Thanksgiving and More
Different foods, traditions, gatherings, and more.
By: Brooklyn Elliott and Emma VanDerwarker
Thanksgiving is celebrated around the world, but not universally; there are many countries that have their own versions of festivities. For example, Canada’s Thanksgiving is on the second Monday of October, followed by Germany celebrating Erntedankfest in early October. Liberia’s holiday is on the first Thursday of November. Other harvest-related festivals exist, such as South Korea's Thanksgiving, which is celebrated around the world with variations, often as a harvest festival that honors the year's bounty and blessings. While the North American version focuses on a specific meal and history, other countries like Germany, Japan, and Korea observe their own unique traditions, including harvest parades, labor appreciation, and family gatherings with special foods. The common thread is a time to express gratitude for community, family, and the harvest, though the specific customs, timing, and cultural context differ significantly from one country to another.
The different foods shared around the dinner table during Thanksgiving would include the fattening sugar, salt, and fat, but also some people take Thanksgiving lunch or dinner the more healthy way with less salt, sugar, and fat. Some of the common foods shared around within the U.S.A. are pumpkin pie, turkey, ham, canned beets, and green bean casserole. The more exotic meals shared around the world, for example, a Moroccan Thanksgiving meal includes Main: Turkey Bastilla (a savory-sweet pie) Sides: Vegetable Tagine, couscous, grilled lamb chops, or chicken with livers & lemons Dessert: Baklava with pumpkin butter. In Korea, a Korean Thanksgiving meal includes Main: Sweet & Spicy Korean Braised Turkey Stuffing: A possible side could be a Smoked-Oyster Sticky Rice Stuffing in a lotus leaf with oysters, mushrooms, and Chinese sausage. Many different countries have many different meals shared around the table during Thanksgiving, but all resemble the coming together for a meal shared with close friends and family members.
During the Thanksgiving holiday, some of the traditional activities involve watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, creating paper turkeys, or even hiding a rubber chicken and finding the rubber chicken like hide and go seek. Watching American football is also a favorite in many different homes during Thanksgiving. This year, the Green Bay Packers at the Detroit Lions, the Kansas City Chiefs at the Dallas Cowboys, and the Cincinnati Bengals at the Baltimore Ravens stadium. During the holiday of giving thanks, many different states in America hold what is known as a “turkey trot,” which is basically a 5K or also known as running; those states include California, New York, Massachusetts, Georgia, and Missouri, which are among the states that host popular "turkey trot" races, with events ranging from family-friendly fun runs to large-scale marathons.
The Thanksgiving traditions between different families consist of going on a family walk, the children playing football in the front yard, everybody helping cook the Thanksgiving meal, and painting a pumpkin. After the Thanksgiving meal is finished, the whole family will take a nice long walk to help the food digest and also to spend some quality time together and off the cell phones. The children of the families are sent outside and away from the cook due to fewer accidents in the kitchen and the fewer messes before the meal. The helping of cooking the meal usually is assigned to the older generations of the families, and the younger generations are made to sit and watch the magic happen. Painting pumpkins is an excellent way to express one's love towards the family traditions and spend quality time with those who you love, whether it be family or close friends.
The Thanksgiving spirit and traditions are spread throughout the world. The five countries and cities that celebrate Thanksgiving consist of Brazil, Germany, The Netherlands, Liberia, and Japan. These five countries all celebrate differently, with Brazil not necessarily celebrating Thanksgiving but in a different way. “Brazil celebrates an unofficial Thanksgiving called 'Dia de Ação de Graças,' which means 'Day of Thanksgiving,' on the fourth Thursday of November. The tradition was inspired by the American holiday and is increasingly embraced, though it is not a national holiday. Celebrations are similar to the U.S., with families gathering for a large meal, often featuring turkey, and many, especially in evangelical churches, attend morning services to express gratitude.
Germany does not have a national holiday called Thanksgiving, but it celebrates a similar festival called Erntedankfest (Harvest Thanksgiving Festival), typically on the first Sunday of October. Unlike the American holiday, the German celebration is more public and religious, often including church services, parades with decorated floats, and community events. The focus is on giving thanks for the harvest, and celebrations often include traditional German foods, music, dancing, and sometimes fireworks or lantern parades in the evening.
The Netherlands has its own version of Thanksgiving called "Dankdag," celebrated on the first Wednesday in November, primarily observed in Reformed churches as a day to give thanks for the harvest. For American expats and others celebrating the American holiday, the focus is on holding feasts with American-style food, and the city of Leiden holds a special church service for Americans.
Liberia celebrates its National Thanksgiving Day on the first Thursday of November with a public holiday, church services, and a large family feast. Unlike the American tradition, the feast features West African cuisine, such as spicy roast chicken, jollof rice, and mashed cassava. Many Liberians also incorporate live music, dancing, and outdoor activities, sometimes on the beach, into their celebrations.
Japan does not celebrate American Thanksgiving, but it does have its own national holiday called Labor Thanksgiving Day on November 23rd, which is a modern version of an ancient harvest festival. People express gratitude for labor and work done throughout the year, with traditions including children creating gifts for community workers and schools holding appreciation ceremonies. The day is often a quiet one, with some families enjoying a special meal like fish, rice, and seaweed salad, but with no set "traditional" menu like in the U.S.
We celebrate Thanksgiving to commemorate the 1621 harvest feast between the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag people, which has become a national holiday for giving thanks. President Abraham Lincoln established the first national Thanksgiving Day in 1863, and today it is a holiday focused on gratitude, family, and a shared meal. Other cultures have developed celebrating Thanksgiving based on a universal desire to give thanks for harvests and blessings. They have adapted the holiday through their own cultural lens, often by incorporating local ingredients and practices, and in some cases by reinterpreting its own meaning.
Purple Press is a publication vehicle for student expression.
The school board encourages students to express their views in school-sponsored publications and to observe rules for responsible journalism. This means expression that falls into any of the following categories shall not be permitted: any expression which is false or obscene, libelous, slanderous, or defamatory under state law, which presents a clear and present danger of the commission of unlawful acts, violation of school rules or materials and substantial disruption of the orderly operation of the school or which violates the privacy rights of others.
Student editors of school-sponsored publications are responsible for determining the news, opinion, and advertising content of the publication. The publication's advisor is responsible for supervising the production of the publication and for teaching and encouraging free responsible expression and professional standards of journalism.
The views expressed in the Purple Press are not necessarily those of Clovis High School or the Clovis Municipal School Board of Education.
Advisor: Augustine Martinez
