (a spice). In Israel the Jewish Harvest festival is known as Sukkot. This is the day for remembering the journey of the Jews, who lived in makeshift desert shelters as they traveled. Today, families put up stick huts in gardens, hang fruits and vegetables inside, and gather in them to eat their meals. In Japan's end-of-season event, which focuses on the rice harvest, people offer the first seeds of the harvest to the gods. Then floats carrying symbolic gods are paraded through the streets. The Korean harvest festival, called Chusok, features special cakes made of rice, beans, sesame seeds, and chestnuts. Families visit their ancestors’ tombs and honor them with offers of rice and fruits. Children dress up in traditional clothing and dance, play games, and sing songs. In parts of Southwest Africa, people thank the spirits for a plentiful harvest by making porridge from their new grain. The head of the family takes some of the porridge, dips it into melted fat and offers it to the spirits of the East and West. In the United States, people of African descent celebrate Kwanzaa (meaning “first fruits”), which is loosely based on African harvest festivals.