By Vishnu Bisram
Guyanese and persons from other nationalities now living in the United States of America – their adopted homeland, are celebrating the traditional Thanksgiving weekend with family and close friends. Indeed Guyanese have good reasons to give thanks to America which has been welcoming them for over fifty years. Since their arrival in the US, many Guyanese have been successful at almost every aspect of life – acquiring their own homes, vehicles, attaining higher education etc. They are also known to be very generous as many of them use this occasion to share their earnings with the poorer sections of the American society. This is their way of giving thanks for their presence and success achieved in the US.
Thanksgiving Day is a historical celebration in the U.S going back to the early 1600s since the early settlement of North America by Europeans. It is a national holiday. The festival grew out of the harvest celebrations of England and is celebrated in the Fall, the end of harvest in the Southern U.S. The early English immigrants introduced it in the US giving thanks for the harvest and the blessings of the past year.
Guyanese view Thanksgiving as an occasion for family reunions and big dinners. Relatives normally take turn hosting dinner over a four-day period (from Thursday to Sunday). The Thanksgiving dinner normally includes the traditional baked or roasted turkey, pumpkin pie, sweet yams, corn, cranberry jelly, and salad (including sugar beets) with wine and other hard liquor. Caribbean people normally supplement their meals with their own traditional ethnic dishes including dhal puri, pachounie, phulourie, bara, fried rice, chowmein, and fried channa as snacks and their favorite drinks — mauby and sorrel for the children and lots of good Caribbean rum for the adults. For desert, there is black cake, pumpkin pie and sweet potato pie. And it is not unusual for them to substitute the turkey with curried duck, chicken, mutton, and goat, etc.
All religious denominations observe Thanksgiving, including Muslims and Hindus. And giving is part of their culture. They donate food to shelters and or host dinners for the unfortunate. Christian churches also host dinners for the poor and homeless.
Although a small community, Guyanese nationals give a lot during thanksgiving. Many use the Thanksgiving occasion to give generously to the charities of their choice, including the Red Cross and the American Cancer Institute in addition to their local mandir, masjid and church. Others send money to friends and relatives back home. To give thanks, some bake turkeys and cakes which are donated to homeless shelters. Their assistance helps to ease social problems such as hunger, poverty and homelessness in the City.
Thanksgiving Day is usually celebrated with the largest parade in the nation on Fifth Avenue. The parade normally features all kinds of magnificent floats and balloons of cartoon characters and a host of Hollywood celebrities and sports stars. It normally attracts a large number of Guyanese. But most people tend to be glued to the television sets which carry live broadcasts of the parade.
By observing the festival, Guyanese are participating in a mainstream American celebration in the same manner that they celebrate their own traditional festivals such as Phagwah, Deepavalli, Eid, Qurbani, Christmas, etc. It must be known to the American society that Guyanese are generous in sharing their wealth and giving back to the society to which they owe their success. They are very thankful, not only because they live in America, but for the many blessings they have received during their lifetime. HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL.
