By: Shreya Joshi & Isacc Keopaseuth Source: By Jenny Huang, Food Styling By Susie Theodorou, Prop Styling By Martha Bernabe www.bonappetit.com/story/thanksgiving-menu-peter-som DOES KIMICHI GO WITH TURKEY? BEING ASIAN AND AMERICAN, HOW DO WE CELEBRATE AMERICAN HOLIDAYS?With the leaves becoming colorful, the weather turning chilly and days becoming short it can only mean one thing, It’s finally the holiday season! From Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Years, we have these holidays back to back. What tends to go unspoken though, is what traditional "American" holidays mean to people who have a different relationship with what it means to be American. This holiday season, we at Monsoon wanted to dive deeper into the holiday season and examine what often goes unheard, assimilation and celebration. From social media to schools, the celebration of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years can be seen everywhere we go. This creates an idea that because people around us are celebrating, it would be unnatural for us not to. Oftentimes though, the celebration leads people to question whether or not they’re considered truly American, the holidays become a symbol of what being a true “American” looks like, excluding those who don’t meet the exact definition of it. "the celebration leads people to questions whether or not they're considered truly american".Holidays commonly revolve around food and a time to gather with friends and family. But there are established traditions with food, like turkey, cranberry sauce and eggnog. These don't always hold the same meaning for Asian Americans. But to deny these traditions means to feel different than our peers, to be isolated. So we eat staples like turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes and gingerbread in the hopes of feeling like the people around us so we can fit in. It doesn’t necessarily feel authentic because we aren’t celebrating the same generational legacy others are. Attempting to find a connection to the traditional food feels like a step to the white picket fence but every year, it’s a reminder that to some extent, it’ll never be enough. And in the process, we often lose our own cultural traditions, ones with meaning to us. This is part of a broader phenomenon surrounding assimilation. Despite being the fastest growing racial group in the United States, Asian Americans have been assimilating for centuries–changing fundamental aspects of our culture in the process– while also being grouped underneath a pan-Asian identity (Pew Research Center). Many immigrants end up feeling the same way, slowly losing parts of their individual identity. We might see it within ourselves or around us through losing languages, traditions or heritage all in an effort to “be more American”. There is a balance we can strike between assimilation and celebration. Whether it’s being thankful to/for one-another, feasting with family, or adapting the traditional foods eaten, these holidays have become a way of celebrating our community and our found family. When we feel like we’re losing our heritage we have to remember, heritage is not only what we keep, but what we create. Many Asian Americans find joy in celebrating these holidays. They have become a way to create our own meaning and pass down our own traditions that have meaning to us, and not just for others. When celebrating holidays take time to think about what the holidays may symbolize to other people and ultimately, what they symbolize to us. Happy Holidays! "When we feel like we’re losing our heritage we have to remember, heritage is not only what we keep, but what we create"Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/04/29/key-facts-about-asian-americans/ edit.
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February 2023
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