The Harvest Festival
Harvest festivals originated with the ancients, who made sacrificial offerings to the gods on an appointed day each autumn to show their gratitude for a successful harvest and sustenance for another year. The ensuing feast, part ritual and part seasonal blow-out, usually culminated in a communal banquet with music, dancing, and harvest decor.
Traditionally, harvest festivals were held on or about the arrival of the “harvest moon,” the full moon occurring closest to the autumnal equinox in what is now the month of September. Samhain, the Celtic harvest festival thought to be the forerunner of Halloween, was an exception to that rule, taking place instead on what the Celts regarded as the last day of summer, October 31.
