Thanksgiving Blues

Escape From IV: Extreme Edition

I just got off the phone with my Grandmother, who asked me what my plans are for Thanksgiving. When I told her that I didn’t have any, she was shocked.

“No one invited you over or anything?!” Unfortunately I had to remind her that no one celebrates Thanksgiving over here and that next Thursday will just be another day for me. It’s an absolute tragedy.

It’s Christmastime over here in Scotland. With no Thanksgiving to mark the beginning of Christmas season, they jump right into it after Halloween. Just like at home, the holiday season starts off with Halloween and ends with New Year’s Day. The holidays sandwiched between those two days are vastly different. November 5 is Guy Fawkes Day, November 11, Remembrance Day, November 30, St Andrews Day, December 25, Christmas, and December 31 is Hogmanay (New Years Eve)

I discussed Guy Fawkes Day a couple of weeks ago, so I’ll jump right into Remembrance Day. About halfway through October, I started noticing that people were wearing these bright red flowers in their lapels. As time went on I noticed more and more people wearing them, people on the street, people on TV, the manager for Glasgow Rangers, everyone. When I asked a friend what they were for he replied, rather harshly.

“You know that war we fought, the big one? How you took your time to get involved? Well, we lost a hell of a lot more people than you guys.” Basically, Remembrance Day is Veterans Day in Britain, with two differences. First, the poppies; second, at 11 a.m., on the 11th of November, everything stops. The cars, the people, everything and everyone pauses for two minutes of silence

They also have this thing called Hogmanay, and it is completely overrated. It’s New Year, no matter what you call it. A new name does not change the content, but the Scots are big on it. Haggis, for some reason, sounds more edible than sheep’s stomach stuffed with guts. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me.

The biggest different by far is the absence of Thanksgiving, and boy do we miss it. Sure, it’s cool to jump right into Christmas festivities, but there is something awesome about sitting down to a table of food that reaches farther than you can reach and is covered with more food than you could eat in a month. Good stuff. Those of us who are not going to be able to make it home in time for Thanksgiving are coping in different ways. The UC Education Abroad Program is throwing the UC kids a Thanksgiving meal in Edinburgh, with all the traditional stuff and a few other non-traditional things, like Scottish folk dance. A couple others I know are cooking the full deal in their apartment. The problem with that kind of endeavor is that everything is smaller here. Ovens, sinks, kitchens in general suffer from population density and are absolutely microscopic compared to home. I can’t imagine trying to fit a bird into an oven here. Not to mention the fact that certain ingredients are a little difficult to come by here, and even if you do find them, they have a nasty tendency to be expensive

One of the dangers of Thanksgiving is just forgetting about it. Canadian Thanksgiving was at the beginning of October (I know, what do they have to celebrate? Hockey?) and my Canadian flat mate totally forgot about it until I mentioned it. Trust me, I wouldn’t care either, if it weren’t for my handy dandy “This Day in History” History Channel calendar. How do you forget a major holiday? It’s easy. Just go live in a foreign country where no one but you and your fellow Americans care. Most people look at me like I am crazy when I try to explain it. No one seems to understand the glory of the Thanksgiving feast except us and our slightly French imitators to the north

Of course, with all the difficulties confronting those who wish to celebrate a foreign holiday, there will always be some people who can’t be bothered to expend the effort. You know, it is a school night.

One Response to “Thanksgiving Blues”

1. Heather Torbitt says:

   November 22, 2008 at 6:44 pm

   If it is any comfort, you’re not alone. No one celebrates holidays in my industry and we’re actually in the country! Thanksgiving will be just another day. Try to find some turkey on Thursday. We’ll be thinking of ya.