el Dia de Las Gracias – Thanksgiving with a Latin twist
Food says so much about where you’ve come from, where you’ve decided to go, and the lessons you’ve learned. It’s geography, politics, tradition, belief and so much more and we invite you to dig in and discover the rich, ever-evolving taste of America. Catch up on past coverage.
In Spanish, it’s known as “Feliz Dia de Accion de Gracias” or el “Dia de Las Gracias.” Although it’s not a holiday celebrated in Latin America, Thanksgiving has resonated with Hispanics in the United States because of two vital components in Latino culture: family and food.
Latino households across the country will serve Hispanic dishes alongside Thanksgiving classics like mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce, blending their own culture into the “traditional” American holiday.
“Last year, I spent it at my sister’s house and we had ham, pasteles, yam, stuffing and Mexican rice alongside the turkey,” says Baltimore, Maryland resident Elianne Ramos. She works as the Vice-Chair of Marketing and PR for Latinos in Social Media.
FULL STORY
Celebrating Thanksgiving with 'Generation Alzheimer's'
By Elizabeth Landau, CNN
(CNN) - Judy Warzenski didn't realize how bad her father, Donald's, memory had gotten until he turned to her sister Joyce and asked, "Where's the girl who was sitting next to you?" He did not recognize Joyce as his own daughter.
This Thanksgiving, Warzenski and her younger siblings will eat Thanksgiving dinner with their father in a private dining room at a nursing home in Pennsylvania. Moving her father there in October was an agonizing decision.
"It's really very upsetting to me," said Warzenski, 62, of central New Jersey. "I promised him I would never do this. I promised him I would never put him in a nursing home, which I've come to realize is an unrealistic promise."
Warzenski, who had commented on a previous CNN dementia story, is one of many baby boomers who must watch their loved ones suffer from Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia. The condition, which robs people of their memory and thinking skills, necessitates tough decisions about caring for people as their minds slowly slip away.
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Opinion: This Thanksgiving, keep forgotten people, history in mind
Editor’s Note: Jesse Abernathy, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, is the editor of Native Sun News, South Dakota’s largest weekly newspaper, which covers issues of local and national interest and concern within Indian country.
By Jesse Abernathy, Special to CNN
(CNN) - Americans will gather together for food and give thanks for their good fortune on Thursday.
But we should not forget the country’s indigenous peoples, those who are less fortunate and the forgotten history of how we came to celebrate this day.
There are some who will visit loved ones who are unjustly incarcerated in prison, who will “tie one on” at the local dive bar in an effort to forget their troubles, or humbly bed down for the night under the cover and comfort of a downtown city bridge, tucked quietly and safely just out of view of mainstream America.
Since initial contact with Europeans, indigenous peoples have had their lands, freedom, culture, identity and even their children legally stripped from them through destructive policies and practices in the name of progress, faith and country.
A community whose ancestors once proudly and freely roamed this continent and provided for their children from the bounty that was “Maka Unci” (Grandmother Earth), are now left wondering why they live in the richest land on the globe, but many have been forced to live in grinding, inter-generational poverty.
It is a history many in America are uncomfortable talking about, or even acknowledging at all. FULL POST
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