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the regions, but most of the celebrants are no longer tied to farming, nor do they get their harvest wholly from local farms. In many parts of Europe, for the Midsummer festivals, towns and cities empty out as people travel to the countryside or the beaches. In the United States, people go en masse to supermarkets to purchase the foods necessary to make the large Thanksgiving feast, but only a small percent of the population works on farms. ■ Recent Harvest Festivals Not all harvest festivals have their roots in ancient tradition. The massive sugar harvest festival Crop Over—which occurs every season when the harvesting of the sugarcane crop is over—has been celebrated in the Caribbean for only a few centuries. It began when enslaved Africans were brought

Beer and Sausage in Namibia

An African country might seem an unlikely place to find beer swilling and sausage making, but in Namibia it is quite common. This sparsely populated southwest African country, a former German colony, celebrates Oktoberfest along with Germany. In a country of vast deserts that is characterized by high dunes and wide open spaces, tourists and locals alike drink beer, eat sausage, and listen to German bands as if they were in Munich, Germany. To the surprise of many Anglophones, Oktoberfest is celebrated in late September.

over to work the cane fields. Every November 23 the people of Japan combine a traditional harvest celebration with the more modern Labor Thanksgiving Day. On this day people gather together to thank each other for their labors over the past year, as well as recognize how each person’s individual labors have added to the collective wealth of the country. Most wine and beer harvest festivals celebrated near vineyards or breweries in the Americas and Europe do not have long historical traditions either. While very merry and often blessed by a local priest, these festivals—odes to the creation and consumption of regionally grown alcoholic drinks—commonly serve to attract customers to the vineyards and breweries. In South America, the introduction of wine began in the 16th century with the arrival of Spanish missionaries, and the German Oktoberfest beer bash is only two centuries old.

Origins of Harvest Rites and Festivals n

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