How do you celebrate Thanksgiving where you’re from?

We all see Thanksgiving as this iconic American holiday, when the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Native Americans joined together to celebrate a time of unity and food (which ended fairly quickly… but that leads in a different direction). Sure, football and the Macy’s Parade are quite American, but the central element of Thanksgiving is often overlooked: gratitude.

The concept of gratitude is certainly universal, and while American students may feel obliged to introduce the holiday to their international friends, perhaps it’s high time for the Americans to see how Thanksgiving is a holiday loved throughout the world. So we decided to ask some of our own NYU international students to find out more about the Thanksgiving equivalent from their hometowns.

Canada

Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving Day with mashed potatoes, turkey, and stuffing too!

The United States isn’t the first one to celebrate the holiday Thanksgiving, as it is. In fact, Canada celebrated the first Thanksgiving in 1578 during the voyage of English explorer Martin Frobisher. Thanksgiving was, in fact, always celebrated in Canada ever since, even before it was declared to be a national holiday in 1879. The holiday is on a Monday so families can spend a long weekend together. Similar to the United States, football is an important aspect of modern day Canadian Thanksgiving, the Canadian Football League features the annual doubleheader, the Thanksgiving Day Classic.

China/Taiwan/Singapore

Sim Wee Ong loves mooncakes!

The Moon Festival, or more formally known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, is a holiday widely celebrated in China, as well as Taiwan and Singapore. The holiday celebrates the gathering of friends and family, plentiful harvests, and most importantly, giving thanks (although some arguably claim mooncakes are the epitome of the holiday).

For Sim Wee Ong, a freshman studying at CAS, her favorite part about the Mid-Autumn Festival is “the food, because you don’t get mooncake year round,” and quite honestly, food is certainly one of the best parts of every holiday.

Japan

Taiyaki: A delicious Japanese cake with a red bean paste filling popular during festivals

Although Japan is more than 6,000 miles away from the United States, the Japanese have a holiday named Labor Thanksgiving Day (which sounds strangely familiar). This holiday is celebrated annually on November 23rd. The holiday encourages people to focus on environment preservation, peace and human rights. It is also traditionally a harvest festival for cereals such as rice, wheat, and beans.

South Korea

Chuseok, in Korea, is a major harvest festival and consists of a delicious, traditional feast, similar to the concept of Thanksgiving. Family members also hold a memorial service for their ancestors the morning of the holiday. Similar to the Moon Festival, families also gather during Chuseok to eat half-moon-shaped rice cakes as they sit under the full moon, cherishing the moment of unity and wishing for a happy future.

India

Alisha Sonawalla recalls a few of her favorite memories from Makar Sankranti

A South Indian festival called Pongal, which occurs every year in mid-January, is celebrated for the harvest of crops, as well as a thanksgiving to God, gifts of Nature and cattle. Although this holiday is primarily celebrated in Tamil Nadu, other states in India have their equivalents. During this holiday, people exchange gifts, dance, wear new clothes and enjoy various festivities. Alisha Sonawalla, an international student from India, celebrates Makar Sankranti, a variation of Pongal, back in her hometown. She recalled her fondest memories of “flying kites in the residential school on the cricket field with all [her] friends”.

In terms of Thanksgiving variations, these holidays are only just a few. What’s important is the realization we, as a world population, are completely interconnected, especially at NYU. We constantly meet various students everyday who grew up in what feels like a completely different world from our own, but in the end we learn that we are all very similar. This Thanksgiving, let’s give our thanks to the ones we love, but also to our international friends, because united we are stronger.