The Thanksgiving Cornucopia

In the 5^th Century BCE (Before Common Era) the word Cornucopia was established. It was derived from the Latin words cornu meaning horn and copia meaning plenty or abundance, thus the literal translation means Horn of Plenty.

Now a centerpiece at many Thanksgiving celebrations, it was originally given to us through Greek myths. There are two versions of the myths. The first and more widely known is that Zeus was playing with a goat (Amalthea) who had nursed him with her milk when he was young. During the game he accidentally broken one of her horns. The goat became the mythical unicorn of legend. Zeus distraught over what he had done, enchanted the horn giving it the ability to grant whoever held the horn what they wished for. Further, he gave Amalthea a place in the heavens as a constellation.

The other lesser known myth is that Hercules during his fifth labor was in competition with Achelous (a river god) for the affections of a princess. The river god turned into a bull to try to gain the upper hand. Hercules broke one of his horns and in doing so changed the course of the river. The nymphs that lived about the river believed the horn to be a sacred object and treated it as such.

Throughout the ages, the horn of plenty motif has been depicted with deities and associated with them from ancient times where it was believed that the deities brought forth the plenty that the people enjoyed as the deities were the ones that blessed them.

The cornucopia has always been associated with Thanksgiving, even though it was around and symbolized long before the holiday existed as Man has always been thankful for the abundance provided by nature.

Today, our tables are decorated with such a horn. But today it is made of woven wicker and bursting forth with dried flowers and gourds. This motif reminds one of the inexhaustible gifts that surround us from food to family to friends.