Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving, the quintessential American holiday. Tables full of food, families gathered together, memories shared, and so much more. Each gathering isn’t the same, however. Every member brings something unique to a celebration, be it food, culture, or a personality. When you peer into each celebration, you get a glimpse of the different people, the different stories, and the different backgrounds that surround us.

My Thanksgiving holiday is just as unique as others: instead of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, cornbread, and pumpkin pie, we have lechon, lumpia shanghai, rice, leche flan, and other Filipino dishes. The dishes I eat and the family I gather with reflect my culture and my heritage.

I was just old enough to barely understand what it meant to immigrate. Back then, I understood it as a departure from the norm: I’d be leaving the only home and family I’ve ever known. My mother made sure that even though we would be leaving the Philippines behind, we’d always have a piece of it to remember and celebrate. When we moved to the US, my mother decided to celebrate our culture through food. She cooked Filipino dishes for every gathering: housewarming parties, baby showers, birthday parties, and more.

Eventually, my aunts and uncles in the Philippines found new lives here in the US, just like my mother and I did. They also wanted to celebrate the culture they had left behind, as we did. We decided every year in November, we’d meet in Baltimore, at my Auntie Effie’s home, to celebrate not only our culture, but our journeys and each other.

Thanksgiving provide a glimpse into who people truly are. No Thanksgiving is quite the same. Some have turkey, while others have duck. For me, my Thanksgivings reveal the connection I hold dear with my past, and the new memories I want to create.