Thanksgiving for Children
by Traute Klein, biogardener
A little Thanksgiving history for children with some ideas for bringing our garden indoors for autumn to remind us to be thankful.
Thanksgiving History
People started to celebrate Thanksgiving thousands of years ago to thank God for the harvest which they have brought home from their fields. They brought some of the harvest to church as a thanks offering. They then shared that part of the harvest with others who were in need.In Europe and in Canada, we still do that on the second Sunday of October every year. Our church in Winnipeg looks more colorful that day than at Christmas time. After the service, we pack up the produce and take it to a soup kitchen which feeds one hot meal a day to people who would go hungry otherwise.
On the next day, the Monday, one soup kitchen in Winnipeg feeds a big Thanksgiving dinner, complete with turkey and all the trimmings to hundreds of people. All the food is donated and many people volunteer to help with the work.
When the Pilgrims brought in their first successful harvest in the new land, they gave thanks to God on the first Thanksgiving Day in America. Now, however, most Americans celebrate the fourth Thursday in November as a family reunion rather than as a religious event.
Thanksgiving Garden for Your House
Even if it is not yet Thanksgiving when you read this, and even if your Thanksgiving is past, you can bring a little bit of Thanksgiving garden indoors. It will bring autumn colors into your house and will remind you to be thankful.
Here are some ideas:
Table Decoration
See if you can find a nice basket or even a bowl in which you can arrange some fruit, some vegetables, and some colorful autumn leaves. They will look wonderful on a table or on the fireplace. Don't let the produce spoil though. Make sure it gets eaten after a while.
Autumn Bouquet
Find some branches with colorful leaves and some branches with colorful fruit on them and place them in a large vase or jug. Here are some fruit branches which look great: ornamental crabapples, high bush cranberries, bittersweet, cedar branches, cattails, bullrushes, wheat or other grain right from a field.
Those are the ones I can find around here, but you only need a few of them to make a nice arrangement. Maybe you can find different ones where you live. Don't put water in the jug. Don't pick anything, though, without asking permission of the people in whose garden or fields the plants are growing. If you are lucky enough to live in Canada, you are allowed to pick any plants which grow in a ditch by a public road without asking. If you live in another country, ask your parents to make sure that you are not breaking any laws.
Now enjoy your Thanksgiving Day with your family.
Thanksgiving Poll
