For most of us, the word harvest has little meaning. Let’s be honest, for city people, which most of us are, every day looks like a harvest when we walk into a giant supermarket. Fruit and veggies and grains just grow on shelves, right? And some of them grow in tins or boxes. We harvest with our cash cards every week.
But before supermarkets were a thing, before fresh fruit and veggies all year round were a thing, harvesting was a big deal to just about everyone.
Thanks, Nature. And thanks, farmers.
An abundant season meant food security for the winter. A bad one meant lean times. Livelihoods and communities depended on the harvest.
That’s probably why it had significance to pagans, and then took on religious significance, with many religions, cultures and communities around the globe celebrating the harvest at the end of the summer. The harvesting ritual is also the origin of Thanksgiving in the USA.
It’s all about celebrating what the earth gives us, and about literally reaping the rewards of hard work. And acknowledging that whatever our beliefs, there’s a force greater than us – nature and its cycles – that ensures we get to reap, and to eat, and to live another season.
Thanks, Nature. And thanks, farmers.
