Native American Village @ Blogspot

The blog companion to the Native American Village, the free community and careers site for indigenous peoples, part of the IMDiversity.com Multicultural Villages network.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Adventures in Multicultural Living: Creating our own multicultural Thanksgiving traditions - AnnArbor.com


From IMDiversity.com Asian American Village editor Frances Kai-Hwa Wang. Some interesting conversation in the comments about the ethics of celebrating Thanksgiving once you know the true history about Thanksgiving, with links to the National Day of Mourning and more...

My neighbor Lisa always celebrated two Thanksgivings while growing up in Ohio, a tradition she and her siblings continue every year. First, they have a traditional “American Thanksgiving” on Thanksgiving Day with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. Then, on Friday, they have “Lebanese Thanksgiving” with hummus, kibbe, fattoush, grape leaves, hashwe rice pilaf, and meat and spinach pies. That makes for a lot of cooking and a lot of food, but with five six siblings and a ton of cousins, nobody misses a beat.

At Thanksgiving time, many families are caught wondering how to celebrate this quintessential American holiday — a holiday that is as much about the food as it is about family and giving thanks. Family is easy, everyone has family, as is the idea of giving thanks — especially for families that may have come to America because of war, oppression, poverty or lack of opportunity. However, celebrating a tradition that is not your own is more complicated than it looks.(click on link for more)


Creating our own multicultural Thanksgiving traditions - AnnArbor.com