Students share Thanksgiving, Christmas traditions, ideas from across the globe

Thanksgiving is an annual holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday of November. However, contrary to popular belief, it is not only celebrated in the U.S.  

For example, Canada celebrates its own Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October each year.  

Derrick Goll is a sophomore electrical engineering major from Providence, Rhode Island. Goll is a first-generation Liberian American who celebrates Thanksgiving with a twist. 

“Liberian dishes are all revolved around rice and stew,” Goll said. “A very popular dish is cassava leaf with palm butter, which you'll always eat with rice.” 

Goll shared this meal is paired with its fair share of music and dancing. 

Furthermore, Goll’s Liberian-American Christmas follows similar traditions to the American Christmas.  

“Gift giving, spending time with family, cooking your national foods,” Goll described. 

Simphiwe Mashaba, a senior biomedical sciences major from Johannesburg, South Africa, sees Thanksgiving as a day specific to the U.S. Most similar would be Heritage Day every September 24th. 

 “South Africa is a very diverse country, and so we celebrate the diversity in our country and just the camaraderie,” said Mashaba. 

Mashaba explained that for Heritage Day, friends and family gather for a Braai, a South African barbecue. It features an open fire pit where everyone can bring their dishes to cook together. 

“Every household has its own remedies for spicing up the meat,” Mashaba said. 

Mashaba does celebrate Christmas with his South African family. However, this is considered a summer holiday to him since it is the Southern Hemisphere.   

He also noted many holidays celebrated in South Africa are connected to its history of oppression.  

“June 16th is one of the big holidays, one of the big holidays commemorating that, referencing South Africa’s Youth Day,” Mashaba said. 

For Pierre Boerkey, a junior sport management major from Wiesbaden, Germany, Thanksgiving is an American tradition, and his family does not celebrate. 

“On Christmas, some people have a turkey, but we don’t,” Boerkey said. 

Boerkey’s German Christmas celebrations hold many parallels to American ones.  

“Most people go to church,” Boerkey said. “Some go on to walk, have a nice dinner, gather with the family.” 

Additionally, Germans open presents on the 24th rather than the 25th, but, according to Boerkey, always under a natural Christmas tree.  

Embla Gunnarsdóttir, a freshman business major from Selfoss, Iceland, doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving either; however, they do celebrate Christmas with their own Icelandic traditions.  

Gunnarsdóttir shared that on the 23rd of December, it’s a tradition to meet up with friends and family for lunch to eat Skate. 

Skate is a type of fish that, in Iceland, is allowed to ferment for months before being enjoyed. 

“On the 24th, Christmas Eve, we open presents after dinner and eat food with family, the most common food is smoked pork with potatoes,” Gunnarsdóttir said. 

In Iceland, there are also the Yule lads. Gunnarsdóttir explained there are 13 Santas, each with their own name related to their favorite way of pranking people.  

“Thirteen days from Christmas Eve, children put their shoe by the window, and every night a Yule Lad brings them gifts and puts them in the shoe,” Gunnarsdóttir said. “When the children wake up, they have a gift waiting for them in their shoe for 13 days.” 

No matter what traditions are celebrated, spending time with family and friends is a global occurrence.