Here in the US Thanksgiving is almost upon us. I was talking to a Korean friend of mine who told me they have a similar holiday and I know Canadians have their own Thanksgiving Holiday.

I was wondering what other countries have holidays that are centered around a big family meal or a feast? and what is the holiday like? what is it about? and what do you traditional eat on that day?

Here in Georgia there is "St. George's Day," which seems to be somewhat similar. Of course every day Georgians get the family and friends around a table and drink wine, so it is hard to tell.

Christmas Eve is basically the big one here. We've generally always had a meal with our immediate family after opening our presents on the evening of the 24th, while we have the entire family around on the 25th for an even bigger meal.

We have a slightly smaller day just before that - Nikolaus - where there are a few smaller presents offered, but no big meals. I'm surprised that the UK (or at least England) doesn't do more with Georgia in that regard actually. In my experience the English have always only spent St. George's Day getting pissed out of their heads.

We have... Christmas dinner and Easter brunch, I guess.

Christmas dinner mostly. Thanksgiving is only celebrated by people who have american ties or belief. My sister married an american and she celebrates it and of all mostly american holidays, I think it's the best one.

It's Christmas for us. Most holidays are seen as nothing more than a possible day off from work or school, and possibly annoying things like banks being shut. Easter is basically just a time when kids get chocolate, Halloween is just a time when kids may or may not wear costumes, and may or may not go around houses asking for sweets. There are things like St Patrick's Day (i.e. promotions at pubs) and St George's Day (nothing at all, really). On paper, St George's Day should be the closest to Thanksgiving since he's the patron saint of England.

Here we have a Christmas dinner with either turkey or pig as the main dish. There is also "dia de la cocina peruana" (Peruvian cuisine day), "dia del ceviche" (ceviche day), etc. Those aren't national holidays, just made up festivities to promote national dishes.

Christmas is the big one here, celebrated on the 24th (the 25th is for playing with all the neat toys you hopefully got). Easter is also relatively commonly celebrated, with a big lunch and then some candy.

And then there is midsummer, usually celebrated with a lunch or dinner consisting of pickled herring and alcohol, followed by more alcohol. And then there is some more alcohol during the evening.
Needles to say, a lot of people get very drunk.

We also celebrated St. Lucia, "Valborg" (the day before the first of may) and a few other things with alcohol.

Christmas and Easter, apart from that only the occasional birthday of a family member or relative. My family isn't very traditional though, so we don't have set dishes, they always vary.

Mainly Christmas here too.

There is theoretically a Erntedankfest, but that's more a Christian thing here, doesn't have a lot to do with big feasts and I don't know anybody who celebrates it.

The thing that comes closest to the American Thanksgiving is probably Martini (no, neither the cocktail nor the aperitivo), which is on November 11th and celebrates St. Martin, or something.
It's not really that much of a family holiday, but there's the traditional "Martinigansl" (goose) which is absolutely delicious.

We celebrated that in kindergarden only, by bringing baskets of vegetables. :D

And St. Martin's Day also seems a holiday mainly cherished by children, for the lantern processions with singing in kindergarden and elementary school. I've never associated it with a feast myself, but you're right, there is the custom of the Martinsgans, we just never followed it in my family.

Most holidays, especially religious ones, are celebrated within the family. In addition to major holidays, each town and village has its own patron saint, and there's a big festival and feasts for the extended family once a year on that particular saint's day, according to the Catholic calender.

Regarding the menu, on Easter it's ham, boiled eggs, leeks and horseradish. On Christmas Eve it's cod-fish. For other holidays, it depends on the host's preferences.

Lots of those here in Denmark, which are observed to varying degrees. In order of importance and/or observance, they are something like this:

Christmas Eve Dinner
New Year's Eve Dinner
Christmas Lunch (sometime around December, no fixed date)
Easter Lunch (during Easter, but no fixed date)
Night of St. Martin Dinner (on November 10th)
Pentecost Lunch (on Pentecost Sunday)

Same here.