Thanksgiving in Other Cultures?

Thanksgiving is a very peculiar holiday to me. It has always been a holiday that my family, along with most other Americans, has celebrated and I usually don't think twice about it. In our culture, it is just so regular and so traditional. It has become so ingrained in our culture that I think many people don't really understand what it is about.

It is not until we can take a step back from our own culture that we realize that we don't really know what we are celebrating. This realization came to me when I was talking to a friend of mine. This is friend of mine is Israeli and moved to the United States just a few years ago. When talking to her on thanksgiving, she told me that being a foreigner, she doesn't really understand Thanksgiving and we celebrate this holiday. To be honest, I had never really thought about this. Thanksgiving is a holiday derived by American culture. It is such a big deal here but to people from other countries, it doesn't really make much sense. This prompted me to wonder if there are other cultures that have similar holidays to Thanksgiving or if Thanksgiving is strictly an American kind of thing. It seems that Thanksgiving is often stereotyped as a very "American" holiday, derived by American people as just another reason to celebrate and eat. Many foreigners and even many Americans don't seem to understand the point of this holiday. However despite much stereotyping towards the American holiday of thanksgiving, I found that many other countries have very similar traditions. Some examples of these traditions are as follows: link

1. August Moon Festival- China

2. Tet Trung Thu- Vietnam

3. Kwanzaa- Africa

4. Pongal- India

5. Chusok- Korea

Does age=intelligence?

In English class, we recently read a chapter from “Metaphors We Live By” by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. (link) This chapter analyzed metaphors in our society that are used so often that we aren’t even aware of them. Some examples of these metaphors are “Time is Money” and “Argument is War”. These are just two metaphors that have become common assumptions in society. They are so common that we often don’t even realize that these metaphors exist. After reading this chapter I started to think, what other metaphors subconsciously dictate our life? One specific metaphor that I have noticed in our society is “Age is Wisdom”. Many people live under the assumption that wisdom automatically comes along with age and that the older you are, the more intelligent you are. The number of years you have lived is used to define your intelligence. One area where this metaphor is especially prevalent is teenagers. There are distinct stereotypes surrounding the judgment, intelligence, and maturity of people within the teenage years. Here are some examples that I have noticed of how people view age in our world.

1. “She’s young, she didn’t know any better.”

If a teenager messes up or does something completely wrong, sometimes age can be used as an excuse. As if youth means that the person who blundered simply does not have the intelligence or wisdom to have realized they were making a mistake. In this way, we attach a negative connotation with the word young using it to mean stupid or immature.

2. “I hate teenagers.”

An old man I know always says this about teenagers. My teacher in fifth grade also made similar remarks by telling us to only come back and visit her when we were older. Its not that all adults actually hate teenagers, but there are definitely negative stereotypes surrounding teenagers. Teenagers are generally viewed as immature, unwise, and just plain annoying.

3. “She is so mature for her age.”

I’ve had many adults and relatives in my life say this about my sister and me to my parents. As if given our age we should be immature? We live under that teenagers are immature and thus when we happen to encounter a relatively mature and intelligent teenager, we are surprised. This person is “too m

Is this a valid metaphor to live by? On the one hand, I would say yes. Generally, older people are wiser than younger people because they have experienced much more and have gained knowledge and understanding through experience. In this way, age is a valid measure of wisdom. But on the other hand, is this always the case? I don’t think it is fair to say that all teenagers are less wise than all elderly people. Some young people are actually very mature and wise. Nonetheless, these stereotypes surrounding teenagers help support and underlying metaphor that we live by.

Analyzing this metaphor also got me thinking on a broader question: should we question these metaphors we live by? In some ways, I believe it is important that we recognize the metaphors we live by but are unaware of because these metaphors are often times not 100 percent valid.