‘Eat first and then party’: Latino families in Chatham share their Thanksgiving traditions
By VICTORIA JOHNSON
SILER CITY — For Janet Pulido and her extended family, Thanksgiving Day is normally one big party with food, dancing and — of course — drinking.
It usually starts around 8 p.m. In bigger family gatherings, Pulido’s aunts, uncles and cousins are all there, though some arrive later than others. The percussive rhythms of cumbia music often play in the background — mainly cumbia, Pulido said, though sometimes they mix in bachata, merengue and salsa music.
“We eat first. The uncles are probably already drinking at that point,” she said, laughing, “but we eat first and then party. When we eat, we don’t typically sit all at one table and pass the food around and then eat. We serve whatever we are going to eat and then we sit somewhere and eat.”
For many Latino immigrants and their families in Chatham, like Pulido’s family, Thanksgiving is a time to be and feast with family, and many incorporate their own “Latin twist” into Thanksgiving celebrations.
Pulido’s parents immigrated from Veracruz, Mexico, to Siler City, and that’s why she said they celebrate Thanksgiving “in a way” — their way.
“At their jobs they get the day off, so my family gets together and we eat,” she said. “Latinos are generally not really good with feelings, like talking about feelings or expressing them(selves) in any way, so in my family, we don’t go around the table and share what we are thankful for.”
Her family’s Thanksgiving meal might include a traditional Thanksgiving dish or two, but there’s always quite a few Mexican dishes, including tamales, pozole (a corn soup), menudo (a spicy soup) and chiles rellenos, or stuffed peppers.
“Americans are used to turkey and sides like green beans, mashed potatoes and so on, but we aren’t,” she said. “We might have a turkey. We might not. It depends on who takes it.”
Sometimes, she and her immediate family attend their extended family’s Thanksgiving celebration, what she called “a party.” Other times, she celebrates with her parents and siblings — a gathering she described as a smaller, more laidback affair, where they hang out and catch up with each other.
Likewise, Siler City resident Maria Gomez Flores and her extended family immigrated to Siler City from Guatemala. They celebrate Thanksgiving by throwing a big family get-together and “enjoying good Latin food.”
“We like big family reunions and being together in general, so we just take advantage that many of us have the day off,” she said. “We don’t recognize the romanticized historical aspect of the holiday with the colonizers and native people enjoying a dinner, but we are mindful of the ‘being thankful’ part of the holiday and do so through religion, like praying for our food and thanking God we are able to meet together.”
Usually, older mothers and aunts cook more traditional Guatemalan dishes — including tamales, pollo guisado (a chicken stew), chiles rellenos and ensalada rusa (“Russian” potato salad). They also incorporate a few traditional American dishes, like mashed potatoes and desserts, all dishes her cousins typically cook.
“There is always an aunt who attempts the turkey, but we don’t really reach for that,” Gomez Flores said. “The only time I remember our family actually enjoying the turkey was when my aunt made it by incorporating or substituting it into a recipe that was originally chicken.”
Her family also enjoys Black Friday, too, she added.
“Families who are more assimilated are more likely to celebrate (Thanksgiving),” she said. “Based on social media, I see friends do more or less the same thing — coming together and enjoy food.”
This year, COVID-19 will force her family to downsize their holiday plans and celebrate with their immediate family members.
“It’s very isolating,” she said. “It’s also the time of year my cousins from out of state come back home, but this year it will be just my nuclear family together. We don’t know when we will ever have a big family gathering.”
Siler City resident Kimberly Lara celebrated her first Thanksgiving when she was about 8 years old. Her parents immigrated to Siler City from Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, and traditionally hadn’t marked the holiday — but that changed once her dad remarried.
“They showed us new traditions to holidays that I had never seen before,” Lara said. “Thanksgiving was just another normal day on my mom’s side of the family, but with my dad, we would eat for hours at the mountains (in Boone) with my entire family.”
She remembers playing in the snow with her family while her grandma prepared “a huge festival of foods,” including traditional dishes like turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pies.
They ate around lunchtime and had leftovers for dinner. Everyone held hands and prayed before diving into the food. Afterward, she said they’d always play outside or play Monopoly for hours, though her first Thanksgiving had a special surprise. Her birthday was only a few days apart.
“After we ate, my dad surprised me with a piñata he made himself that required you to pull at the strings hanging from it to release the candy,” she said. “It ended up not working, so we broke it open. Although I can’t remember most of that day because I was so young, I still feel nostalgic over it.”
A few years ago, her mom noticed how excited Lara was about Thanksgiving, so she and her mom’s family began to celebrate it as well. Usually, Lara’s aunts would cook the family feast, including pasta salad and chicken, while her uncles would barbecue. They’d eat around dinner time, and no one was allowed to nibble on anything until all food was cooked. The night would end with hugs.
“The first time they celebrated Thanksgiving, they made chicken, ribs, and mashed potatoes,” she said. “They asked me what they should buy for Thanksgiving, and I had no clue what to tell them, so I suggested a bottle of sparkling grape juice. So, every year we always have a couple bottles of sparkling grape juice.”
Thanksgiving won’t quite be the same this year — especially since she’s now a vegetarian — but Lara said she’s still determined to see her immediate family and, of course, “eat as much as (she) can.”
