Cultural stumble
Sep. 27th, 2008 10:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mbarkerThat was kind of interesting. Last evening we had dinner with a Japanese postdoc who works fairly hard on his English. While we were talking, he admitted to being puzzled about the difference between Halloween and Thanksgiving. Mitsuko (my wife) and I took a moment or two to catch on, and then double-checked. Sure enough, he thought they were the same holiday. And he was fairly sure that other Japanese also thought they were the same.
So I explained what I know of the origins -- All Halloweds (the celebration of unknown saints), then the mirror celebration of evil on the night before with ghosts and such. Trick or treat. He asked how pumpkins got involved, and I suggested it was the Headless Horseman, and summarized that story. We also pinned down the date -- Oct. 31.
Then we went over Thanksgiving. Pilgrims and Indians, turkeys, corn, etc. A harvest celebration. And the date is the fourth Thursday in November. Aha! He also associated pumpkins with this, and I admitted, pumpkin pie and such are usually part of the feast. But it's mostly a time for eating.
Interesting confusion. Both are in the fall, and both involve corn and pumpkins. From living in America, they are distinctly different. But from a distance, somehow they got merged.
So I explained what I know of the origins -- All Halloweds (the celebration of unknown saints), then the mirror celebration of evil on the night before with ghosts and such. Trick or treat. He asked how pumpkins got involved, and I suggested it was the Headless Horseman, and summarized that story. We also pinned down the date -- Oct. 31.
Then we went over Thanksgiving. Pilgrims and Indians, turkeys, corn, etc. A harvest celebration. And the date is the fourth Thursday in November. Aha! He also associated pumpkins with this, and I admitted, pumpkin pie and such are usually part of the feast. But it's mostly a time for eating.
Interesting confusion. Both are in the fall, and both involve corn and pumpkins. From living in America, they are distinctly different. But from a distance, somehow they got merged.
