By Noor Mackhoul
It’s a very unique time of the year when the temperature drops, the multi-colored leaves take their last fall, supermarkets begin to smell like cinnamon and the color orange and pumpkin fields move to store fronts and start filling front yards. This can only mean one thing: Thanksgiving is here.
Those of us who grew up in America have been learning about the history and meaning of Thanksgiving since the day we started school. Key terms like The Mayflower, Pilgrims, Native Americans, turkey and harvests have been ingrained in our minds and have helped us paint a picture of the Thanksgiving “tradition,” but what is this tradition exactly and what does it entail?
In September 1620, the Mayflower made its way to the Americas from England, carrying 102 passengers who were in search of a new home, religious freedom and a better life. After a successful corn harvest in November of 1621, Pilgrims and Native Americans gathered in gratitude of the harvest season and to give thanks for their new life and its abundance of blessings. This marked the first Thanksgiving feast in the history of our country.
This historic celebration represents a time of love and family gathering, and for some it is a representation of their acceptance and unique offerings to an ever-growing melting pot of American culture.
Thanksgiving has evolved since 1621, and is now a national holiday, celebrated by numerous people of different faiths, backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities, who add their own unique twists to the traditional Thanksgiving meal and celebration.
For Sameera Naeem, who hails from Palestine, the Thanksgiving celebration is all about honoring her family’s American and Middle Eastern cultures and “sharing the warmth of gratitude with loved ones.” For them, everyone is welcome, whether it be the immediate and extended family members, or any friends and colleagues who have nowhere to go for the holiday.
“My dad, sister and I, start prepping our huge feast the night before,” she said. “We always make turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes, and then we incorporate our favorite Arabic dishes like roasted lamb, tabbouleh and my favorite, Kibbeh Nayyeh, which is a very traditional raw meat dish.”
After dinner, Naeem says the most important part of her Thanksgiving tradition is sitting on the porch of her home with her parents, cousins, siblings, and close friends, drinking wine, chatting and telling jokes all night.
Ian Carpio, a junior at Georgia Southern University, returns to Atlanta each year for a “Peruvian-style Thanksgiving” with his entire family.
“We eat traditional Thanksgiving food mixed with Peruvian style food,” he said. “We usually have ceviche, purple potato salad and this giant white corn from Peru.”
Following their feast, Carpio says that his parents, aunts and uncles stay up late dancing while he, his brother and their cousin continue on to their next tradition, Black Friday shopping.
Kwante Ovesen, an Atlanta local, calls his Thanksgiving tradition a “Friendsgiving.” Each year, one person hosts a get-together where all of their closest friends gather to appreciate great company, food and drinks. The Friendsgiving celebration has exposed Ovesen to multiple different styles of the Thanksgiving feast, ranging from the traditional turkey and stuffing, to a vegan potluck and even a simple dinner of pizza and beer.
Most people think of a home-cooked meal when talking about Thanksgiving, but many restaurants offer a special menu for the holiday. Anna Smith is an employee at the popular steakhouse, Fogo De Chao, where they add turkey to the menu on Thanksgiving Day. Smith, who has worked on Thanksgiving for the past two years, celebrates with her family a day early. She says many people like to go out to eat on Thanksgiving, “It’s very busy usually all day and groups of people will come from as early as 11 a.m. to as late as 8 p.m.”
What is the Thanksgiving tradition then? It’s love. Although everyone celebrates the holiday in their own way and with their own twist and tradition, it seems that love, togetherness, gratefulness and full hearts are common threads. Whether you’re with family or friends, at home or in a restaurant, eating American food or food from your homeland; whether you are an immigrant, a local or a native, celebrating Thanksgiving is celebrating love.
Since the very first feast, Thanksgiving has represented migration to a new land, acceptance, shared traditions and the creation of new ones. America, The Land of the Free, is home to millions of people. Some have fled war, conflict and other hardships, others fled persecution, discrimination and oppression, and some came here in search of the American Dream. Thanksgiving is the one-day of the year when hate is silenced. All people who come together to celebrate this holiday add their own experiences, and unique touch to a constantly growing tradition that will forever be based on love.