Envision a very large chicken
To the editor:
How does one explain a festival of food? My students have been interested in Thanksgiving Day. All of our winter holidays are fascinating to the Chinese. I am always peppered with questions about what I will do for the holidays. Kids are intrigued with the idea of presents and the magic of Christmas. There are similar holidays in China and it is easy to draw parallels with Chinese holidays. But Thanksgiving is a little more complex.
Aside from the mythology that we all get in school, The Pilgrims, the Mayflower, and the food, the idea that we have a four-day weekend is odd. My students try to understand. Turkeys are an unusual food. It is possible to get turkeys from several different foreign import stores. But for your average Chinese person turkeys are unknown. People can eat swans and geese, you will find both in the windows of meat shops. Tasty fowl if prepared right. But turkeys just do not appear on the horizon of food lovers.
The first indication of thought problems is how to translate turkey. The best that my students could connect with was the idea of a large chicken — a very large chicken. Explaining the nuances of domestic and wild versions is more difficult. My kids and I settled on the idea of a big chicken with a strong love of eating and a taste palate that ranges far and wide, Thanksgiving represents a major opportunity to eat. Eating is celebrated here.
Drawing on old memories of the outlined hand turkeys and retelling old myths of shared experiences and my students were able to at least have some fun with the idea of what Thanksgiving represents. With luck, they will understand the larger lesson of what it means — to be thankful. It is not the hype of preparing for industrial shopping. Stores here are open 365 days a year and twelve to fifteen hours a day. Traveling means to shop. The angst and consternation of shoppers on Black Friday is another strange aspect of the American image.
It would be unfair to lament the lack of celebration of a holiday that is a quintessential holiday for Americans. Even with the barrier of language and culture though my students did celebrate the holiday with a special presentation of songs and stories about our holiday. As with most school presentations, it was a chance to show what they have learned. There is much to be thankful for.
Orpheus Allison
Guangzhou, China
orpheusallison@mac.com
