American-Chinese Thanksgiving Meal in the Dr. Lu House
The fourth Thursday of November of every year in the United States and the second Monday of October every year in Canada both are Thanksgiving. In other places, similar festivals are celebrated in the same part of the year. Germany and Japan also have similarly named festival holidays.
In the U.S., they traditionally have it after the harvest, to celebrate the earth’s bounty. Historically, it goes to the early settlers in Massachusetts in 1620. They were going to starve. But the Native Americans shared food with them. So once they got established and planted crops of their own, they wanted to celebrate and invited the Native Americans to come feast with them. Now they also think of it as a time of parades–the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is very famous for the bands, the balloons and the arrival of Santa Claus.
2018’s Thanksgiving will be celebrated on Nov. 22 in the U.S. Also, Black Friday is an informal name for the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States. After the Thanksgiving Day feast of roast turkey, eating and drinking, people usually start a shopping spree day.
Thanksgiving and Black Friday both are a most awaited festival for students, because it not only means a long break, but also that they can get together with family to enjoy love and kindness, joy and happiness.
This year, UMPI’s Thanksgiving break is from Nov. 21-26.
“I am so impatiently waiting for Thanksgiving coming: big roast turkey, family together and crazy shopping…. I hope the day is coming soon,” Ally Merrill, an UMPI student, said with a smile.
International students, including many from China, also are a big part of UMPI. They are very lucky because two countries’ festivals exist in their lives now. They are enjoying the different culture and different festival experiences. China also has a festival that is focused on being thankful, called the Double Ninth Festival, but it only emphasizes being thankful for the elders. The Chinese students say that they would like to bring the U.S. Thanksgiving back home. Always being thankful around people is the best virtue.
UMPI offers a really sweet home for the Chinese students, a professor who always brings them a lot of sunshine. Dr. Lu, a math professor at UMPI, showers these students with care and attention. All the Chinese students at UMPI always go to Dr. Lu’s house for Thanksgiving and have the traditional meal every year. This year will be no different. “I am so happy to go to Dr. Lu’s house to get the traditional turkey during my college life. I am far away from my home, but I still can feel the warmth of home,” Yuhe Tian, one of the Chinese students, said.
No matter who you are, no matter where you are, God bless all people, God bless America and Happy Thanksgiving!
