Cultural Informant _ Hebe Gurdian

HOLIDAYS IN THE US

As an international student I have always wondered about celebrations and holidays in the US, so this topic was interesting to be used for the interview. My tutor, Allison Derrick, who is from Florida, had a good idea about how holidays are different from one place to another.

My tutor considers that the most important celebrations in the U.S are the 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Halloween and New Years Eve. Personally, I had heard about 4th of July but I did not know that it was so important for Americans. In New Orleans, we both agreed that the most important holiday is Mardi Gras. According to Allison, even if Mardi Gras is not celebrated around the country, there are carnivals in other cities which are as important for them as Mardi Gras is for New Orleans. For example, Gasparilla Carnival in Tampa. They celebrate that Tampa used to be the home for a bunch of pirates from the Caribbean. It is like a party and they have parades, beads and everything.

Halloween is also very important for New Orleans. Allison described her Halloween experience in 2009 and 2010 as a “very cool” experience.

We discussed Thanksgiving Day, an American tradition that I did not understand very well until Allison explained that Thanksgiving is a cultural holiday, and the history is that the pilgrims, when they first immigrated to the United States, had a really rough time getting settled and getting enough food, and some of the local Native Americans helped them out and gave them the extra food they had and they all ate together. Thanksgiving is the day when you take time to reflex on your life and be grateful for the good things that you have.

I have always wondered if Thanksgiving is more important than Christmas for American, now I understand that both of them are important. Thanksgiving is more like a cultural holiday and Christmas is more religious. Many families celebrate Christmas in the similar way the do for Thanksgiving, with the difference that they go to the church on Christmas Eve. I think that some families with kids in America celebrate Christmas in some sense, even if they are not Christians or Catholics, only for Santa Claus tradition.

Allison studied abroad in Africa and she said that when she was in Botswana she had a Thanksgiving dinner with her friends and she tried to explain them about the importance of that day for Americans. It reminded me to Bohannan when she had Thanksgiving dinner alone, eating chicken instead of turkey and trying to feel as if she was at home.

It is really interesting to understand how Americans celebrate their holidays in different ways from one city to another. As I always say, our culture represents us, no matter where we are. A good example of this is Allison’s experience trying to keep her Thanksgiving dinner, even being in Botswana.