On November 27, millions of Americans sat down together and feasted on turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. We were blessed to celebrate the day with a group of North American friends in the Dominican Republic. Because Ben and Elena attend a school primarily run and taught by Americans, they were dismissed at 12 on Thursday for a long weekend.
During the week leading up to Thanksgiving, I found myself explaining the holiday to a number of Dominican friends and acquaintances. I told the story of the "First Thanksgiving," detailed the feast we have, and encouraged Dominicans to take time to thank God for all that had happened in the past year. Many are aware of the holiday, but most don't know the specifics of the celebration. One friend said, "So it is like the start of your Christmas celebration. We have a feast on Christmas Eve." Well, not exactly, but it is sort of.
A Johnson family Thanksgiving is to have pie for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning while watching the Macy's Parade. Don't ask me how this got started, but it is hard to get into the groove of Thanksgiving without it. This year, due to a little case of food poisoning earlier in the week, there was no pie to be eaten. However, I did find the 2013 Macy's parade on youtube and watched it while I began to prepare mashed potatoes for 24 people. Watching Al Roker and company excitedly announcing the imminent start made me smile. But when the first marching band came on the scene, it felt like home.
It brought back a flood of memories: chilly nights at football games, the comradery of my college band, the national anthem. Did you know that marching bands are very American? Their origins are military bands, but the use of marching bands for high school and college sports is as American as, well, American football. Certainly, there are bands in many other countries, but the tradtion and use is different.
Well, I enjoyed the parade and we went "over the river and through a village" to the VanDerMolen's to eat, relax, and thank God for His manny blessings. Canadian missionaries joined us, although their Thanksgiving was in October. Thanksgiving is a uniquely North American tradition. And I am so thankful to be able to celebrate it!
So what other things are so American, that they are rare or non-existent in other cultures? Food is an easy one as every country or culture has their cuisine. Some items that seem to be unique to the U.S.A are root beer, peanut butter, and baked beans. There are also foods that originated in the U.S. and are now sold around the world. CocaCola, cold cereal, and SPAM come to mind.
The other day, I was chatting with a Dominican and an Argentinian. I told them what foods we prepared for Thanksgiving. Some dishes were familiar, like mashed potatoes, but others like cranberry sauce were harder to explain. But the Dominican had tried turkey and didn't care for it. The Argentinian said they grow turkeys in her home country so she likes them. She described a meat dish that was made with a lot of sugar and we cringed to hear her describe it. But then she said that she had tried coconut fish, a Dominican dish, and couldn't stand it and we all agreed that what you eat growing up sets your palate for life.
I am currently planning a small sewing project, a kitchen aid mixer cover. I say planning, because I have been stymied trying to find the perfect fabric and batting. I want a quilted look with kitchen themed calico fabric. At home, I would simply stop in at my local fabric/craft store pick out a set of fat squares and some batting and get to work. On a recent trip to the fabric section of downtown Santiago, I found kitchen themed upholstery fabric (very pricey), plain cotton fabric, cartoon and children's themed cotton and a couple of choices baby blanket pre-quilted fabric. How do you explain what calico is to someone who doesn't know what quilting is? And what is the word for "batting" in Spanish anyway? Needless to say I struck out. I did get some beautiful fabric for Elena's Christmas dress however. The fabric stores mainly sell upholstery and decorating fabric or fancy dress fabric.
The United States has a rich history of quilting. But quilting is not unique to the U.S. Evidence of padded fabric and clothing has been found as far back as the 12th century in Europe and Asia. But there is a uniqueness to American quilting that certainly is not found in Central and South America. An American quilt evokes may sentimental and nationalistic thoughts and feelings. Grandmas, quilting bees, homesteading and its accompanying poverty, log cabins and cold winter nights. I even think of Betsy Ross sewing the flag, although this is largely a myth.
We are very excited to welcome Rick's brother Bob and family to Jarabacoa for Christmas. They will be bringing some Christmas gifts and hard to find American products. Many American food products are available here because as more and more Dominicans have spent time in the U.S. they have acquired a taste for American cuisine and CAFTA ensures that items imported from the U.S. are not outrageously expensive like they were in the past. Still, there are some things that are just hard to find and we miss them.
As you head into the Christmas season, stop and thank God for all His many blessings. His blessings run so much deeper and plentiful than material goods and holiday food. Love, Grace, Mercy, Peace, Joy and Hope can't be bought or worked for, only freely received from the hand of God.
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