Christmas traditions elsewhere

[Ebony]

No: HPFGUIDX 7058

Thanks to all who chimed in--I'm sorry that I didn't search the 
archives before posting!  It all sounds very interesting.  I can't 
believe I forgot potatoes, but I didn't see any on all of the menus I 
looked at.  I'll change the pheasant to turkey... and I feel *very* 
embarrassed about the Christmas crackers.  I didn't know they're not 
food!

Michelle wrote:

> I've been thinking. We've talked a lot about Brit traditions ( 
mostly English ) . Could some of our correspondents from other 
countries give us an idea of where their traditions differ ? Perhaps 
this could be a basis for a fan fic about a trip to Durmstrang, 
Beauxbatons or another wizarding school.

The United States is so large and diverse, until I'm not sure that 
there's a such thing as a traditional American holiday menu.  I think 
plum pudding's served in New England and thereabouts... I've never 
heard of it here in the Midwest.

As many of you know, I'm from a Southern African-American family 
(originally from Florida), but our branch has lived in Michigan for 
almost a century.  When I attended college in Florida (Floridian 
culture seems to be a weird combination of the Deep South, New York, 
and the Caribbean), I learned just how Midwestern I was.  So our menu 
combines Southern "soul food" dishes with Midwestern ones.

Thanksgiving and Christmas vary only according to entree.  On 
Thanksgiving we have turkey and on Christmas we have ham.  Until my 
father died, on New Year's we had chitterlings, but I'll talk about 
that later.

We have the same traditions that I guess most American families do.  
We eat, drink, enjoy each other's company, watch sports, open gifts, 
sing carols, and attend religious services.  The main variance I've 
observed is in what we eat.

SOUL FOOD

This is a typical soul food holiday menu, which can be eaten on 
special occasions year-round.  I've eaten Sunday and holiday dinners 
with black families from every part of the country, and almost all of 
these items were on every table:

Turkey (smoked or fried) or ham
Barbecue (summer only in Michigan, year-round in Florida)
Fried catfish
Baked macaroni and cheese
Candied Yams
Greens (turnip, collard, or mustard)
Sweet Potato Pie
Peach Cobbler
Rolls or Biscuits or Cornbread
Punch 

Some notes are in order:

***The barbecue could be absolutely anything.  Ribs, chicken, pork 
steaks, neck bones... you name it.  It all depends on the particular 
family's preference.

***Michigan is a hunter's paradise.  My uncles, grandfather, and dad 
all hunt/hunted every other year (it used to be every year).  My 
great-aunt makes a heavenly pheasant and my mother's youngest sister 
makes great venison Swedish meatballs with gravy.  She also makes 
roast venison.  I'm almost certain this is not typical soul food.  We 
also have 7-up cake and pumpkin pie--my Southern friends thought we 
were so weird for having it, because most soul food aficionados I've 
met think pumpkin pie is less than appetizing.

***Most families supplement the basic menu with regional specialities 
that are eaten regardless of ethnicity.  For instance, my Louisiana 
friends make gumbo and jambalaya in addition to the above.  My 
Chicago and St. Louis friends like egg pie.  And red velvet cake is 
very popular in the Deep South now... that's where I learned to make 
it.  I've determined that it can't be a very old Southern recipe, 
since *no one* I've met yet in Detroit knows how to make it and we 
brought most of our recipes with us when we migrated North.

***Usually there'll be something else besides the greens, like tossed 
salad or peas and carrots.  This is just because soul food is 
extremely heavy and you need something else green on the table.

***Almost all black families have one or more members that are not 
African-American.  (It's estimated that 75% to 90% of African 
Americans are at least 1/8 "something else"--which is why I always 
say that culture is much more important than race.)  My cousin's wife 
is Puerto Rican, so we have paella whenever they come.  My best 
friend's stepmom is Vietnamese, so they have this *interesting* fish 
sauce.  And more often than not, there's that West Indian cousin or 
in-law who brings the curry goat or rice and peas or griot. 

***Rarely will there be an African dish on the tables.  I've eaten 
African food from several countries, and it goes to show that African-
American culture is more Southeastern American than African.  At 
least in my opinion.  

***As a rule, African food is loads healthier than soul food.  Soul 
food is the #1 reason for the astronomically higher rate of blacks in 
America plagued with chronic illness such as hypertension, obesity, 
high cholesterol, and heart disease.  Another problem is that we eat 
soul food a lot more than I'd guess other cultures eat their holiday 
food--some families eat this way every Sunday or several days a 
week.  

My father died of a heart attack when he was only 51 years old... due 
to eating and drinking habits.  I'm glad there is a movement to cook 
healthier--using turkey instead of ham hocks to cook greens, for 
instance.  However, this has been largely unsuccessful.  The idea is 
that using low-fat or lighter products "ruins the taste".

KWANZAA
 
Kwanzaa is still not very widely celebrated by black families.  
That's because it's only a generation old, and invented by professor 
Maulana Karenga to emphasize African heritage and celebrate virtues 
both present and needed in black American culture.  Our family 
celebrated it until my father died in 1998.  It spans the seven days 
between Christmas and New Year's.  There are seven days, and each day 
incorporates a principle of the Nguzo Saba:
December 26 -- Umoja -- Unity
December 27 -- Kujichagulia -- Self Determination
December 28 -- Ujima -- Collective Work and Responsibility
December 29 -- Ujamaa -- Cooperative Economics
December 30 -- Nia -- Purpose
December 31 -- Kuumba -- Creativity
January 1 -- Imani -- Faith
On each evening, you gather with your family, light a candle on the 
bandera (they're red, black and green), do readings and discuss the 
principles.  Some non-religious families pour libations to the 
ancestors; we did this until 1995 when we converted to Christianity.  
Now we just speak about our ancestors.

On December 31, there is the feast or karamu.  You exchange small 
gifts (zawadi) that are handmade and ring in the New Year.

Very religious African-Americans, whether Christian or Muslim, *do 
not* celebrate this secular holiday and have pretty strong arguments 
against it.  I don't have an opinion one way or the other.  But I 
*do* know how to celebrate it and have educated hundreds of people 
(many of them children) on how it is properly carried out.

NEW YEAR'S DAY

New Year's dinner is a little different.  On New Year's, you eat 
black-eyed peas and rice, cornbread, and chitterlings (pork 
intestines).  These have been considered good luck foods since 
slavery.  Analytical African-Americans have also pointed out that 
this is all slaves, as a rule, had to eat.  So I guess it's 
subconsciously remembering a hard time in our history.  

Some families sweep and toss salt around, but we don't.  Those are 
also good luck traditions.

That's it for holidays.  Where this would fit in for an American 
holiday celebration at a wizarding school, I don't know.  It should 
be included in some small part, though.

I subscribe to Rita's suppression/Puritan theory and think that the 
American wizarding tradition is much different than the British.  As 
a matter of fact, I hold that Britain is to the wizarding world what 
America is to the Muggle--the leader, whether we like it or not.

Back to proofing this fic--

Ebony