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PrintBecause Thanksgiving originated with a group of religious separatists, known as Pilgrims, Christian values are often attached to the holiday. But while people of other religious beliefs and cultures often celebrate Thanksgiving in the traditional way,
the holiday can look, and even taste, a little different.
Mark Stannard will observe his first Thanksgiving since embracing the Baha’i faith. While Stannard’s Thanksgiving customs have not changed, faith will play a more prominent role this year. Giving thanks is an everyday event for people of the Baha’i faith, he said, and Thanksgiving is an occasion to place special emphasis on that.
“This year is the first time that I’ve really thought of it in a spiritual way,” said Stannard, who helped plan Tuesday’s Interfaith Thanksgiving Service at the Lenoir Senior Center. “It’s caused me to think of Thanksgiving in a deeper way.”
Jim Krueger, of Congregation Beth Shalom, Columbia’s synagogue, said Thanksgiving has less religious significance and greater cultural meaning for Jews. Families may start the meal with bread and wine, a Jewish blessing, but the celebration is a time to be thankful and to remember American history.
“We get together and eat food and watch football,” Krueger said. “This is a typical American Jew’s Thanksgiving. This is a typical American Thanksgiving.”
While some Muslims celebrate with the traditional turkey, many do not do anything special to mark the day, said Hend El-Buri, a sophomore at MU.
“Most Muslims don’t like to pick one day of the year when they are going to be specifically thankful,” El-Buri said. “We should be like that all the time.”
For some religious traditions, the turkey is the most foreign part of Thanksgiving. When Mine Ezashi, a member of the Columbia Soka Gakkai chapter, an international Buddhist organization, came to America 11 years ago from Japan, she wasn’t sure what to think about Thanksgiving. “This is very interesting for me now,” Ezashi said. “(After) 11 years of living in the United States, I like Thanksgiving. I’d never seen a turkey before in my country.”
Kathleen Ross, another member of the Columbia Buddhist community, said the celebration of Thanksgiving is more important as an opportunity to honor an American tradition. Many Buddhists make it a point to assimilate into the culture around them.
“As Buddhists, we celebrate whatever cultural activities of our specific countries,” Ross said. “Part of our charter and principles is to be good global citizens, but also our respective countries.”
Because of the international and multicultural dimension of the Buddhist community, the traditional Thanksgiving meal can take on some nontraditional aspects.
“They usually practice some form of American Thanksgiving with sushi on the side,” Ross said.
Even within the Christian community, Thanksgiving can take on an international flavor. Paul Fox, pastor of the International Christian Community Church in Columbia, typically hosts a Thanksgiving dinner at his church the Sunday before the holiday. The meal combines traditional American foods with Asian, African and South American dishes, giving members a taste of both Thanksgiving and the different cultures represented by the congregation.
Fox said one of the things he emphasizes to his church’s members is that they are similar to the Pilgrims, who celebrated their first harvest after arriving at Plymouth Colony with members of the Wampanoag tribe in 1621. “One of the interesting things is Americans were foreigners and people cared for us,” Fox said.
Fox tries to show this same care by helping church members find families to celebrate the holiday with and to get a taste of the American tradition.
Regardless of religious background, an important thread seems to tie the religious groups together — the importance of giving thanks. “Spiritually, there are lines drawn in the sand to be distinctly different,” said Willie Smith, a member of Columbia’s Soka Gakkai chapter. “One thing we all share innately is humanity. We are truly global citizens. We have commonalities.”
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