Thanksgiving-As an Expat how do you celebrate?

By getting together and having a meal.

thanks Hericles - Do you eat anything untraditional? Do you get together with family or friends?
Gilly

Yes  we expats get together and cook meals from our own country so we get to taste different kind of food from other places.
We Expats get together with other expats. We invite them through the forum.

That sounds great. How many countries do you represent? Enjoy!
Gilly

Hi Gilly,

As a Canadian expat in Brazil Thanksgiving is something that I rather miss. Strangely enough it was not one of the European traditions that the colonizers brought with them to this country when they discovered it over 500 years ago. Hard to understand when they brought most of their other traditional celebrations with them, mostly the religious ones.

I guess the main reason for this is the fact that Brazil is a tropical country and as such we actually get in two harvests during the year in most cases. Guess it would be kind of difficult to decide which one to give thanks for or if we should do it for both. LOL

Actually there is a "Dia de Ação de Graças" (Thanksgiving) on the fourth Thursday of November here in Brazil which was brought into effect by a law created by then President Gaspar Dutra in 1949, however it is not a national holiday since we already have two in November (All Souls Day - Nov. 2 and Proclamation of the Republic - Nov. 15). For this reason the day slips by almost un-noticed here.

Here we make up for it by having Festa Junina (June Festivals) to celebrate Saint Anthony - June 13, Saint John - June 24 and Saint Peter - June 29. This two week celebration is second only in popularity with Brazilians to Carnaval. It's actually quite an interesting and enjoyable part of the Brazilian culture that is scarcely known about by the rest of the world. Most people think that Brazil is just soccer and Carnaval.

Another day that I really miss, which all Canadians and many Americans are absolute fanatics about is Halloween (Oct.31) here it is celebrated only by foreigners or English language schools who put on an event for their Brazilian students. Nowhere near the big deal it is in North America.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Hi William,
Thank you for commenting. So interesting! I think celebrating 2 harvests would be great. It certainly sounds as though you have many other celebrations to choose from although there is something about celebrations from childhood that hold a special place in our hearts.

As a British family we have embraced Thanksgiving, July 4th ( despite it being about kicking the Brits out ) and President's Day.

What took you to Brazil? How long have you been there and do you miss Canada?

Gilly

Hi Gilly,

I've been here in Brazil for eleven years now. Came here originally with the plan of staying 3 - 6 months in order to carry out a personal project to build a school for poor kids in the Amazon. I fell in love with the country during those six months and never went home again. I miss Canada very much, except for the cold, but my life is here now. I'm re-married to a wonderful young Brazilian woman and we have a beautiful five year old son who is my whole world wrapped up in one little person. I'm an English teacher, teach Portuguese to English speaking foreigners and since arriving in Brazil I have written eleven textbooks to teach English as a foreign language, which I hope in the not too distant future to register and publish.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Am I the first American responding to this?  I know, Canadians have Thanksgiving too, but it's not the same.  It's like baseball.  Toronto has a team, but it's an American game.

Thanksgiving in Hong Kong is absolutely nothing like Thanksgiving at home.  The food, people and atmosphere are very different, and Thanksgiving is all about food, people and atmosphere.  I've had 2 Thanksgivings in Hong Kong and still haven't found a good place to eat.

Hi Hayley -yes I think you are the one American from birth to answer!

I'm sorry you haven't found a great place for Thanksgiving in HK. Do you know other Americans there? What do they do for TG? Could you start a meal yourself and create your own traditions?

As Brits ,the whole experience was new to us and we had nothing to compare it too.I have to say we love Thanksgiving now and have never done it with extended family because we have none in the USA.
Good luck with finding a place that feels more like home.

Gilly

Most of my friends in Hong Kong are either Chinese or Canadian.  I rarely meet Americans, but there are Canadians all over the place.

I haven't decided what my Thanksgiving tradition here is.  Last year I had a nice meal in a fancy restaurant and this year I took some Chinese food home and watched a DVD.  Neither felt like Thanksgiving.  I could never make a real Thanksgiving meal in my apartment since my kitchen is the size of a closet.

Hi Hailey -
I guess neither of those options were very satisfying for you.

Perhaps between now and next Thanksgiving you could try to discover some Americans and cultivate some new friendships. We lived on the Island. Where do you live? There were a lot of Americans living near to us.

I wish you lots of luck and hope that next year's Thanskgiving is much more of how you want it to be.
Gilly

I live in Mong Kok.  Most of the foreigners are around Central & Mid-Levels.  I don't know why it's mostly Canadian, but that's who I always see.  British & Australian seem to be #2 & 3.

(moderated: off topic)