THANKSGVING TRADITIONS

Happy Thanksgiving to all

None of us were at the first American Thanksgiving Day celebration.  We can only suspect those present at the time would feel surprise at the way (and reasons) for giving thanks has changed.  History tells us that the first Thanksgiving was shared with Indians who  helped the colonists survive

Today, thanks is mostly for the fact that it is a day off from school or work.  While no Indians grace any table at which I am at, many of the people seated at the table are there to eat, not work, and thankful they did not have to shop and cook the meal.  Many seem to feel that having a blood and genetic tie gives them license to grace a table on all holidays and express their disapproval for the personal and political views of all others at the table.  It was always fun when the Yankee and Greek relatives met and mixed.  The closest description of it is 'when oil meets water'.  My in-laws were always polite, arrived when the meal was said to be served, ate quietly and mentioned only totally benign subjects, excusing themselves to leave when the meal was finally over.

The Greek side came 'whenever', known as Greek time.They expected a cocktail hour and lots of hors d'ouevres.  I always knew the meal would never be served for at least a couple of hours after the 'eta' (expected time of arrival).  The most sober of the men was asked to carve the turkey while the women hustled to get food onto the table.  Despite the amount of food being eaten, the Greeks managed to talk all the way through the meal, acting like the 'insinkerator'.  The Yankees ate quietly, speaking little, and shuddering at the topics being discussed.  Every Emily Post rule would be broken as far as topics to be discussed was concerned.  Religion, politics, bad food, illnesses, arguments, personal details (of others, not the speaker) were all heard with no reaction from the Greek side and shock on the faces of the Yankee side.  Described differently, the meal was a 'reality show' for the Greeks and a 'horror show' for the Yankees.

People were forced together who neither understood nor particularly cared for one another.  The best thing that happened was they all liked the food and after a few years of these obligatory events, most got to like and respect one another for their similarities and differences.