TETHERED BY TURKEY ON THIS ONE DAY A YEAR, WE'RE ALL FAMILY.Byline: Gerald Plessner NOTHING unites Americans more than turkey dinner on Thanksgiving Thanksgiving annual U.S. holiday celebrating harvest and yearly blessings; originated with Pilgrims (1621). [Am. Culture: EB, IX: 922] See : America Thanksgiving national holiday with luxurious dinner as chief ritual. [Am. Pop. . Whether rich or poor, surrounded by family at momma's house, or alone in a crowd at a free meal for the homeless, everyone is part of the American family American Family is a photographic artwork exhibition by Renée Cox. See also
Most cultures and religions have a holiday to celebrate the harvest; Thanksgiving is that, but a great deal more. It has always been the time to acknowledge the good fortune of family and friends, and to remember those who were with us last year but not this. It is a time to enjoy being with people who accept us for who we are, have known us the longest, and are a bit too eager to remind us that they knew us when! It is also a celebration of the bonds between generations, when children see their grandparents grandparents npl → abuelos mpl grandparents grand npl → grands-parents mpl grandparents grand npl , aunts, uncles and cousins all in one place. In this way, they learn that they have a place and a role in something bigger than themselves and their own immediate family. Thanksgiving has powerful unspoken lessons for our children, and when the family is small or broken, the wise parent uses Thanksgiving to show how important parents, brothers and sisters can be. Thanksgiving has been more resistant to commercialism and change than any other American holiday, and that says a lot about the resonance of its meanings. Although turkey farmers have established their product in our minds as the must-do Thanksgiving main course, and cranberry cranberry, low creeping evergreen bog plant of the genus Oxycoccus of the family Ericaceae (heath family). Cranberries are considered by some botanists to belong to the blueberry genus Vaccinium. farmers have sustained a market for a product with almost no other compelling use, American families seem to observe Thanksgiving much as they did 50 or 100 years ago. Our mothers, wives and sweethearts Sweethearts may be:
n. A dish served as an accompaniment to the main course. Noun 1. side dish - a dish that is served with, but is subordinate to, a main course entremets, side order and the desserts. Our informal survey found that regardless of ethnic background, most families make a turkey and very few make any kind of ethnic main dish. Who knows whether this results from a desire to do the ``American thing,'' or is merely a response to advertising and sale pricing? More men are getting involved in preparing the feast, but in our experience that is limited to barbecuing rather than roasting the turkey. But men seem more concerned with what happens after the meal - the lounging and complaining about eating too much, the distraction of a televised football game. Without the television, the post-Thanksgiving living room reminds us of those National Geographic specials where the lions pass out on the grassy grass·y adj. grass·i·er, grass·i·est 1. Covered with or abounding in grass. 2. Resembling or suggestive of grass, as in color or odor. Adj. 1. knoll after devouring de·vour tr.v. de·voured, de·vour·ing, de·vours 1. To eat up greedily. See Synonyms at eat. 2. To destroy, consume, or waste: Flames devoured the structure in minutes. the antelope. But the magic of Thanksgiving is not found in the food but in the people. It is the one time when everything else stops, when everyone important to each other gets together. The Wednesday before and Sunday after Thanksgiving are the year's busiest days at airports, as college kids and grown children working away from home make their annual pilgrimage pilgrimage Journey to a shrine or other sacred place undertaken to gain divine aid, as an act of thanksgiving or penance, or to demonstrate devotion. Medieval Christian pilgrims stayed at hospices set up specifically for pilgrims, and on their return trip they wore on their to the gathering the Pilgrims Pilgrims, in American history, the group of separatists and other individuals who were the founders of Plymouth Colony. The name Pilgrim Fathers is given to those members who made the first crossing on the Mayflower. founded. As much as anything, Thanksgiving celebrates the good fortune of the extended family, an institution that is, in America, both ancient and very modern at the same time. Almost every American family started somewhere else, and too many of us know not where. All of us need a sense of time and place, an understanding of where we have come from and what we might become. America's preoccupation pre·oc·cu·pa·tion n. 1. The state of being preoccupied; absorption of the attention or intellect. 2. Something that preoccupies or engrosses the mind: Money was their chief preoccupation. with race and ethnicity has something to do with this yearning, although at times that preoccupation turns into into bias and distrust. The American extended family has usually answered the questions of who we are and where we came from. Now it is beginning to solve the problems of bias and distrust. Because the extended family is becoming incredibly diverse, with intermarriage in·ter·mar·ry intr.v. in·ter·mar·ried, in·ter·mar·ry·ing, in·ter·mar·ries 1. To marry a member of another group. 2. To be bound together by the marriages of members. 3. , second marriage, postponed marriage, friendly divorce and gay and lesbian relations, it is reducing the planting ground for age-old prejudices. There often are tensions between these new relationships and traditional values Traditional values refer to those beliefs, moral codes, and mores that are passed down from generation to generation within a culture, subculture or community. Since the late 1970s in the U.S. . We should not be so naive as to assume that a meal of turkey and dressing can smooth out every difference. And those who are angered or confused should not feel alone. They should know that people with very different cultural and religious values share their anger and confusion. They should also know that time changes many things. Our increasingly tolerant society has begun to accept the reality that people have more in common than we thought, and that young people see this more clearly than we do, especially when they fall in love. They just don't see the problems with marrying someone from a background different from their own. This is especially true in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , where ethnic diversity in education and the workplace have brought us double-hyphenated couples such as Mexican-Korean-Americans or Chinese-Armenian-Americans. Nor do we still accept the idea that every divorce must be a contest in which one partner wins and the other loses, so the appearance of former spouses, sometimes bringing a new friend, has become yet another feature of the American extended family. Add to all of this the inclusion of single friends who have become like family, and the eagerness to look around and find those who would be lonely without an invitation, or are new to the community or our nation, and Thanksgiving feasts are growing increasingly larger and certainly more diverse. While we hope that the meaning and purpose of Thanksgiving will never change, we can be pleased that its message of family, love and thanks for a better life still brings us together and broadens understandings. After all, the family is in this together. And that is what Thanksgiving is really all about. CAPTION(S): drawing Drawing: (color) no caption (Thanksgiving - fruits, vegetables) Jorge Irribarren/Staff Artist |
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