Holiday season is the opportunity for people to decorate their houses and, if they have one, their lawn or yard. The same goes for Thanksgiving decorations that reflect the harvest season as well as the beautiful red, gold and brown colors of fall. While some of these ornaments were developed by the old European pagan folks and used for the end of harvest season celebrations; some ornaments have wholly been created during the twentieth century.
It is typical to see, on the gardens or yards of many houses, foddershocks or bundles of cornstalks placed with other Autumn symbols such as pumpkins, cushaw, scarecrows and other decorations related to the fall season.
For instance, the “wicker man” is one of these decorations, born from the old European pagan traditions. This decoration was filled with the first goods from the crop and given as a present to the gods before being burned in their honor.
Another of those decorations stemming from these old traditions is the wreath. A wreath was woven out of grapevines or thin oak limbs and was generally decorated with wooden wooden beads, sunflowers, feathers, miniature pumpkins and many other products from the fall season.
With the advent of aggressive commercialism during the 20th century, entrepreneurs cashed in on the idea of ornamental lights, once simply used for Christmas décor, for the Thanksgiving holiday right along with decorative napkins, tableware, candles, napkin rings, and hundreds of other Thanksgiving-themed things. You can purchase cute small “Tom Turkey” figurines to put on your tables and images of happy settlers and Indians that are enjoying a “traditional” Thanksgiving dinner. Pre-made foddershocks, fall wreaths, acorns, apples, oak leaves, ears of weath, small gourds are available in any retail store and even at the local road side flea market or farmer’s market.
