This chilly weather has definitely gotten me in the mood for the winter holiday season. The close ­approaching Thanksgiving feast is considered a harvest celebration and although we dine together in November, there are other countries and cultures around the world that celebrate the harvest as well.

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The symbol for harvest that we have become accustomed to is of course the cornucopia: that great big horn full of food and goodies that represents our feast. According to Thanksgiving-day.org this symbol is also known as the horn of plenty and was constructed of a goat’s horn filled with available fruits and grains.

Another neat fact is that according to the Greek ­legend, a goat named Amalthea broke one of her horns and offered it to Zeus, the Greek God as a sign of reverence. Because of that gesture of kindness and loyalty, Zeus set the goats image in the sky as the constellation Capricorn.

Harvest related festivities are commonly held to celebrate community and togetherness, and are held around the world. For instance, Canada has a celebration the second Monday of October and India has several different harvest festivals depending on the region of the country. Asian countries such as China, Malaysia and Korea also celebrate the harvest on different dates. Each of these festivals has different lore attached to them and celebrate harmony, peace and gratitude (thanksgiving-day.org).

My favorite part of our harvest celebration is family and food. I love sitting around the dinner table with my relatives and sharing old stories of growing up and telling jokes and just enjoying the company. The food is the other great part of the holiday -- more food than anyone can eat, which makes for great leftover sammies!

According to Holidays.net the most popular Thanksgiving meal is one of turkey, cranberries, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie. We all have heard of Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, being the biggest shopping day of the year. Unfortunately, after some research I found this not to be true. In fact, the busiest shopping day of the year is the Saturday before Christmas! Keep that in mind when you wake up from your turkey day nap.
 

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