This year, the first day of Autumn is September 22, this Tuesday. Throughout human history, this was the time of the harvest. Many festivals were held to celebrate the harvest and give thanks. Mabon is a pagan holiday and one of the eight Wiccan sabbats. This is the second of three harvest festivals celebrated. Oktokerfest originally began during the last week of September when it began in the 1700s. During the mid-harvest, farmers would know how well their Summer crops did. This would also tell them if they had enough food for the Winter.
The original American Thanksgiving was celebrated on October 3. Thanksgiving was never given an official day on the calendar until 1942. This is the time to have feasts with friends. Drink and be merry and all that. Feasting and giving things at this time of year makes more sense to me than at the end of November. I think I’ll call this Proto-Thanksgiving. Though I don’t have any feasting plans coming up. What I enjoy about living in the desert is any time of year is good for barbequing. Most common folk don’t go out harvesting food like farmers, but this is the appropriate time of year to be thankful for having food. Although one should appreciate this every day.
James Pack 