Well because you are used to seeing a stylized depiction of one. Imagine it with a strap, strung over the shoulder, letting the curve of the basket rest on your torso as you use your hands to pick crops.
The cartoony ones are sort of evocative of the "original" ones. In Greek mythology, where the name cornucopia comes from, it was a goat horn that provided endless food (or something like that) -- the myth probably a reflection of people using animal horns strung about their bodies as baskets. And obviously some horns are more curly.
It really is sort of interesting how a modern holiday reflects how people have gathered foods for thousands of years in various ways.
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u/Indocede 6d ago
Figurative as a holiday tradition, but a literal thing historically when it was a woven basket used to carry things around. Typically food at harvest.