A lot of my non-North American friends and relatives (especially the British ones!) are quite perplexed about the nature of this holiday despite the fact that it was the English settlers who started the custom in the United States and Canada. (The Grenadian Thanksgiving is a whole different beast.) A Chinese South African friend commented to me in Afrikaans, “Ek is baie jaloers! Hoop dat ek eendag met jou dit kan vier!” (“I’m so jealous! I hope that I can one day celebrate it with you!”)
Sure. If you can handle three days of food preparation and planning. Otherwise, Gesëende Dankfees!
The Brits have a rather odd reaction to the North American Thanksgiving. It’s like a combination of awe, disgust, confusion, admiration, indifference, and “foreignness”. But hello? Haven’t they heard of the rural British observances of Harvest Home, Harvest Festival, or Harvest Thanksgiving – the antecedents of our modern Thanksgiving holiday?
Once upon a time, the North American holiday wasn’t so different from the harvest observances in the Old Country. Sure, the food was rather different from back home, as we didn’t have English Strawberries and Cream, but the spirit was still the same: Simple gratitude for blessings received from the Supreme Being, the Merciful One who watches over all of us tenderly.
Now I could rant over how secularized Thanksgiving has become with all its parades, football games, sales, turkey obsession (the mythological first Thanksgiving certainly did not have Turkey, giblet gravy, stuffing, and Cranberry sauce), and what have you. But I’ll leave that for Christmas. After all, as a devout member of the Episcopal Church, the sole representative of the Anglican Communion in the United States, it is my bounden duty to defend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in Christ-mass. On the other hand, Thanksgiving is only a statutory holiday.
But let’s get personal here. As we took turns telling each other what we were thankful for this evening, held hands and bowed our heads to say grace, I couldn’t help but think how much I took my family for granted. So at times they may be beyond annoying, and certainly some of them are either rustic buffoons or traditionalist quacks, they are ones who will never tire of your jokes, who will always want what is best for you, and ultimately, they are all that you have. I really missed the presence of my mother and father, who will not be with us for the winter holidays, as they are recuperating in the Philippines. Sometimes it takes loss to make you feel grateful for that or whom you have taken for granted.
So I’m thankful for brotherly advice, even though sometimes it’s “in your face”, because I know I have someone who cares for me. I’m thankful for Aunts sparring over Brussels sprouts and cabbage in the kitchen, because I have a family who has taste in food. I’m thankful for little bratty cousins running around the house, because I know my family has a future. I’m thankful for a nagging boss, because I want to be better at my job. Most of all, I’m thankful that I’m here, amongst the living, because each day I have the ability to open doors and see new things, and have the possibility to love, perhaps love more deeply than I ever have, before I cross the river to a greater shore in the pure land of light.
For these blessings, for this bounty, unto you my Ancestors and Almighty God, I humbly offer you my sincere thanks. Maraming salamat, Panginoon.
Happy After-Thankgiving, dearest blog readers. Hopefully the food coma and/or heartburn doesn’t bother you much.
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