Thread: Happy Thanksgiving, America!

It’s an amazing holiday with really old roots and a romantic story at the heart of it. It’s so homie, so cozy. It’s a holiday with the awesome tradition of giving thanks for good things that have happened to our lives. The day encourages us to sum up last year and find moments for which we can be grateful to our fate. After all, good things can always be found even if the past year hasn’t been especially favourable for us. The feeling of gratitude is great by itself. It contrasts selfishness in some sense. The holiday also refreshes our hopes for the future by reminding us of what we have already achieved. It teaches us to be more optimistic.

Were I to be sitting at the holiday table today I would find many things I can be grateful for. And my resuming learning English and joining this site’s community would certainly be among them.

Thank you. My girls and a friend of theirs are volunteering feeding the homeless right now.


The first Thanksgiving was actually at James River in Richmond, Virginia at a Plantation called Berkeley. There are several plantations in that area that are still there and my daughters and I went there several years ago for business and had no clue until we drove up and I saw the sign that this was the place of the first Thanksgiving!



The plantations are amazing. They have underground tunnels that go out to the river!

You can read more about all of the plantations.

Originally Posted by rockzmom

Thank you. My girls and a friend of theirs are volunteering feeding the homeless right now.

How exciting. Please, can you tell how the feeding the homeless is being held? I mean where are they fed? Who provides the food? What kind of food is that? Is that something especially delicious or an ordinary food? What exactly are you doing? Are there many homeless people where you live? Who checks if they are really homeless or maybe that doesn’t matter? Aren’t people feel awkward to eat donated food? And if they are homeless where do they live?

Can anyone else tell about this tradition where you live, please?

Nobody congrats Canada They had Thanksgiving a month ago. Happy Thanksgiving whoever celebrates it

This year, The Fillmore, a concert venue not too far from us held their first "Giving Thanks Day." They sent out emails to local schools and posted information in the local newspapers to get volunteers. The girls said that they got lists of names from local charities of families who are in need and invited them to come and have dinner as well as advertising that the meals were available to anyone who needed the meal. They also created "goodie bags" of donated items with shampoos, soap, tooth brushes, non-perishable food items and so on to give to everyone.

One of the local food/grocery stores has a big feed the homeless program every year in Washington, DC. They do it on the day prior, so it was yesterday. This year nearly 5,000 people were fed. The event also featured a job fair and a free clothing distribution for those in need. Organizers also offered free health screenings, flu vaccines and diabetes testing.

The food is the "typical" Thanksgiving food with turkey, stuffing, cranberry, pumpkin pie, sweet potato. They usually get it donated or a company sponsors it and it becomes a tax write off.


Below is the email that we got about the girl's shift:

Thank you all so much for volunteering to be a part of our first annual Giving Thanks event at The Fillmore!


Our first year in Silver Spring has been wonderful, and we are very excited to start a new Thanksgiving Day tradition with your help. We ventured into this event somewhat blindly, with very open minds, and were overwhelmed by the welcoming warmth and helpfulness of the community. Giving Thanks will be a yearly tradition for The Fillmore Silver Spring and we could not thank you all enough for offering to be a part of its inaugural date with us. There is no way we could have pulled this together without your generosity.

WHO: All of you wonderful volunteers!


WHAT: Various tasks to set up the main hall of the venue for lunch. These tasks include setting up tables and chairs, making table decorations, arranging care packages, preparing buffet tables, setting up the kitchen, etc. You will receive your task at the volunteer check-in table.


WHEN: 8 AM – 10 AM.* Our general manager will lead the day with a pre-shift meeting at 8:10 AM.


*The shift was originally 7 AM, but with the amazing number of volunteers, we are certain that two hours will be enough time to set up.


WHERE: The Fillmore in downtown Silver Spring.


Again, thank you for volunteering to play such a huge role in the first annual Giving Thanks event. Please feel free to reach out should you have any questions!


We look forward to seeing you Thursday!


P.S. We are still collecting donations of non-perishable food items, reusable bags, toiletries and clothing. Feel free to bring any donations when you arrive for your shift. The Fillmore will also be open for donations Wednesday from 10 AM – 10 PM.

Originally Posted by Doomer

Nobody congrats Canada They had Thanksgiving a month ago. Happy Thanksgiving whoever celebrates it

Nobody congratulated Canada? I wish I had gotten registered on the site earlier.

Originally Posted by rockzmom

This year, The Fillmore, a concert venue not too far from us held their first "Giving Thanks Day." They sent out emails to local schools and posted information in the local newspapers to get volunteers. The girls said that they got lists of names from local charities of families who are in need and invited them to come and have dinner as well as advertising that the meals were available to anyone who needed the meal. They also created "goodie bags" of donated items with shampoos, soap, tooth brushes, non-perishable food items and so on to give to everyone.

One of the local food/grocery stores has a big feed the homeless program every year in Washington, DC. They do it on the day prior, so it was yesterday. This year nearly 5,000 people were fed. The event also featured a job fair and a free clothing distribution for those in need. Organizers also offered free health screenings, flu vaccines and diabetes testing.

The food is the "typical" Thanksgiving food with turkey, stuffing, cranberry, pumpkin pie, sweet potato. They usually get it donated or a company sponsors it and it becomes a tax write off.

