Thanksgiving, the American ‘Fiesta’

November 23, 2017November 24, 2017 | Chelsea

Your alarm goes off and you peel your eyes open to be partially blinded by your phone’s screen. The time reads 5:30am and you sit up straight and begin to stretch. Out in the kitchen you make yourself a cup of coffee and rest before beginning to prepare the biggest feast of the year. The menu is the same every year, but you still find yourself meticulously going over each recipe to make sure you didn’t forget any ingredients. No one wants to run to the neighbor’s house today to ask for a forgotten can of cream, or half cup of sugar.

After you contend that you have everything you could possibly need you begin to prepare the traditional dishes. Slowly and steadily the table begins to fill. The rest of the house wakes up to the sweet aroma of cooking foods. The family is immediately hungry and eager for the feast to come. You take a short break to watch the parade, and get ready to welcome family and old friends to share in the spirit of….

Thanksgiving? Fiesta? The end of that sentence is entirely up to you, Bahala ka.

On the surface these events seem very different, but the purpose of these celebrations is rooted in values that know no cultural bounds. Family, food, and cultural pride.

Christmas has begun

Family.

Fiesta, or Thanksgiving, family travels far and wide to come home and celebrate with their loved ones. The house is brought to life by warm hugs and conversations of life in the year (or years) past.

Food.

These holidays are nothing without the food! Buko salad, lechon, pansit, fried chicken, macaroni salad, fruit salad, among others grace the table during fiesta as stuffing, turkey, sweet potato casserole, and cranberry sauce do during Thanksgiving.

Cultural Pride.

Both of these celebrations have parades that go along with them that highlight distinctive traits of their respective cultures. It had never occurred to me how deeply cultural the Thanksgiving day parade was until I saw the fiesta parades of the Philippines.

To me, the fiesta parades illustrated cultural value, history, and folklore. The dancers describe historical happenings, and the floats are designed to highlight important foods and exports. The Thanksgiving day parade is no different. The Thanksgiving day parade highlights foods that are typically used in it’s celebration, turkey, pumpkins, apples. We also dress in costume that is meant to be a tribute to the history of the holiday (the accuracy of this costume and version of history is another story). Many of it’s floats and acts are unique to the United States, whether they feature TV cartoon characters, a scene from a new Broadway show, or well-known celebrities.

It’s a fascinating experience to take a step back, and analyze my own culture on a larger scale. Describing the culture of the United States to people who have never experienced it, is a very difficult task. People want generalizations.

What do Americans eat?

What do Americans wear?

What sort of things do Americans do?

I always find it impossible to answer questions that generalize about the United States, because we are a country of such vast cultural diversity. Of course not EVERYONE in The United States celebrates Thanksgiving the same, but it’s one of the few generalizations I feel comfortable making.

Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, it holds a different meaning for different people. For my family it’s the epitome of autumn celebrations. Thanksgiving signifies the end of fall and the beginning of the Christmas season. It’s a time for family and to be thankful. Usually at my home we celebrate by cooking up all of the traditional foods, and a few of our own specialties (chocolate chocolate cake, cheesecake by mistake, to name a few of my mom’s famous dishes). We eat far too much and end up watching the movie ‘Elf’ in our sleepy, stuffed, stupor to officially start the Christmas season.

Post Thanksgiving Food Coma

1 Thanksgiving dinner later…

Christmas has begun

This year I taught my host nieces how to make hand turkeys, baked apple pie and stuffing. Tonight I’ll feel a little homesick while I video chat with my family, and I’ll make them turn the camera towards the television so I can watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

As the ‘firsts’ turn into ‘lasts’ this year, I can’t help but wonder maybe next year I’ll be experiencing similar feelings as I force feed my family in the United States buko salad to celebrate fiesta…

Not Quite Ready for Christmas Cheer

November 8, 2017November 8, 2017 | Chelsea

The period of time after Halloween and before Thanksgiving in the United States is a grey area. It’s not quite Christmas, but it’s also no longer that spooky pre-Halloween time. We all know those eager Christmas junkies that break out their Christmas decor on November 1, and can be heard humming holiday carols at all times of the day. The ladder, is the group of people who aren’t quite ready to embrace the ‘most wonderful time of the year’.

In my opinion, Christmas starts right after everyone has filled themselves to the brim with Thanksgiving dessert and the whole family settles into the couch and to watch the movie ‘Elf’.

So for those not quite ready to let Fall go, here is a post-Halloween article about the ghost and ghouls that haunt the Philippines.

