The indigenous peoples of America span the planet, sharing many different physical aspects. These First Nations as many now refer to them, are not just native Americans in North America. They include all the peoples of the lands who have similar DNA markers to the Inuit and North American nations, thus the group extends to the Asian peoples as well. As one studies these indigenous peoples around the continents, one begins to see many similarities in culture and heritage. Harvest Festivals is one such example.

In America, First Nations and Native Americans marked time by the sun and the moon, a moon being a month, with the Full Moon being the most important night/day of each month. This is similar to the Lunar Calendar used by many Asian cultures in the past and present. Feast Days (festivals) were held at each Full Moon around North America, the type of celebration led by the customs of the Indigenous Nation involved.

However, Autumn seems nearly always to have been the time of Three Native Nations harvest thanks celebrations.

• the Green Corn Moon
• the Harvest Moon
• the Hunters Moon

Thus, there were three thanksgiving feast days (holidays) every fall before the "white men" came to the Western Hemisphere. 

The Green Corn Festival is a three day festival of Thanksgiving and Forgiveness.

Native Americans have celebrated this festival after the first full moon in August (sometimes September), when the corn is a certain height - the young corn for a first tender harvest. The nations that celebrated and celebrate this holiday include: Iroquois (7 nations, including Mohawk, in New York, Pennsylvania and surrounding areas, also near New England), Creek, Cherokee, Seminole, and Yuchi. The Santa Ana Pueblo people of New Mexico, celebrate again on July 26, before August and sponsor a dance and fiesta as well.

This ceremonial harvest celebration begins with initial fasting and cleansing, praying, and building a scared fire that is not to burn out during the days of feasting (like the Olympic Torch). Some groups believed that the young harvested corn contained a female spirit that they called First Woman. Otherwise, the Great Spirit was thanked for everything.

Roasted corn is first eaten in celebration of the first young harvest and is followed by cornbread, corn soup, tortillas of maize in the Southwest, game caught by the hunters of the group, fruits, and other vegetables. Here are also games, dancing, and singing. Drumming circle cannot be forgotten.

The Harvest Moon Festival

This is the Thanksgiving of September when a full harvest of corn, fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, fish, and small game. and other foods are gathered together. Originally, the Native Americans thanked every living thing around them for helping them to live through sacrificing themselves to be food and clothing.

This is similar in part to the Animistic religion of early Korea and some other Asian nations, in which all living things have a spirit. With Native Americans, the animals and crops were not worshipped, but they were thanked. Festivities have included a lot of dancing now held at Pow Wows, singing, drumming circles, games, and other activities.
This holiday has historically presented thankfulness for life, food, shelter, and clothing. The Great Spirit, a single God, was thanked for all of it. After this celebration, hunting big game for the winter food supply began at full force.

Feast of the Hunters Moon

This holiday is celebrated in September or October. In Indiana, for instance, it is celebrated at the end of September.

Before the 1700s, and especially prior to 1500, the Native Americans in the Midwest and Northeastern US celebrated by themselves, or with neighboring hunting bands.

The Native Americans had, in fact, celebrated it for centuries and, as other sources describe, had begun to drift away from it as the Europeans began over-hunting the ranges of America.

In Kentucky, the holiday is celebrated in Grand Rivers in October. There are also several small celebrations throughout southern Ohio. The Hunter's Moon Festival is not celebrated as widely overall today as the Green Corn Moon and Harvest Moon Festivals. This may be because hunting is not such a large part of life any longer for many Native Americans.