OT: Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated in Canada, the United States, some of the Caribbean islands, and Liberia. It began as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Similarly named festival holidays occur in Germany and Japan. Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States, and around the same part of the year in other places. Although Thanksgiving has historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, it has long been celebrated as a secular holiday as well

Germany

A food decoration for Erntedankfest, a Christian Thanksgiving harvest festival celebrated in Germany
The Harvest Thanksgiving Festival, Erntedankfest, is a popular German Christian festival in early October. The festival has a significant religious component, and unlike its North American counterpart, it usually does not include large dinners. Many churches get decorated with autumn crops, beautifully arranged in front of the altar. In some places, there are religious processions or parades. Many Bavarian beer festivals, like the Munich Oktoberfest, take place within the vicinity of Erntedankfest.

The United States has observed German-American Day annually on October 6, within the vicinity of Erntedankfest, from 1883 until the early 1910s, then again from 1983 to the present day.

Japan

Labor Thanksgiving Day (勤労感謝の日 Kinrō Kansha no Hi) is a national holiday in Japan. It takes place annually on November 23. The law establishing the holiday, which was adopted during the American occupation after World War II, cites it as an occasion for commemorating labor and production and giving one another thanks. It has roots in an ancient Shinto harvest ceremony (Niiname-sai (新嘗祭)).

United Kingdom

The Harvest Festival of Thanksgiving does not have an official date in the United Kingdom, however it is traditionally held on or near the Sunday of the harvest moon that occurs closest to the autumnal equinox. Harvest Thanksgiving in Britain also has pre-Christian roots when the Saxons would offer the first sheaf of barley, oats, or wheat to fertility gods. When the harvest was finally collected, communities would come together for a harvest supper.[44] When Christianity arrived in Britain many traditions remained, and today Harvest Thanksgiving is marked by churches and schools in late September/early October (same as Canada) with singing, praying and decorating with baskets of food and fruit to celebrate a successful harvest and to give thanks.[45] Collections of food are usually held which are then given to local charities which help the homeless and those in need.

India
Thai Pongal is the Harvest Thanksgiving Festival celebrated primarily in India, Sri Lanka,  and Malaysia.  It is a four-day festival, which according to the Gregorian calendar is normally celebrated from January 14 to January 16. This corresponds to the last day of the Tamil month Maargazhi to the third day of the Tamil month Thai. The festival is mainly celebrated to convey appreciation to the Sun God for a successful harvest. Part of the celebration is the boiling of the first rice of the season consecrated to the Sun - the Surya Maangalyam. The origins of the Thai Pongal festival may date to more than 1000 years ago.