In America we have things like vampires, ghosts, bigfoot, demons and spirits. And we all know at least one or two good ghost stories. Whether we’ve experienced the supernatural ourselves, or we’re relaying a story we heard from a friend, there’s nothing quite like a spooky tale that sends chills down your spine. The Philippines is no different! There are ghosts and ghouls that haunt this corner of the world too. I could explain them all, but I think this video does them more justice than I ever could:

The supernatural world is still alive and active in the Philippines, there are precautions to be taken in order to limit your vulnerability to the hurtful spirits. Like saying ‘tabi tabi po’ when passing by an area well known for Encantado (american equivalent would be a fairy). If you do find yourself effected, healers can be found in every City, Municipality, Barangay, and Situ. They are the ones that can heal ailments that cannot be cured by doctors or medicine. When I was sick a few months ago, the first thing I was asked was if I had offended anyone, as they may have put a curse on me. A quick diagnosis by Nanay determined I was ‘really sick talaga’ and had not been cursed.

But now that it’s drawing closer and closer to Christmas (and there’s no Thanksgiving to perpetuate the Fall) the spooky stories are being put away for next season, and the Christmas trees are being decorated with tinsel and lights. Hopefully I’ll spend my last Christmas in the Philippines in Casiguran, and not consolidated for another Typhoon!

One less Turkey in the Yard

December 2, 2016March 29, 2017 | Chelsea

My preparation for Pinoy Thanksgiving started about two weeks prior to The Big Day. Since it’s now the holiday season (has been since September but we’ll talk about that another day) I’m going to give this story a little Christmas flair.

Twas the day before Thanksgiving and I twas freaking out

Are kamote and sweet potato the same thing? I was beginning to have my doubts

The count of turkeys in the yard went from four to three

How very interesting this Thanksgiving is turning out to be

So my Kuya killed a turkey. Me, Maria, Kat, and Quevy watched as he pulled out the guts and cleaned it.

Quervy danced around the metal basin as her sister held the legs, she poked the turkey and said ‘Kadiri, kadiri’ (Gross, gross).

As I watched, I thought about how similar it looked to the dissections I did in biology lab- putting my biology degree to good use! It was actually really cool, there were 5 or 6 underdeveloped eggs, that looked like small tangerines piled inside the turkey among its intestines and organs, and one big egg that was almost ready to be laid-we would have those for dinner a few nights later. Masarap.

Twas the day of Thanksgiving it had finally arrived!

I took a few deep breaths, ‘it will turn out fine!’

I laid out the dishes I had worked hard to prepare

And pleaded, ‘the ingredients weren’t quite right, to be fair!’

Thanksgiving was here! I spent the better part of the day being terrified of how my makeshift thanksgiving would turn out. Kamote casserole, stuffing, a turkey with its head and feet still attached, and a dish I had named ‘Pinoy Apple Pie’ for dessert.

On top of my anxiety, I could help feeling a little bit homesick as I thought of Thanksgivings past. I thought about Hailey’s Thanksgiving Trivia last year, the first year I had Thanksgiving in Florida with my Grandpy, the year my Grandpy surprised me with my crew of cousins and sisters showing up. And of course let us not forget about the Whipped Cream Incident of 2005 that ended with a hot headed baby Dennis covered in whipped cream, and a silent dining room as we waited for the wrath of Dennis to incur. I laughed as I remembered the wall behind him covered as well and how lucky we all felt when he laughed and said ‘Grandpy, you got it all over me!’ I thought about how all of the people I love most in the world seemed so far away from me.

But then as I ate my first Thanksgiving dinner without my family surrounding me, I couldn’t help but recognize certain similarities. Quervy scooping the marshmallows off the top of the sweet potato casserole, just like every other Fowler and Joosten kid has done at one point or another. Romelissa came into the kitchen to check out what I was cooking she popped a marshmallow into her mouth on the way out, she said ‘I want this’. I laughed and said ‘you’re checking to make sure it’s not poisonous!’ and thought of my Grampy and Uncle Larry who are “thoughtfully” always checking all of our desserts for ‘poison’. I could see signs of my family’s love all around me merging across cultures and ages in ways that warmed my heart.

And despite my trepidations, dinner came out wonderfully! The stuffing was spot on, and now the family’s favorite. The kamote/sweet potato casserole was an interesting mix of the two cultures. And finally, the Pinoy Apple Pie. There’s no oven in my house, and I wouldn’t even know where to buy pie crust, so I decided to make the filling for an apple pie and serve it over butterscotch caramel ice cream. To add in some genuine Filipino flare, I added pili nuts to the apple mixture. The pili nut is specific to my region and it often coated with sugar. Served up hot, over ice cream, it was PINAKA-SIRAM (the most delicious!).

After dinner was over, Quervy was in her Nanay’s arms falling into her first Thanksgiving Food Coma and we were sitting in the kitchen in a similar state. I sat there feeling full, and thankful for everything. For my host family who have welcomed me into their home, my community and LGU family who have also welcomed me with open arms. For those who have provided me with this opportunity, and of course all of my family and friends who support me from all over the world and keep me updated on their lives so we don’t feel so far away. My heart and my stomach felt busogon (the fullest) as my Ate got up to wash the dishes. She paused as she got up and said ‘Oh I eat so much!’ I laughed and decided that officially deemed my first Pinoy Thanksgiving a success.