The Thanksgiving harvest spirit is universal, and we are kicking off the season with the Moon Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival this weekend. It is celebrated by Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese on October 3rd which is a date that parallels the autumn and spring equinoxes, when the moon is stuffed full and beaming round. Tom Waits would say it “poked a hole in the night sky.”
The Canadian Thanksgiving is around the corner, October 12th while the American Thanksgiving is November 26th. Both are marked by Football rivalries and family turkey dinners. I am looking forward to the traditional Detroit and Green Bay match up.

The celebrations have long marked the end of the harvest season. In some countries like Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines, it is also referred to as the Lantern Festival, and the people decorate and display a broad range of lanterns, including my favorite, sky lanterns.

While it is a time for families to come together, it is also a time to reach out to family and friends. There maybe someone you had been planning to call for some time. Here is a good excuse to wish them well, and perhaps look up at the same moon from miles and miles away. If you wish to send along something special, the free video and social ecards at MashupArts.com are a clever way to craft a family card or a social card for all your Facebook friends and family. You can send them individually, or you can invite others to collaborate and add in their own pictures and video to the mix, creating a Google Wave like expression.