🌟 Welcome to the grand feast of traditions! As the autumn breeze swirls and the scent of gratitude fills the air, we embark on a flavorful journey exploring the diverse tapestry of Thanksgiving celebrations across the United States. From family feasts to turkey pardons, and football showdowns to iconic parades, join us as we unravel the cultural richness and unique customs that make Thanksgiving a truly spectacular and cherished event.

• Families around a Feast
  For Americans, Thanksgiving is a time to recognize and give thanks for the people and good things in their lives. Although it didn’t become a national holiday until 1863, the tradition dates back to 1621 when the first settlers in the northeastern part of the country shared a joint dinner with local Indigenous people to celebrate their first harvest in America. Families typically gather around a table filled with food, where the main dish is turkey – according to the National Turkey Federation, 88% of Americans consume this bird in their celebrations.

• The Grand Mobilization
  The United States is a vast country where it’s common for family members to live in different cities and even states. This translates to thousands of kilometers between them. Due to the tradition of gathering with family for Thanksgiving, this is the most congested travel season of the entire year, on both roads and in airports. Millions of people crisscross the country from coast to coast. For many citizens, the Friday after Thanksgiving is also a holiday, making it a commonly considered long weekend of festivities.

• Pardoning Turkey
  Another common sight on this date is the U.S. president “pardoning” a turkey on the eve of the dinner. The pardoned turkey spends the rest of its days in a zoo. Although legend has it that the tradition began in 1947 with President Harry S. Truman, the first officially recorded “official pardon” was granted by George H. Bush in 1989. This year, two turkeys were pardoned instead of one: Peas and Carrots.

• American Football Games
  It’s also traditional for three National Football League (NFL) games to be played on Thanksgiving Day. Since 1920, two of these games always feature the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys, who host opponents in their home stadiums. Football is almost as characteristic of Thanksgiving as stuffing and pumpkin pie. Many Americans watch the games on TV while enjoying their Thanksgiving dinner.

• New York Parade
  Another Thanksgiving tradition is parades organized by major retail chains in major U.S. cities. The most prominent is the one held by Macy’s in New York with large floats and iconic balloons representing comic characters parading through the famous Times Square.

🍂 As we conclude this journey through the vibrant traditions of Thanksgiving, let the echoes of family laughter, the warmth of shared meals, and the excitement of festive parades linger in our hearts. Thanksgiving is more than a feast; it’s a tapestry woven with threads of gratitude, togetherness, and cherished moments. May your Thanksgiving be filled with joy, gratitude, and the delightful embrace of traditions, wherever you are in this vast and diverse celebration of life. Best wishes from the Homeland Language Services team!

Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃🌟

Last week we celebrated the Day of Thanksgiving. Traditionally we said words of thankfulness and attitude to our family, friends, colleagues, and all other people in our life. 

At Homeland Language Services we asked our team, how do words “thank you” impact their everyday life, and got several good stories, but we chose the best one to share with you. 

Charity Wairimu is our Swahili-English Over-the-Phone interpreter from Nairobi, Kenia. Charity, thank you for these words from all of us!

“I am not a good storyteller but when it comes to talking about gratitude I can not be contained. 

My life is an epitome of gratitude, born and bred in the deep slums of Kiandutu, Kenya where all the evil ranging from prostitution, robbery, drug abuse, untimely deaths compounded by deep poverty reigned, seeing another dawn called for a “thank you”. Surviving on single meals and contaminated water yet retaining good health is no mundane. Although they say prevention is better than cure, we embraced the contrary, cure is better than prevention, for if we adopted the former how could we survive! Ironic right? 

But this was my life, I am grateful that though like water and oil we were worlds apart with doctors due to financial constraints the same was true with regard to health for we were in good shape despite the odds. I am grateful that although I had many hiccups in life, I stood out to complete my education up to the university level. I am more grateful that in a country grappling with a looming unemployment crisis I have managed to secure an opportunity with an international company thanks to Homeland Language Services Company that believes in the potential of an individual as a metric of admission. 

Today, I can set food on the table for my children and give them I life I never had in my childhood thanks to a company that believes in my capacity to bridge a gap between people. How can I fail to be grateful for all these!

Thanksgiving is a great way to remember the successes for the year, but living a life with gratitude every day has significant benefits. One of the impacts of “thank you” is that it has helped me develop positive emotions amid difficult times. Gratitude has enabled me to focus on my accomplishments and appreciate the journey of achieving them rather than complaints. Similarly, having gratitude relishes good experiences when remembering moments of appreciation and accomplishments and values such memories. 

Being grateful also improves a person’s health; both mental and psychical. Grateful individuals are likely to experience fewer aches and pains as they exercise often and eat healthily. Besides, gratitude reduces toxicity improving mental and psychological health. Thus, individuals who are grateful are happier and less likely to suffer from depression. Notably, being grateful promotes good relationships as people learn to appreciate each other.

Gratitude cannot be defined in words but, the emotions that lay deep in our hearts and memories that are contained in our consciousness. I will allude to a famous quote that maintains:

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life as it turns what we have into enough and more.” 

If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you it will be enough, for gratitude turns chaos to order, denial into acceptance, confusion to clarity, a meal into a feast, and more importantly a house into a home. I believe every person has that one thing to be grateful for, I believe the very simple act of breathing that we often ignore is more a solid reason to be grateful. That, what you take for granted is what another is desperately yearning for. Come on! it’s high time you learn to say thank you! It doesn’t cost, right?”