Upon arriving in this country, I knew something about what they called el Día de Acción de Gracias (Thanksgiving), a strange celebration something like Christmas, according to what I learned in Mexico from TV programs and American films, where sometimes, people were shown having a large meal that featured a whole turkey. It was not really clear whether this was a religious festival or a national holiday, but I remember a news story of the president pardoning the life of a turkey. In those days that was a strange and exotic idea for me.

As a newcomer to Marin, I experienced this celebration first hand. On Thanksgiving eve, I accompanied my two roommates to buy a large turkey and much other food. Early the next morning, they put the turkey in the oven and set about preparing other dishes and desserts unknown to me. They put me to cutting up various ingredients and later in the day many of their friends arrived at the house. They told me that I could invite my friends also.

That evening I asked every American I could; nobody could offer me a very clear explanation of the holiday, only that it was the most important traditional holiday. They celebrated it with family or, if the family was too far away, with friends. Since the meal was in the afternoon, it was neither lunch nor dinner. I was told to “give thanks” and, since I was the “man of the house” (my two roommates were female), to carve the turkey. In the end, everybody had enough turkey, and the leftovers made lunch for several days.

Later, I could understand why it is the most important celebration. By not being explicitly religious or patriotic, it doesn’t exclude any religious or ethnic group and, furthermore, because of its family and community characteristics, it’s easily adopted by immigrants to the country. In addition, there are agencies that give turkeys and food to poor families and community or charity organizations, which invite those who are friendless or homeless to Thanksgiving dinner. This includes many Latinos.

Although the origin is old and has to do with the autumn harvest, and in some countries there is a day of gratitude for a good one, the celebration of Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada appears to have originated with the pilgrim members of an English separatist church who disembarked from the ship Mayflower in December of 1620 at Plymouth Rock, along with other colonists. 

Initially, they suffered many hardships and lost 46 of their 102 original members, but the following year they had a good harvest and decided to celebrate the occasion with 91 Indians who had helped them survive that difficult year, although the celebration was not the same as our present day one and it was not until June of 1676 that Massachusetts declared an official Thanksgiving Day; but without the Indians.

The 13 colonies celebrated the day together only one time in 1777, and George Washington declared it a national holiday in 1789, not without opposition from a few colonies that didn’t feel represented by the original pilgrims. In 1863 President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as the national day of Thanksgiving, after 40 years of lobbying by Sarah Josepha Hale, who wrote about the theme in her magazine Boston Ladies’ Magazine and then in her book, Godey’s Lady’s Book.

However, over time the ways of celebrating varied among the various regions of the country and sometimes, if the month had five Thursdays, there was confusion as to which day to celebrate; the fourth or the fifth. Little by little, things became standardized, ending with the holiday we know today. Thanksgiving is the major traditional, national and family holiday in the United States, and it is the day when the greatest number of people travel to be with their families. And there are parades, football and basketball games and other celebrations.

These things make it so that the American Thanksgiving can’t really be replicated in any other country, in spite of the enormous influence the United States exercises in the world. Its customs around Christmas and New Year’s are increasingly being adopted in many countries, though; most recently, Halloween and other customs, including musical styles, artistic genres and life in general.

Latinos living here have, in general, happily adopted the celebration of el Día de Acción de Gracias, perhaps because it is a family-oriented holiday and seems somehow religious. I know Latino families who celebrate it, without knowing exactly why. They have told me that it is a day to thank God or that they used to celebrate it in their village. Confusing for sure. Many have combined their culinary and religious traditions, i.e., praying and then sitting down to a delicious meal of tamales, tacos, mole and other scrumptious concoctions. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

Victor Reyes is a translator, teacher, writer and native of Puebla, Mexico, with decades-old ties to the Light.