Thanksgiving is seen as an American celebration, but Syracuse University’s international students discovered that the holiday’s values do not stop at U.S. borders.

During the 31st annual International Thanksgiving Meal, held on Nov. 21 in Goldstein Auditorium at Schine Student Center, they saw that Thanksgiving was about more than eating an overabundance of food. Over 400 international students and their families were treated to a traditional American Thanksgiving meal, including turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. The meal also catered to the students’ religious and dietary restrictions varying by culture.

The dinner’s main purpose was not to just introduce students to the American holiday but also celebrate cross-cultural demonstrations of gratitude.

‘The dinner is an educational event,’ said Thomas Wolfe, dean of Student Affairs. ‘Gratitude is an idea that doesn’t have borders, and students were able to share their own expressions of thanks from their cultures.’

The event was sponsored by Hendricks Chapel, the Division of Student Affairs and the Lillian and Emanuel Slutzker Center for International Services. Each table at the meal had an American ‘host,’ a university faculty member who helped to teach the students the nuances of the holiday traditions.

Tiffany Steinwert, dean of Hendricks, and Patricia Burak, director of the Slutzker Center, co-hosted the dinner. About 20 percent of the university’s international student body was in attendance, Burak said.

‘Food is an international vehicle for friendship,’ Burak said. ‘Getting together with friends, family and the hosts of each table acting as family is more significant than the immersion in American culture.’

The Syracuse community brought together the international students with food and friendship, Burak said, while keeping the emphasis of the evening away from strictly American culture.

Although most were unfamiliar with Thanksgiving traditions, Steinwert said the dinner was more about the concept behind the holiday.

‘The meal is about experiencing the rich global diversity at SU,’ Steinwert said.  ‘Thanksgiving provides us with an opportunity to gather folks around the table and talk about global customs of celebrating family and offering hospitality.’

Chancellor Nancy Cantor and President Cornelius Murphy Jr. of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry gave remarks preceding the meal, reflecting on the importance of global diversity on each university’s respective campus. Before the meal was served, a professional chef was brought to the stage to demonstrate the carving of the turkey.

The event also featured entertainment from foreign cultures, including musical acts from SU students Yuan Zou and Ruitong Zhou, a graduate student in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management and a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, respectively, who performed traditional Chinese music. Rongrong Cui, a third-year master’s student in the School of Education who introduced the act, said the dinner was an opportunity to share and celebrate ideas, regardless of nationality.

‘Thanksgiving may mean more to Americans,’ said Cui, a counseling and human services major. ‘But it is more about the meaning than the content of the festival. In China, we celebrate the Moon Festival and the Spring Festival, but it does not matter what festivals we celebrate, nor what country we come from or what language we speak.’

Many of the event’s international attendees were repeat guests to the meal, which was an indicator that the International Thanksgiving Meal will be well received for years to come, said Burak.

‘(The students) are always willing to participate and learn about the values and histories of holidays of other nationalities, while making comparisons to the holidays they celebrate at home,’ Burak said.

Although Thanksgiving is an American tradition, students spanning the globe were able to draw similarities to their own cultures during the meal.

‘It offers such a nice environment for the international students to gather and meet new people,’ Cui said. ‘We get the opportunity to share our joy, our happiness and our feelings with each other.’

ervanrhe@syr.edu

Published on November 29, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Erik: ervanrhe@syr.edu | @therealvandyman