A Thanksgiving hymn published in New York in 1863. Religious leaders included special hymns like this one above to mark the holiday services. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Library of Congress
Fall harvest festivals are widespread throughout the Midwest. As the leaves change color and temperatures begin to dip, communities across the region gather to bake apple pies, carve pumpkins, compete in cornhusking competitions, and give thanks. In Illinois, these gatherings trace their roots to the 1800s. Since their creation, harvest celebrations have strengthened community bonds and reinforced shared values that reflected their time. Understanding these traditions helps us see how people have historically used harvest celebrations to build community – an enduring reminder of how our collective rituals shape and reflect who we are.
Cultures across the globe have celebrated agricultural harvests for centuries, but festivals among white Americans originated in New England during the 1600s. Drawing on English and Dutch traditions, Puritan settlers had two fall celebrations: “Harvest Home” festivals, which were yearly events filled with dancing, singing, games, and feasting to honor a successful harvest; and thanksgiving holidays, which were rarer occasions planned around prayer and thanking God for times of prosperity. Initially separated, Harvest Home and thanksgiving celebrations became increasingly similar over time as the traditions slowly spread across the Midwest and South. Thanksgiving became an annual tradition by the mid-1800s, and Harvest Home festivals adopted religious undertones. When Abraham Lincoln finally declared a permanent Thanksgiving holiday in 1863, Illinoisans praised him for formally combining the two, making “Harvest Home a national festival… a significant and blessed” sign of better days to come. By the late 1800s, Thanksgiving was the most popular harvest festival in Illinois; additional Harvest Home events remained common, but were complementary to Thanksgiving celebrations.
Religion was central to harvest celebrations in Illinois. Harvest festivals were built on the idea that God should be thanked for providing the gift of a bountiful harvest, and state and local leaders regularly referenced faith in their Thanksgiving and Harvest Home statements. “Praise to Almighty God,” proclaimed Illinois governor Thomas Ford in his 1845 Thanksgiving statement, “for the infinitely various and rich manifestations of His goodness present throughout the year.” Churches acted as important gathering places on these days, hosting evening meals, choir shows, and sermons or speeches given by prominent community figures. Illinoisans often attended multiple celebrations at different churches throughout harvest celebrations, honoring the fraternal spirit of the holidays, Protestant denominations held “unitary services” where Christians from different congregations attended religious services together.
Thanksgiving celebrations at Fort Pulaski, Georgia during the Civil War. Even during the conflict, Americans celebrated the harvest through competitions, dances, and feasts.
Library of Congress
Illinoisans treated harvest celebrations as an opportunity to reinforce family and community connections. Businesses and government offices closed, and people spent the day with friends, family, and neighbors. Holiday operas, choir performances, and plays provided wholesome entertainment for Illinoisans, while lively concerts and dances catered to those seeking more energetic activities. When larger celebrations were finished, smaller gatherings of friends and family would return home and share the comfort of a good meal. Food was an important part of harvest celebrations; Illinoisans often hosted large picnics and late-night feasts to represent the joy of sharing a bountiful harvest with loved ones. While dishes like turkey, potatoes, and cranberries, remain similar to what Americans eat on Thanksgiving today, others – such as celery stuffed with cream cheese served alongside pickles and olives – have become less common.
Various speakers used harvest celebrations as an opportunity to advocate for their political goals. At one harvest celebration in 1873, politicians argued that they were living in an era with “no serious difference of opinion among the people” while ironically debating legislation concerning railroad monopolies and the problems of partisan politics in the same speech. Protestant preachers, meanwhile, argued that America was a strong, masculine country destined to dominate the world through its spread of Christianity. “We have the best country in the world,” one preacher said in a Thanksgiving Day sermon, praising the “spread of manhood” and Protestant Christianity in the United States. “Men are broader than they once were,” he declared. “The whole world will soon be at the feet of Christ.” Though harvest celebrations were widely regarded as a time of unity and peace, these speeches showed that certain types of “unity” were privileged. While Black Illinoisans celebrated the harvest similarly to white Americans, they were forced to do so separately from white people.
“The 1894 Thanksgiving edition of Harper’s Bazaar, a monthly women’s publication. Women were expected to do the enormous amount of cooking and organizing necessary for a successful harvest festival.”
Library of Congress
Women were primarily responsible for the immense time and effort it took to plan these events. Family meals were prepared by women, who also cleaned and prepared the home for visitors. Luxuries such as apple and pumpkin pie were considered a harvest celebration necessity, so women spent weeks diligently securing and preparing the scarce ingredients. Outside of the home, women assumed the responsibility coordinating community festivities. Seeing an opportunity to strengthen their community, women organized fundraisers through their religious congregations to secure improvements for the town. They took out advertisements in local newspapers, promising large, home cooked meals, nighttime entertainment, and children’s programs in exchange for a small entrance fee. This fee would then be put towards various charitable causes, as well as the upkeep and expansion of Church infrastructure. To draw in visitors, the organizers decorated their churches with symbols of harvest and the fall: fruit, ears of corn, grains, pumpkins, and a variety of potted plants. Their hard work paid off; these charity-centered community events drew strong crowds and regularly collected hundreds of dollars in support of the organizer’s chosen issue.
Harvest celebrations in nineteenth century Illinois blended gratitude, tradition, and community-building. But while they offered moments of joy and togetherness, they also mirrored the social norms of their time.The history of harvest celebrations reminds us that even festive traditions are not only about shared joy, but also about the ways we define belonging and community.
