Celebrating Thanksgiving In France

Written By Desirae Brown

While I cooked with my host mother on Thanksgiving, and watched her chop off a whole chicken head; and as she watched me pour 7UP into a cake mixture, I felt the Thanksgiving Day connection I was accustomed to for years, watching my mom or grandma make a big feast. We laughed at vocabulary differences and tilted our heads to the side when we didn’t understand each other. Although there was some language disconnect, the feeling of joy and interculture connection took over the kitchen, As we moved from the kitchen to the dinner table, I felt connected; not just to my new French family, but to my real family back home, and oddly enough, to my American culture entirely. 

Growing up, Thanksgiving had been a celebration to gather with family and friends, give thanks for another year, and celebrate the start of another holiday season with quality time and food made from generational recipes. Thanksgiving has never been my favorite holiday; however, Thanksgiving does give me the opportunity to eat my favorite foods for at least 4 days in extremely large portions. Normally, while I eat with my family, nobody mentions Native Americans, Christopher Columbus, pilgrims, or colonizers – the only time I heard of those historical facts and traditions in November was in school. Until this year, when I was asked “What is the purpose of Thanksgiving?” 

While I sat at the decorated table that held a Thanksgiving feast; and enjoyed this American holiday with my French host family, we weren’t celebrating the arrival of British European settlers and their forced and often violent acquisition of Native land; that is never what I have celebrated. In this context, we were celebrating the interconnectedness and welcoming of one culture with another. In my experience this year, Thanksgiving, which comes from such a brutal history, created something special and meaningful for me on an entirely different land.

Some of the holidays that we enjoy, celebrate and get days off of work and school for, in the US, are non-existent in other countries. As I went about my day on November 26th this year, working at school, seeing no familiar family faces or hearing “Happy Thanksgiving” followed by hugs and “put your coat over there…” I started thinking about the differences I was experiencing on this 2020 Thanksgiving in a foreign country as opposed to every Thanksgiving I’ve partaken in at home. It was when I was asked the purpose of the holiday, I realized how the different histories of the world play such a huge role in our everyday lives. 

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Desirae Brown
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