Friday, November 23, 2007
THANKSGIVING
We celebrated thanksgiving yesterday - in true expat style - by having some Brits over for a voyeuristic feast. They were fascinated by the whole affair and had a lot of questions: "Do you give gifts?," "What are yams?," "Is this a celebration of Independence from Britain?"
Their queries made me consider the holiday in a new light, as I explained that it is actually a harvest festival celebrating the memory of the good first harvest that Native Americans helped early settlers achieve and the promise of a winter of plenty instead of starvation. That last part really caught my attention as I said it, and made me finally understand why this holiday is perhaps the most significant one in the American calendar. The Thanksgiving feast isn't just about giving thanks for what we have, it's also about demonstrating to ourselves and our families that we are going to be okay in the future - we have enough to get through the dark time of winter - we will survive. Looking at it in that light, our tradition of over-eating on this day seems less like gluttony and more like a celebration of human potential.
I remember when my sister lived in Africa, she told me how important feast days were in the local community. People who didn't quite have enough to eat on a regular basis would save up their money and spend it all on an occasional blow-out feast, rather than spending it little by little and eating more each day. She said this confused her at first, but ultimately she realized that the joy of feasting was greater than that of an extra daily helping. Feasting makes us feel full and satisfied in a special way - it is something to look forward to - to revel in. And a sense of abundance (even a short-lived one) pushes back the tendrils of mortal dread that perpetually linger in the backs of our minds, waiting for a dark day to sprout.
So while I once considered it foolish to spend 8 hours cooking for the 20-minute pleasure of eating a big meal among friends and family, I am a new convert to the symbolic value of the feast. As I peel potatoes and layer them w/ salt, pepper, nutmeg and cream (my grandmother's recipe for Potatoes Dauphinaise), I am not just making a savory side-dish, I am manifesting the love my grandmother had for her family and that I have for mine in sensory form. And the smell and taste of this dish carry with them a wave of memories, of childhood afternoons spent at other tables, with everyone wearing their best clothes, and football on in the background, and the general warmth and ease of a day when nothing was expected except that we eat and lie around and enjoy each other's company.
I hope you had a good thanksgiving, that you were with people you love (or at least like), and that you too were calmed and coddled by the familiar smells and tastes. I leave you with the beautiful words of my friend Yosha, who eloquently captures what is best about this season:
Be well.
"Holidays. Little girls (and boys!). The familiar pressure of weather, blankets, families; the density that accumulates at the bottom of the year. We gather what comfort we can and keep it close, hunker down in our pocket of safety, and get slow and rich and sweet and sleepy. It's good to be alive, and to know each other."
Photo by caldjr
Labels: Community Muses, Family Life
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Given this, you might be interested in Charlemagne's Tablecloth: A Piquant History of Feasting. I'm really interested in the cultural history of food these days (has to do with my work with pet food, I imagine).
Hope you're well,
Tom (from Iowa, but now in Olympia, WA)
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Hope you're well,
Tom (from Iowa, but now in Olympia, WA)
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