So, Thanksgiving can be a bit problematic, so much so that I have rarely commemorated it on this blog - just once in ten years, as a matter of fact.
Today as I was thinking about how I relate to the day (and by thinking I mean looking at the internet), I came across this Wikipedia article that I kinda like (edited for clarity):
Labor Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in Japan celebrated on November 23 of each year. The law establishing the holiday cites it as an occasion to commemorate labor and production and give one another thanks.
Events are held throughout Japan, one such being the Nagano Labor Festival. The event encourages thinking about the environment, peace and human rights.
Labor Thanksgiving Day is the modern name for an ancient harvest festival known as Niiname-sai, celebrating the harvest of the Five Cereals (rice, barley/wheat, foxtail millet, barnyard millet, proso millet, and beans). [...] Traditionally, it celebrated the year's hard work; during the Niiname-sai ceremony, the Emperor would dedicate the year's harvest to kami (spirits), and taste the rice for the first time.
The modern holiday was established after World War II in 1948 as a day to mark some of the changes of the postwar Constitution of Japan, including fundamental human rights and the expansion of workers rights.Although it doesn't track precisely with the date (excerpt every six or eight years or something, right?), I like the thrust of this: a focus on worker's rights and human rights.
Giving thanks for each other as well as for the work we do.
So, thanks everyone.
