On Holiday

David and I met again this week, the week after Thanksgiving break. He was supposed to go up to Chicago for Thanksgiving to visit his wife’s family but he wasn’t able to take off work to go. He seemed pretty disappointed about this, and I definitely would be too. It’s pretty unfortunate but he can’t afford to lose his job if he plans on paying for his new apartment. He didn’t get back from work until later on in the evening on Thanksgiving but his uncle had cooked a big turkey for them. I told him some of my most fond Thanksgiving memories and some traditions that we have. My grandmother on my dad’s side has these little figurines of different Thanksgiving characters like pilgrims, Native Americans, and turkeys and pairs them with a name card for everyone there. She then places them around the table to her discretion, indicating our seats for the meal. She also bakes a delicious Derby Pie, which originated in Kentucky where my grandparents are from.

David also told me how crazy he thought the Macy’s Day Parade was. He wasn’t familiar with the word “parade,” so I explained that concept to him. Regardless, he is pretty fascinated by how large the celebrations are for national holidays here in America. He told me about some of their holidays in Colombia like their Independence Day and their form of a President’s Day, but none of them bring as much celebration as Thanksgiving did. In addition, they have one or two holidays a month where everyone is off work and school, but he said they didn’t have a particular name or reason, they were just general “holidays.” These dates change every year similar to how some of ours do, so people have to look at the national calendar to know when the holidays are. This is an interesting concept to me, since I am used to being on holiday to observe the veterans or for religious meanings, not just to be on holiday.

We also got on the topic of birthdays and David’s birthday is on Christmas Eve, December 24. He went on to explain to me that Christmas Eve is much more important and festive in Colombia than Christmas Day. On Christmas Eve, families get to together and have dinner and celebrate, then they open their presents at midnight and celebrate throughout the night. I asked him how he has handled having his birthday on the same day and he said that he honestly doesn’t like his birthday very much. As a kid, not a lot of people would be able to come to his birthday parties because of the time of year, so he eventually just began to not enjoy his birthday. My birthday is in May so I sympathized with David but was not able to empathize.

Overall he did say he liked the way our holidays are. I’m glad to be able to hear the perspective of someone from outside of our country about our traditions. We are so accustomed to them and have an idea in our minds of what holidays should be like, while someone else may have a completely different concept. I enjoyed hearing about his different holiday traditions. It reminded me of elementary school where we would learn about different religions and how different cultures celebrated them, but this time it was first hand. I am continuing to learn more and more about the culture in Colombia, and it has really impressed me how well David has handled the transition.