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Thanksgiving isn't the only colorful harvest festival...

By Daisy Carrington, for CNN
November 28, 2013

(CNN) -- There are all sorts of ways to celebrate a successful harvest. In U.S. of course, people commemorate the season's bounty by giving thanks, overdosing on roast turkey, and turning on the TV to watch an endless parade of cartoon characters float about the streets of New York.

But today's Thanksgiving is not the only harvest festival on the cultural calendar. No matter the time of year, or place, a bounty of vegetables is often all it takes to get people singing, dancing, cow racing -- even parading around giant phalluses. To get in the spirit, we've reaped some of the world's most vibrant harvest festivals.

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Crop Over, Barbados

In the 18th century, Barbados was the wold's largest sugar producer, and they used to celebrate the end of the harvest with a festival. Though no longer a top exporter, the festivities -- called Crop Over -- have become a staple on the cultural calendar.


In 1780, Barbados was one of the biggest sugar producers in the world. Today, that honor goes to Brazil, but the Caribbean country still celebrates the sugar harvest with a month-long festival in July, known as Crop Over.

Pic-O-De Crop -- a kind of "American Idol" for Calypso music -- is one of the festival's most popular events, where finalists are judged for their savvy lyrics, content, melody and diction. Like Brazil's Carnival, the costumes help make the event (that, and copious amounts of rum), and prizes are given out for the most outrageous concoctions at the festival's end.

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Thanksgiving, USA

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is a time-honored feature of the American holiday. The event started in 1924 and features balloons and floats of popular cartoon characters and pop culture icons.

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Costermonger's Harvest Festival, England

Every year, London's Pearly Kings and Queens -- a charitable group recognizable by their dark suits, embroidered with pearl buttons -- gather to celebrate the Costermonger's Harvest Festival.


For 125 years, the London harvest festival has had a troupe of shimmering mascots. The Pearly Kings and Queens -- deemed Britain's "second royal family" -- are renown for their dark suits emblazoned with hundreds of mother-of-pearl buttons, a tradition started by Henry Croft, an orphan-turned-street sweeper. He first got the idea from costermongers, or street hawkers, who used to line the seams of their pants with pearl buttons found on the street. He took it a step further and coated his whole suit -- top hat and all. Naturally, it wasn't long before he was a popular London fixture; he used his notoriety to raise money for various charities.

Each borough of London has its own Pearly Kind and Queen, and as a whole, the group functions mainly as a charitable organization. According to Doreen Golding, the Pearly Queen of Old Kent Road and Bow Bells, charity and harvest go hand-in-hand.

"It doesn't matter what faith you are. At the end of the year, when all the crops are gathered and have been given to people in the community, it's typical to then give them out to all the homeless people who haven't got any food," she says. Like Croft, the "Pearlies" use their fame to fund raise.

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Sukkot, Israel

In the Jewish faith, Sukkot is a harvest festival, and also a religious holiday. The celebration lasts for seven days, and involves building a sukkah, or temporary house. Sometimes, it's traditional to decorate with hanging fruit.

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Chuseok, Korea

Chuseok is one of the most important holidays on the Korean calendar (both North and South). The three-day event coincides with the autumnal equinox, and is a time when many Koreans visit their families. It is also common to revive folk traditions, such as the tradition jumping dance, poongmul (pictured).

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The Madeira Flower Festival, Portugal

In Madeira, Portugal, the harvest is celebrated every year with the wonderfully aromatic Madeira Island Flower Festival. The streets and parading floats are decorated with thousands of flowers.


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