It’s so interesting, Rockzmom. 5000 people fed and the amazing number of volunteers? It should be seen. I can imagine the joy and kind feelings of all those who volunteered. Charity impresses by itself but charity on a national scale is just breathtaking.

Originally Posted by Helenej

It’s an amazing holiday with really old roots and a romantic story at the heart of it.

Спасибо за праздничные приветы! Right now I'm at my sister's house, helping to cook Thanksgiving dinner. For some reason, my 5-year-old nephew insisted on narrating the story of the Easter Passion (using деревянные куклы, "little wooden dolls"), even though it's the wrong time of year. And the kid is disturbingly eager to be the Roman soldier who kills Jesus with the spear ("Mommy, is it time to stab him yet??")... it reminds me of a scene from A Clockwork Orange.

Anyway, I just wanted to add to Helenej's comments that even though we have a lot of stupid holidays in the U.S., Thanksgiving is one of our best "inventions." And another good thing about Thanksgiving is its "non-sectarian" nature that's not connected with any specific religion -- reflecting the long American tradition of so-called Ceremonial Deism. In my family we've got Catholics, Protestants, atheists, and a few Muslims, but everyone enjoys Thanksgiving, without feeling that they're being unfaithful to their own beliefs.

Originally Posted by Doomer

Nobody congrats Canada They had Thanksgiving a month ago.

Obviously, Canadians are a way more grateful than their US counterparts.

I give thanks for all my awesome friends here at Masterrussian!

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

[B]I just wanted to add to Helenej's comments that even though we have a lot of stupid holidays in the U.S., Thanksgiving is one of our best "inventions." And another good thing about Thanksgiving is its "non-sectarian" nature that's not connected with any specific religion -- reflecting the long American tradition of so-called Ceremonial Deism. In my family we've got Catholics, Protestants, atheists, and a few Muslims, but everyone enjoys Thanksgiving, without feeling that they're being unfaithful to their own beliefs.

I feel I’m becoming envious of you having such an irreligious, nonpolitical, irrelevant to man and woman's relationship, elevating holiday.

Helen, thanks for the post you seem to be very interested about tradition and all. I will let you know how its done here in PR as soon as I get back from my grandma's ^^

So after I got back last night I think I ate so much that I was falling asleep zzzzz definitely not in a thinking mood.
Thanksgiving in PR:
Families come together to share and celebrate. I really dont know of many fams that sit at the table like Americans like to do at least for this one evening.
Its more like a party than anything else. What can I say? we love to party ^^ I took some pics of the food at my gran's I didn't take one of the turkey cause we all know how that looks xp
2012-11-22_18-33-53_32.jpg2012-11-22_18-58-31_524.jpg
That's what American's call Puertorican Rice. Its mostly rice with pigeon beans but my mom added little pieces of pork, bacon and "pimiento morron" (apparently that translates as Spanish Red Peppers)
The other pic is a simple potato salad (ham, boiled eggs, potatoes and mayo. In my house we makes 2 bowls the other one has apples n "pimiento morron"
About the turkey, which I didnt take a picture off. We season it a few days ahead with tons of spices, then roast it in the oven and my mom like adding pineapples,cherries and bacon to it... yes my mom is a little odd like that hehe but it tastes delicious, very juicy.
As you can see its nothing fancy but its always nice to get together with the whole fam and enjoy each other.

Joyan, thanks so much for sharing your version of Turkey day! I've only been to Puerto Rico once and I was around maybe 8 years old. It rained the entire time and then the power ended up going out in our hotel... so our family went to Miami on the way home to get some sun! I went there for a swim meet and believe it or not, I still have the award I won from it all these years later. One day I need to go back there and replace those old memories with better ones.

You should start a thread and let us all know about PR.

Originally Posted by Joyan

The other pic is a simple potato salad (ham, boiled eggs, potatoes and mayo).

This reminds me of a salad that has always been the biggest hit on holiday tables in the former Soviet Union. Actually it remains extremely popular nowadays. I even cannot imagine a holiday without this salad. We call it “olivye” after the name of Belgian Lucien Olivier, the chef of the Hermitage, one of Moscow’s most celebrated restaurants. It is called Russian salad worldwide, though. It is made of sausage, potatoes, carrots, boiled eggs, canned peas, green and pickled cucumbers, spring and large onions, and it is dressed with mayonnaise.

Olivier salad - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sorry, my post has nothing to do with Thanksgiving.

This thread reminds me of a funny experience I had when I was living in Russia. This was waaaaay back during Glasnost/Perestroika - so some of you younger folks may need to drag out the history books))).

Anyway, I decided to have a Thanksgiving dinner and I invited all my Russian friends. There were no turkeys available in St. Petersburg (Leningrad!!) at that time, so I bought the biggest chicken I could find and used that. I also couldn't find a pumpkin, so I found a squash that kinda looked like a pumpkin - except it was green - and made quasi-pumpkin pie out of that.

Then after we had all eaten the sumptuous feast, I informed the men that it was American tradition for the men to wash the dishes on Thanksgiving, since the women prepare the food. But all of the men refused! They said it was "women's work" and that Russian men NEVER do dishes! Yes, seriously.

Ahhh, fun times!

Продолжение дискуссии в новой (оф-тапочной) теме:
http://masterrussian.net/f13/домашние-обязанности-и-традиции-в-разных-странах-оф-топик-20521/