Pilgrim Traditions

Ahead of America’s Thanksgiving holiday, Club Members explain what makes turkey day special.

Heidi Regent’s elegantly decorated home oozes autumn. There are pumpkins, gourds, turkey figurines and even a chalkboard bearing a line from a seasonal poem by English writer Emily Brontë: “Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.”

After 25 years of decorating her classroom for Thanksgiving back in the United States, the Club Member and reading specialist has continued the tradition in Tokyo.

“Even the dog doesn’t escape my holiday wrath,” says Regent, referring to her corgi-black lab mix, Boo, who sports a pumpkin-themed collar.

As Regent notes, the first Thanksgiving feast was held in 1621 on the Massachusetts coast between America’s first foreign settlers, the Pilgrims, and members of the Wampanoag tribe. The natives taught the new arrivals how to hunt and farm, and, after a bountiful autumn harvest, they feasted for three days on deer, corn and shellfish.

“In order for survival, they had to come together and help their fellow neighbor,” says Regent. “There’s a lesson there. In 2017, you would hope the world would eventually learn.”

Lisa Dickson
New Orleans, Louisiana
There is nothing like food to bring everyone together to talk, visit and celebrate the bonds of family.

Thanksgiving was perhaps the biggest holiday growing up. We were a prolific Catholic family. That meant lots of aunts, uncles, cousins and the occasional friend of a friend of a friend. One year, we had over 50 people in the house, with folding tables set up everywhere. It was priceless.

My grandmother and my mother would get together in the kitchen the day before and chop and chop and cook and cook for a traditional New Orleans Thanksgiving.

The oyster dressing, cornbread-sausage dressing, stuffed mirlitons and bread pudding were favorites. All contained ingredients unique to southern Louisiana: oysters, shrimp, andouille sausage, homemade Italian sausage and fresh-grown mirliton squash. My mouth is already watering!

Samuel Gordon
El Cerrito, California
Thanksgiving wasn’t official until my mom sent my dad and me out for last-minute groceries. The typical holiday was filled with food, football, domino games and music, as my parents broke out the jazz Christmas albums.

We had the traditional foods with a Creole twist. The turkey was basted with Tony Chachere seasoning, and the holy trinity [onion, bell peppers and celery] was found in a variety of dishes.

My grandmother picked pecans from the tree in her backyard in Beaumont, Texas, which was recently hit hard by Hurricane Harvey, and made pecan pie and pecan pralines.

This all reflects the part of the country my father, his siblings and cousins had come from, as part of the Great Migration, when African-Americans moved from the South to places like California, where I grew up.

One of the most enduring memories is serving Thanksgiving meals to homeless people and senior citizens. I always gained more than I received.

Katherine Hall
Owatonna, Minnesota
Thanksgiving is an action word, a beautiful thing to practice daily.

The day before Thanksgiving, my grandmother, mother and I spent hours in the kitchen boiling potatoes and rolling out dough for homemade potato rolls.

On Thanksgiving Day, we woke up to the smell of turkey already roasting in the oven. Before the meal, we took turns praying and giving thanks for specific blessings, before sharing stories and telling jokes around the table for hours.

At night, we ate leftover turkey sandwiches and watched The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, which played annually on network television.

One year, the huge turkey was not completely thawed, so my grandmother put it outside on her back porch. A few hours later, we heard a crash, opened the door and saw the neighbor’s dog running down the sidewalk dragging the turkey. Thankfully, a local store still had turkeys for sale, and dinner was saved.

Susan Multz
Atlanta, Georgia
Thanksgiving means being thankful for the goodwill of those in our lives. My mom invited everyone for a huge, traditional meal: family, neighbors, the neighbor’s family and random friends who didn’t have a place to go. There was always lively conversation and more than enough food.

My favorite food is pumpkin pie, though our cranberry sauce was unique. We cooked orange juice together with a grated rind, cinnamon, cranberries and sugar.

One year, I dressed up as a Pilgrim. I helped my mom make the costume. While waiting for our guests, I stood in the front yard waving at everyone who drove by. I guess you could say I got into cosplay at a young age.

Since we’ve been in Tokyo, our family tradition is eating dinner at the Club’s Thanksgiving Grand Buffet. All of our favorites are represented and then some. The only downside is there are no leftovers.

Heidi Regent
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Everyone arrived early on Thanksgiving Day to watch football. It was a bonus if our beloved hometown Steelers were playing.

I enjoyed watching my mom roast the big, juicy turkey and prepare all the fixin’s: cranberries, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes and green peas.

My mom’s stuffing was special. She mixed up celery, onion, breadcrumbs and a host of other ingredients. She took great pride in stuffing the turkey and serving it piping hot with brown gravy.

My aunt baked mincemeat, pumpkin and apple pies to pure perfection. My dad and aunt were Hungarian, so along with the traditional pies, she made apricot Hungarian kolache [pastries].

After dinner, we gathered in my mother’s kitchen to wash the dishes. We washed, dried, talked, laughed and reminisced about stories from the past. For me, Thanksgiving was the gathering of family to give thanks for the blessings that we shared.

Paul Rivet
Covina, California
My parents used the holiday to invite anyone without a place to land to our home for Thanksgiving. It was pretty common to be surrounded by a table of strangers.

The kids’ table far outnumbered the grown-ups’ [one], and chaos reigned. The goal was to eat as quickly as you could, in order to be excused—before having to help with the dishes.

Our parents encouraged us to eat more vegetables and the candied yams with toasted marshmallows were the perfect camouflage. We saw it as a pre-dessert before the real decadence began.

In all seriousness, Thanksgiving is special because it is the one occasion where people sit down to a meal together with the intention of enjoying one another’s company. I fondly look back on how my parents worked together to create the perfect occasion.

Ironically, we tend to become versions of our parents, so I’m proud to say most of the traditions continue.

Words: Nick Narigon
Image: Kayo Yamawaki

Thanksgiving at the Club
Nov 18–26