Foreign students to join in holiday

Across campus, students are gearing up for turkey, mashed potatoes and family. On this American holiday, international students are joining in the celebration of Thanksgiving.

Edward Broadbridge, a visiting English professor from Denmark, asked his students to dig deep into the tradition of Thanksgiving and write a paper focusing on its modern meaning.

Broadbridge asked questions such as, What is the connection to family? Why is it the biggest American holiday? What does it have to do with harvest?

In researching his paper, LSA sophomore Shane Rodriguez discovered some facts about Thanksgiving that are not taught in elementary school.

"Its kind of the American holiday because it's celebrated by anybody and everybody," Rodriguez said.

Broadbridge said he and his family have been celebrating Thanksgiving in Denmark, since they fell in love with the United States more than 15 years ago.

"It was a way of remembering America, to give thanks to our American experience," Broadbridge said.

Rodriguez said that although Thanksgiving uses the traditional story about helpful Native Americans and starving Europeans, the actual evolution of the modern national holiday has little to do with that story.

The story is traceable to the pilgrims, but if it were a Puritan holiday, it would be celebrated by "fasting rather than feasting," he said.

Rodriguez said former President Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday after the Battle of Gettysburg to "reunify the union by starting a new national holiday."

And as to the calendar location of the last Thursday of November, "we have Lincoln to thank for that," he added.

Rodriguez related teaching the traditional story in elementary school to believing in Santa Claus.

Jim Beck, an adviser for the Native American Students Association, said the original story was probably not as cut and dry as that taught to children.

He said there is a long standing tradition among Native American tribes to celebrate the harvest with a fall feast.

It is a "chance to get together and have one last good meal before you have to run rabbits into the snow," Beck said.

He added he thinks the 4,000-year-old tradition was in full swing when the starving Europeans were invited to share in the feast.

In Puerto Rico, the holiday is very big. The main difference is in the dinner where rice is a main dish, said Linette Rodriguez, a doctoral student from Puerto Rico.

"We have a lot of our own holidays, but we celebrate a lot of American holidays," Rodriguez said. She added that she thinks the celebration is sometimes bigger in Puerto Rico.

Rackham student Jésus Diaz-Vidal of Spain said the stories told to him by Americans differed from those taught in his history classes. The stories he was taught in class, he said, were not as interesting and happy.

He and his brother plan to spend the holiday with an American family in Michigan.

While some students have friends or family to celebrate with, others do not have a turkey to call their own.

"I'm not sure what I should do on Thanksgiving," said Rackham graduate student Ali Ungoren, a native of Turkey.

He is considering going to the Ecumenical Center, which is planning to pair international students with American families for the holiday weekend.

Another autumn holiday, similar to Thanksgiving, occurs in Korea.

LSA senior and Korea native CJ Lee said that for Thanksgiving he plans to stuff himself full of turkey.

Thanksgiving also falls near Chusuk, a Korean holiday during which Koreans worship ancestors and celebrate harvest time, he said. He said the holiday follows the lunar calendar and is placed each year on the October full moon.

"There is a ritual of making a wish to the moon for the coming year," Lee said. "For Koreans in America it is a time of celebration," he said, referring to the Chusuk and Thanksgiving seasons.

Other international students said they plan to spend the holiday with family.

"My family in England doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving," said LSA sophomore Matthew Dore-Weeks, who expects to visit extended family in New York over the break.

He mentioned a widely celebrated November holiday in England called Guy Faux Day occurring on Nov. 5.

Broadbridge, also an England native, said people celebrate the death of Guy Faux who was affiliated with the Roman Catholic church and almost succeeded in blowing up Parliament in 1605.

"It's a crazy festival," Broadbridge said. In England, people set off fireworks and burn bonfires in celebration. It's not anything like Thanksgiving he added.

To contact the Ecumenical Center for information about their program please call 662-5529.

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