Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to our members at Theosophy.net. It is a special moment in the year when people [allow] themselves to reflect on how thier life is a demonstration of compassion, understanding, friendship and appreciation for both the people in thier lives and the blessings that the Universe in its many manifestations bestows on us unconditionallhy.

Thanksgiving Around The World

The concept behind Thanksgiving ceremony celebration, held with a massive zeal in every nook and corner of U.S., is similar to the August Moon Festival in China, Tet Trung Thu in Vietnam, Succoth in Jew, Kwanzaa in Africa, Pongal in India and Chusok in Korea. The list is endless. The only difference in the festivals is date, rituals and customs but the reason behind it remains the same, to thank God for a huge fruitful harvest.

In China
The Chinese celebrate August Moon festival that falls on the 15th day of 8th lunar month of their calendar. Chinese believe that the moon is roundest and brightest on this day. Below the heavenly moonlight, lovers speak out their heart to each other. It is also known as Women Festival. Conventionally women are considered similes to warm and compassionate virtues and have the gift of fertility, just like Mother Earth. Unlike the famous pumpkin pie, the Chinese delicacies consist of moon-cake. Friends and relatives convey their regard to each other by gifting moon cake.

In Rome
The Roman harvest festival known as Cerelia was celebrated in the honor of the deity Ceres (Goddess of Corn). Their festival commenced on October 4th and it was a custom to first produced fruits, grains and animals to the Goddess. Music, parades and sports extended the glee of the ceremony.

In Brazil
The Brazilian thanksgiving is quite contemporary compared to American thanksgiving. When the Ambassador of Brazil visited U.S. at the invitation of National Cathedral of Washington, D.C., he was enamored by the concept and brought it to his homeland. In southern Brazil, it is a sort of expressing gratitude to Almighty for an enormous harvest. Though acclaimed for its Carnival celebrations they cannot be undermined in other festivities.

In Korea
The celebration falls on 15th of August, which is known as Chu-Sok (meaning "fall evening"). It begins on 14th night and continues for three days. Koreans make a dish called 'Songpyon' unique for that occasion consisting of rice, beans, sesame seeds and chestnuts. Before having the food, the family gathers beneath the moonlight, in remembrance of their ancestors and forefathers. The children dress in long-prescribed dress dancing in circle with an inherent desire of their blessing.

christian

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Permalink Reply by Capt. Anand Kumar on November 24, 2011 at 9:03pm

Thank You Christian for posting this. Indeed, thanksgiving is a special day as it allows us to appreciate how we are all connected as one. I will just add to Christian's compilation another festival very similar to Thanksgiving:

In India

The followers of Jaina tradition of India observe a day called KSHAMAVANI, the day of forgiveness. On this day people are expected to forgive everyone else, including plants, animals or even inanimate objects against which if a feeling was generated in our minds at any time.

The greatest example of this was Mahatma Gandhi, who in moments before he breathed his last, forgave his assassin.

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Permalink Reply by Christian von Lahr on November 26, 2011 at 12:08am

Great contribution, Anand ...

This is an excellent concept ... a day of forgiveness. Thank you for posting this, I will always remember this now in connection with [our] Thanksgiving, I think Thanks and Forgiveness naturally go hand-in-hand.

I may be one of the dwindling few in America who still value "Thanksgiving," perhaps it was due to my personal childhood as I did not live with my father, and relatives were all far away. But, on this day, they came ... they all came for several days from all over and it was essentially the one day(s) of the year where there was the full experience of family.

In time, that separation became a reality, and not one just of time and distance. Physical separation can essentially separate people, and father and siblings never felt the draw to be a related unit. AND THIS is why I now personally consider Capt. Anand Kumar’s shared tradition of Kshamavani an essential part of the Thanksgiving tradition, a time to both give thanks, and to forgive – perhaps these sentimentalities were never meant to be separate?

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Permalink Reply by Christian von Lahr on November 26, 2011 at 12:37am

Thank you Joe,

I appreciate your kind words, Joe. True, I am essentially outgoing now and a mover and a shaker when I see complacency, stagnation and all forms of immobility. This, most likely, why I have ended up consulting, then spiritual counseling, … then later still reaching to the highest limits possible for me to tap into insights considered both clairvoyant, and higher-still, inspirational.

Though, I was the quintessential introvert growing up … I presumed everyone else had a valid opinion, and came from an earned right to their views and actions. Something inside of me I call “reason” slowly, gradually but essentially progressively took over and it was then that I realized that people do not naturally achieve their greatness in life. I reasoned my way out of downward spiraling and the considerable success I then derived gave me both the confidence and the enthusiasm to help others achieve more; not necessarly everything possible (for each of us needs to find our own motivation too) but enough to start the momentum. So, now I consider myself in reflection as a kind of catalyst, a facilitator, an expediter. My own essential creativity showed me that we can imagine and create our way out of the box, this I share.

And this impels me to see in you and your timely Theosophy network, a quintessential purpose to provide the mechanism of Wisdom to the world; not a specific knowledge per’se, but rather, the recognition of a ladder towards personal understanding – one where people [must] find their own steps, and exercise their initiative to make that movement.

I met another member through Theosophy.net’s FaceBook page, Allan Beveridge, who has another insightful proclivity altogether, one where he can reconcile the workings of the mind itself with the intentions of the mystical teachings. It has now been a long-term bliss where science, the mind and the wisdom of spirit and soul seem to ACTUALLY be coming together, a kind of validation that the world is actually going to find its ultimate way, by finding a way that works for it in individual ways today.

It would be great if others could find a moment to add their own small contribution to this Thread, a personal demonstration if you will, that there has been [some] meaning to this world and life, something they want to give thanks for, even if it is to themselves.

When we attempt to cognize these matters, to put them into words and then express them, we allow a vacuum inside that allows the TRUE innate wisdom of our Higher Self to finally express itself – both in us, and in the world.

Thanks