With November kicking off, many students at San Dimas High School are looking forward to Thanksgiving. Students on campus have a wide range of different cultural backgrounds. Saints share their opinions on how they celebrate Thanksgiving based on their ethnic backgrounds.
Different cultures that have moved to America experience Thanksgiving differently from the way the average person does. Thanksgiving is a holiday that originated during the early colonization of the Americas as a result of the first successful harvest between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people.
People from all over the world who have moved to America have mostly picked up the Thanksgiving spirit by celebrating with a feast. This has brought significant diversity among people from different backgrounds.
When speaking to Senior Cole Lipp, who is of Asian heritage, he says, “Some Asian foods are typically the same, but the tradition I say is different. Every year we have a family gathering. Some of the people at these gatherings I have also never met before. Recently we have been going to Vegas with my entire family, and it ends up with 40-70 of us reuniting.”
Senior Kiro Mikhail who has a different perspective as he is of Arabic background experiences different things at the table. “It’s called Ruz Belkhalta which has rice and a variety of different kinds of nuts in it,” Kiro stated. Another dish he talks about is “Macarona Bachmel, which is an Egyptian pasta that is really similar to lasagna.”
Even when both of them have different experiences or different foods, there are still people on the other hand, who have different descents who experience things very similarly to the typical American Thanksgiving.
Senior Diego Dominguez, who is Salvadorian, experiences a very “typical”
Thanksgiving, as there is “stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, turkey, ham, and just most of the basic Thanksgiving foods.” He also provides the differences in the foods his family eats. “The only thing I would say is different would be that my family also has a variety of different kinds of tamales at the table, like sweet, red, and green,” stated Dominguez.
There are many different types of Thanksgivings that some people can experience. Thanksgiving has grown to become a huge holiday, as slowly over the years it has become more and more diverse. People around the world have been contributing to it, bringing their heritage. Saints around school are just one example of how Thanksgiving can be experienced differently among immigrants as they integrate their cultures into the American holiday.
