The Thanksgiving Centerpiece Tradition

Thanksgiving is at its deepest roots a day to give thanks for our blessings in the past year, it is always celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November and carries with it many traditions unique to the holiday. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, a meal with loved ones, often a prayer to give thanks, and no Thanksgiving table is complete without a centerpiece. Floral centerpieces at Thanksgiving are filled with fall flowers, orange and yellow hues brighten the table alongside the various parts of the meal. The most popular flowers are sunflowers and mums, often appearing alongside orange roses and candles. Having said that, as popular as traditional floral centerpieces are, one Thanksgiving Centerpiece outshines the others in both popularity and history: The cornucopia. The cornucopia gets its name from the Latin phrase cornu copiae, which translates to horn of abundance, a fitting name given the imagery such a centerpiece calls to mind, and its history is similarly rich to its contents. We first find the cornucopia or something similar depicted in mythology, specifically Greek and Roman mythology, when the Greek god Zeus broke off the horn of the goat Amalthea, the horn he broke off was able to provide him with a limitless supply of food. Since that story the cornucopia has become a symbol of plenty in many myths and both by the Greeks and the Romans. Search through the centuries and you’ll find it depicted in stories and paintings throughout the years. So if you have a cornucopia on your table this year you have among your meal and your loved ones a tradition that spans generations of myth and culture.