It’s Thursday, November 24^th, a pretty normal day for most people in some parts of the world. Here in Lagos, Nigeria, as in several other cities and countries, people are up and about their typical daily livelihood. Nothing more than the usual hustle and bustle; traffic, screaming conductors, honking motorists, food hawkers dishing out Ofada at motor park corners, and Gala and La Casera hawkers racing faster than Usain Bolt to catch up with customers on the move. It can not be more typical here, can it? However, in the United States, every last Thursday in the month of November is a national holiday, it is Thanksgiving Day.

In the United States, Thanksgiving Day is one traditionally set aside for families and friends to get together for a special meal. For students, it’s a wonderful time to celebrate getting out of school for a long weekend. It is also a quiet weekend for workers as most offices and businesses allow their staff a four-day weekend. Basically, for most Americans, it is the start of the Christmas holiday season.

The celebration often includes parades, huge meals that revolve around turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie and vegetables. Playing and watching American football, and of course, shopping. On this day, there is a rush of consumerism as stores, mostly retailers, have really big sales leading up to Black Friday. There’s also the tradition of the turkey pardon, where one or two lucky turkeys are granted a reprieve. This means it doesn’t get to be a meal on an American family table and can continue living life on a choice farm, or a historical site.

Yesterday, President Obama spared the lives of two turkeys, Tater and Tot. Both turkeys are to spend their remaining days living at a university, Virginia Tech’s Gobblers Rest, as they join a long line of Presidential turkeys. Prior to the ceremony, both turkeys, dubbed TOTUS – Turkey(s) of the United States, were pampered on a farm in Northwest Iowa. According to CNN, they “enjoyed a plush upbringing, receiving hand feedings, baths, and soft rock music.”

The most significant part of Thanksgiving is what it represents for most Americans, save Native Americans, which is a time for them to give thanks for what they have, or have achieved throughout the year. But this national sentiment isn’t shared by all due to the varying historical accounts attached to the inception of Thanksgiving.

Background

By most accounts, the history of Thanksgiving in the US dates back to 1621 when European pilgrims, Dutch settlers, celebrated a harvest with Native Americans (Indians) in Plymouth Colony, now known as Massachusetts. This celebration then spread through the emerging country and was celebrated on different days in different communities until 1789 when George Washington proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving Day.

Others say America’s first true thanksgiving was in 1623 when the settlers gave thanks for rain that ended a long season of drought. According to this account, Thanksgiving was in the form of a special church service, rather than a feast.

But Native Americans dispute these accounts, calling them fairy tales distorted to conceal the truth, and therefore do not join in the celebration. Their account tells the story of how the settled pilgrims invaded the village of Pequot in 1637 by the order of Massachusetts governor John Winthrop, and killed thousands of Indian men, women, and children, and setting the entire village on fire. They say the massacre led to the creation of Thanksgiving as the governor declared the following day, a day to give thanks to God for the elimination of over 700 men, women, and children. And so for the next hundred years, every Thanksgiving was in honour of the ‘bloody victory’.

History has it that the event marked the beginning of a Native-American genocide that continued for decades, a conquest of the entire continent until most Native Americans were exterminated, and a few finally integrated into white society.

What Thanksgiving means to different communities in the United States

In contemporary America, Thanksgiving represents different things to different people. A majority of America see it as a day of feasting, where families sit around a well-stocked table, do a review of the year, and express gratitude. Others see it as a reminder of the Judeo-Christian heritage of America, and the need to preserve the legacy of religious freedom and passion. Many people take it as an opportunity to give back. A day to donate to the needy, and cook large meals to serve the homeless and hungry.

But given their account of history, Native Americans see Thanksgiving from a totally different perspective, and many choose to completely abstain from the festivities. As a matter of fact, on Thanksgiving Day each year since the 70’s, a group of Native Americans and their supporters have called for a National Day of Mourning at Massachusett, actively protesting against what they deem an offensive glorification of people who killed them, plundered and stole their land.

A few Native Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, but only for the survival of some of their ancestor’s in spite of the Pequot Massacre.

For Africans in diaspora, it is the only holiday or celebration apart from Christmas that they can actively participate in. Maryam a Nigerian says as a Muslim in the US, Thanksgiving is the only American festivity that gives her a sense of belonging. “I’m Muslim, so I can’t celebrate Christmas. And as a Nigerian in diaspora, I can’t really participate in the fourth of July festivities either, because I can’t really relate to it. So I always look forward to Thanksgiving, because that for me is the only holiday that is sort of secular.”

Rodney, a Sierra Leonean currently based in Nairobi, but who spent most of his childhood in the US, said he “opportunistically celebrate it (Thanksgiving) now.” This means that he makes no effort to celebrate it but will not turn down an invitation to feast and dine with friends who do. He also agrees with Maryam’s standpoint, “I guess it’s the only holiday with an underlying meaning that cuts across, as opposed to Memorial Day, or Veterans Day. Thanksgiving celebrates family, everyone can relate with that.”

But like the Native Americans, not all Africans in diaspora share in the sentiment of making merry. Dami, a Nigerian-American based in the US said she’s just mostly grateful for the holiday. For her, it is a day to get off work and be with family. But given the history of the United States, and colonialism and imperialism, it is hard for her to celebrate the day. “On the surface, it’s supposed to be about being grateful for family and friends, but at the same time, Thanksgiving is kind of commemorating the wiping out of a huge population of Native Americans, and also the institution of slavery in the United States. Keeping all these in mind, it’s kind of hard to celebrate it.”

For other Americans, it is a celebration of the mix of diverse cultures. For example, Jewish Americans see it as a celebration of their migration, and assimilation into America. To them and several other migrants, it is a reminder of how different nationalities put aside their differences and broke bread at a communal table in the spirit of brotherhood, in reference to the historic feasting that happened in 1621. For these American immigrants, Thanksgiving is a day to celebrate universalism. These people get creative with their cooking, dishing out traditional delicacies, depending on their various background.

Various Thanksgiving cuisine in pictures

A typical American Thanksgiving feast table will include Turkey, pumpkin pie, bread, vegetables, apple soup, gravy, etcetera.

Jewish Americans often have a table spread of traditional Jewish cuisines including Kugel — baked pudding, Tzimmes — a slow cooked sweet stew, and Yaprak — stuffed grape leaves.

A Thanksgiving table spread for Native Americans will include maque choux — creamy corn stew, chicken curry, fried corn bread or cake amongst other traditional cuisines.

Africans in diaspora often celebrate Thanksgiving with different African delicacies like Moi moi — bean cake(Nigeria), Mashonzha — cooked mopane worms (Southe Africa), Apapransa (Ghana), Jollof rice and chicken.

As Thanksgiving is celebrated today amid pomp, pageantry, and widespread feasting, Americans need bear in mind the varying symbol the day holds for each one of them.