An Italian Thanksgiving

The concept of an Italian Thanksgiving seems quite contradictory, as it is an entirely American holiday. However, when you are an American abroad, it would seem very wrong to bypass the holiday entirely, and so instead we celebrate Thanksgiving Italian style. For me, that meant foregoing the turkey dinner and pumpkin pie at my grandparents’ house to which I am accustomed and instead eating an entirely different kind of food at an osteria with my classmates and professors. But it was not only the food and the people (and the country) that were different this Thanksgiving; the overall atmosphere of the holiday was changed by being in a foreign country. Thanksgiving is such a massively important holiday in the United States that it was incredibly strange to seemingly be the only people in the city, and maybe even the country, celebrating it.

This was the second major holiday I have spent in Venice. The first was Halloween and although it was somewhat of a disappointment compared to the usual festivities of Halloween at home, I was less bothered by it because there were still people celebrating it. Besides, Halloween was never an American holiday, not originally, we’ve just revamped it into what it is today. Thanksgiving, on the other hand, is a strictly American holiday and has been ever since its origination in the 17th century.

It actually made me somewhat sad that the Italians around us weren’t celebrating Thanksgiving as well. It wasn’t because they, and we, were missing out on the traditional foods (though I have to admit that I was sorry I was missing my mom’s green beans and my grandma’s homemade pecan pie), but because they were missing out on the spirit of Thanksgiving. The holiday, which thankfully has missed out on most of the commercialization that sometimes threatens to overwhelm Halloween and Christmas, is all about gratitude, about being thankful for what we have, and, to me, always about family. As wonderful as the trip to the clock-tower truly was and as much as I enjoyed that tour, the best part of my day was still receiving the card from family. Because to me, that’s what Thanksgiving has always been about: family. As much as I love Halloween and Christmas, there is a very strong commercial element to both of those. However, Thanksgiving has somehow miraculously avoided that commercialization and retained its true roots. These roots include thankfulness for what we have, gratitude for what we have been given, and appreciation for the people around us.

But then I began to wonder about whether the Italians need a day like Thanksgiving as much as we do in America. Italian society already seems to be very family-focused because they are given such long breaks in the afternoons, during which they can go home and spend time with their families. Whereas, in the U.S. lunch is barely an hour, and sometimes not that, and people don’t see their families until sometimes as late as seven or eight in the evening due to work. So it has become especially important to have this one day on which tradition dictates that you sit down and enjoy time and a meal with your family. This holiday, more than any other was, I felt, strange to experience in Venice, not only because it is a strictly American holiday but because it is so family-centric and, with the exception of Shannon whose parents were present, none of us had our families with us. It was still a good holiday, it was just different.