Thanksgiving means many things to people of different cultures. In the US we have our day of thanks every November when we give thanks for family, friends and all our blessings. Years ago when our country was founded, Thanksgiving was celebrated quite differently than today.
The History Channel has a great site that explains how Thanksgiving has changed through the years.
Scholastic has another great site, The First Thanksgiving, that includes reliving the Mayflower journey, a timeline of entire the first year, along with lesson plans and teacher resources.
My Korean friend So Young, told me about Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving. Chuseok is held on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, a day when many Koreans pray for a good harvest next year and express thanks. Around Chuseok people hang bundles of grain on their door, wear new autumn clothes and tend to the graves of their ancestors. They also prepare a special meal to eat with their family and friends.
Many people of different cultures share the custom of giving thanks. Why not ask someone from another country to share their custom with you and your students? Then you could record or video tape these customs using new technologies and build a multimedia 'library' of customs from all over the world to share these stories. The World is Flat now.
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