Symbol of Harvest is Greek to Me
By Veronica MacDonald Ditko
An Accidental Anthropologist
When you think fall, what do you think of – school, football, foliage, pumpkins and apples? There are many things that symbolize fall in New Jersey but one found prominently on logos would be the cornucopia.
I’ve had a long history with the idea of cornucopias. I remember struggling with an assignment in grade school to draw something that reminded me of fall. I did not want to do a pumpkin, it was too mainstream. So I decided to draw a cornucopia, and not being artistically inclined, it was a pretty sorry-looking project! To this day I don’t think I can draw one.
A cornucopia, besides being a mouthful to say, is designed to look like a goat’s horn filled with all the bounty of the harvest. That has slowly turned into curvy wicker baskets filled with food.
The word cornucopia is Latin for “plentiful,” so it has been around a long time. It is actually based on a bit of Greek Mythology. According to folklore, the horn of goat named Amalthaea, which actually suckled Zeus, broke off and became filled with fruit or whatever its owner desired. This has become to symbolize an endless supply of food, drink, and various riches.
Today, to call someone “cornucopian” would mean a person who believes the world and all its resources will supply limitless life, that is if technology progresses. The term is also used to describe anything that is horn or cone-shaped.
What astounds me is that I never realized goats’ horns are actually hollow until I researched this. Or perhaps just the base of horns is hollow, which makes them seem very fragile especially when goats ram heads. New Jersey domesticated goats usually have only two-inch horns. In Ancient Greece they must have had mountain goats with those long, windy horns.
I’d hate to have been the guy who gutted out horns for a living to make cornucopias, instruments, gun powder cases, or whatever they’ve been used for over time. I think I’ll contact Discovery’s TV show “Dirty Jobs” – that would definitely be on my list of things not to do for a living if given a choice! For instance, what would that workshop smell like? Where would the horn insides go? I can’t write any more, I’ll be sick…! But enjoy the autumn bounty if you can.
Veronica MacDonald Ditko is originally from the Jersey Shore, but married and settled in northern New Jersey. Her journalism career started a decade ago after studying Psychology and Anthropology in Massachusetts. She has written for several newspapers and magazines including The Daily Hampshire Gazette, The Springfield Union News and Sunday Republican, Happi, Chemical Week, The Hawthorne Press, The Jewish Standard, Suite101.com and more.