Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.  It's not much of a holiday here in China.  Many of the local folks are aware of this American tradition.  Gan En Jie, they call it.  If you plug the Chinese characters into a translation website, these characters 感恩节 translate roughly into "sense of kindness holiday".  I think that is nice.

For our Thanksgiving dinner, we went to Zapata's, where they put out a spread that would bring a tear to any American's eye.  Turkey (both roasted and smoked), potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, brussel sprouts, and salad.  Follow that with dessert of pumpkin and/or pecan pie.  Not as good as grandma's, but a darned fine substitute if you're 8000 miles away from home.

By the way, from my unscientific sampling I would have to conclude that very few Chinese people have ever eaten turkey.  And those that have eaten, for the most part, don't like it.  "Like eating cardboard" is how one person described it.  So it goes.  The sociologists call this "cultural distance".  We have our turkey.  They have their duck.

"Huo Ji" is what they call the turkey here.  Literally translated, this means "fire chicken".  Lord only knows where this comes from. 

Still though, it is amazing that almost all the Chinese I know are aware of our holiday of Thanksgiving and our tradition of eating turkey.  In the reverse, I would guess that far fewer Americans are aware of the mid-autumn festival and fewer still aware of the tradition of eating moon cakes.  For that matter, at lunch today a colleague explained to me the traditions of the Spring Festival.  (Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, has a lot in common with our Thanksgiving in that it is a time for family get-togethers and huge meals. No football on TV here, though.)  Anyway, the tradition in the hometown of my colleague is to cook a large fish - head and tail still attached - for the family dinner on New Year's Eve.  But no one is allowed to eat the fish.  It has to stay on the table untouched.  (If you sneak a bite, then it is bad luck for the family for the whole year.).  The fish cannot be eaten until the new year comes.  So it is carefully set aside and then served again for consumption the next day.  It seems strange to me, but I guess it is no stranger than fighting over a turkey's wishbone.

Though not Thanksgiving, today here is a bit of an auspicious day.  In the Shanghai Daily it tells us that:

Today is xiaoxue, or light snow, on the Chinese lunar calendar. That marks the time when many traditional families in China start to make preserved ham and pork sausage as the weather should be cold and dry.

Pig or turkey notwithstanding, it is the time of year to celebrate the bounty of the harvest and to fill one's belly in preparation for the hard days of the coming winter.  Happy Thanksgiving to all.  Happy XiaoXueJie as well.  Count your blessings, and know that we certainly count you amongst ours.