Text 11354, 87 rader
Skriven 2013-11-30 10:33:04 av Gerrit Kuehn (2:240/12)
  Kommentar till text 11352 av Roy Witt (1:387/22)
Ärende: Louisiana Thanksgiving
==============================
Hello Roy!

29 Nov 13 18:36, Roy Witt wrote to Gerrit Kuehn:


 RW> Wrong. Everybody, regardless of religious faith, celebrates this 
 RW> holiday
 RW> in the USA. 

I read that some people from native (Indian) ancestry are not regarding this as
a day to celebrate.

 BF>>    Not at all. As I mentioned in a comment to Lee for instance, we
 BF>> here up north do not celebrate most of the Christian holidays for the
 BF>> Christian reason, they are surviving holidays from before Christian
 BF>> time.

 RW> That's odd. There is a Svedeish Advent day, Svedish All Saints day, 
 RW> Whit
 RW> Sunday, Lucia Day, Ascension Day, Svedish Christmas, Svedish Easter,
 RW> Svedish Lent and St Martin's Day...

Yes, but you probably know that most of these Christian holidays have been put
in place instead of former Roman, Greek, Germanic whatever holidays. I think
that is what he is talking about.

 GK>>> It has never been an official festive day by the chruch, anyway.
 GK>>> Just a tradition.

 BF>>    Well, in Sweden it *was* an official church Sunday (albeit not a
 BF>> festive) up until 1983.

 RW> He apparently doesn't know the difference between a tradiitonal 
 RW> holiday
 RW> and a religious holiday. 

Well, I guess in the case of our Harvest Festival or some other here this is
difficult to tell apart.

 RW> Thanks Giving in the US isn't about 
 RW> religion,
 RW> but a celebration of Pilgrim survival. TG didn't become a national 
 RW> holiday
 RW> until many centuries after the fact.

I know. But even if this is a vital part of it, why is it called
"Thanksgiving", after all, and not "Pilgrims' Day" (or something else like
that)? From all I have read so far I think that it still includes large parts
of a traditional harvest festival (which is also often closely liked to some
religion, but not exclusively) like it is celebrated in European countries.

 BF>>    Of course it does. But it's usually the bulk of the region's
 BF>> harvest that's in question.

 RW> What region?

Well, I think for the US New York is already pretty much up North, and it has
about the same latitude as Rome, which is pretty far South here in Europe. You
have set up this Gulf Stream thing for us that lets us forget about this
sometimes. ;-)
But if you look how the sunset is changing over the year and how long you have
twilight in the mornings and evenings, you recognize the difference. Most of my
colleagues from the US (and also from other countries like Australia or India)
are rather unused to this.

 RW> Maybe in Europe, but in the USA there is a harvesting season that 
 RW> lasts
 RW> into mid to late December, depending on the "region" where those 
 RW> things
 RW> are grown...

And it depends on what you grow. As mentioned, we have several things here that
are only harvested after they got the first frost. Kale for example...

 BF>>  Much of it is even further north.

 RW> Alaska...where else is as far north as Sveden?

I think both Alaska and Sveden are rather extreme examples. But just look at NY
vs. Rome and you get the idea.


Regards,
Gerrit

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 * Origin: We are the second generation (2:240/12)