Thanksgiving is a time for family and giving back to the community. As many people know it today, Thanksgiving is iconic and prevalent in American culture. It is taught as a day for thankfulness and families coming together over a meal.
Though it does have a controversial history, Thanksgiving today is not about celebrating its history but rather the traditions each family has set for the holiday. If recontextualized, the holiday could erase many family traditions across multiple cultures.
Thanksgiving is a holiday that has been mass-marketed to everyone in the United States through commercials, movies and TV shows. It is a holiday that is nationally recognized and celebrated. It is also one of the only Holidays most religions and cultures can celebrate together.
An article published by The Counter, written by Samantha Cross, shares an experience of Cross’s family holiday being about Thanksgiving marketing and how it has led to her family’s traditional Thanksgiving meals. Cross mentions that Thanksgiving is all about the food, and coming from a Caribbean background, they can make their Thanksgiving dinner include their cultural background.
For many families with different cultural backgrounds, Thanksgiving is a time to include themselves in a very American tradition that fits their families’ culture by making a holiday meal and feeling united.
According to the Latino Times, Thanksgiving holds many values of family, food, and gratitude that coincide with Latin cultural values while allowing different cultures to implement their flavors. Thanksgiving is a chance to be accepted and celebrate their heritage.
While many argue that sharing the true history of Thanksgiving requires recontextualizing the holiday, there are many ways that peoplewe can continue to teach its history without erasing the holiday as many families know it.
Schools can implement a new curriculum when discussing Thanksgiving and its history while allowing families to celebrate their traditions, and they can change how the history of Thanksgiving is shared.
Giving is a very prevalent Thanksgiving value and tradition, in addition to the traditional family meal. Certain family traditions include volunteering in a soup kitchen, donating non-perishable foods to the homeless or donating money to nonprofits.
The Martha Vineyard Times shared the story of dozens of volunteers coming together to provide meals and food for struggling families this Thanksgiving. Each bag is filled with traditional items a Thanksgiving meal calls for and is delivered to each family.
Recontextualizing Thanksgiving means changing many traditions that each family has created to fit their culture and traditions of volunteering and giving back to families in need. Thanksgiving in the present day is about celebrating family and is not about celebrating its history. Americans can be taught and informed about the holiday’s past without affecting traditions passed by each family.
