Holidays: MIA

Monday, November 12th, 2007


I’m really missing something here, and I think I’ve figured out what it is: holidays. Since I’ve been here, we sailed by Thanksgiving, we zoomed passed Halloween, and just yesterday, Remembrance Day flew by and I hardly even noticed. Here, those holidays are either not celebrated, slowly dying out, or just forgotten.

Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated here, and while it’s not huge in Canada either, I still missed having the quiet evening eating a huge delicious meal with my family and grandparents, and then having leftover turkey sandwiches or turkey soup the day after.

Halloween, I’m told, used to be celebrated here a couple years ago, but it’s just sort of died. And as much as I missed seeing the kids in costume running around the streets with their bags full of candy, and the “big kids” dressed up going to Halloween parties, it is nice to know that cultures can withdraw from the American influence. While I was doing my groceries the day before Halloween, I actually heard an announcement in the grocery store giving directions to the kids to put on a costume and go knocking on doors for candy. That was when I knew that it wasn’t going to be as big as back home. I mean, what kid need directions to dress up and get candy?!? I was also very disappointed at the lack of discounted Halloween candy the following day. It was pretty much non-existent. The French even have a holiday (Toussaint) the day after Halloween, so it’s strange that more people don’t go out.

People know what November 11th is, and I’m told that sometimes there’s a holiday on that day. But since it fell on a Sunday this year, everyone just sort of let it fly by.

I am so incredibly happy that I am going to be spending Christmas with a family (even though it won’t be my own). I’ve been talking with a bunch of the Canadians that are here for the year, and they are all frantically trying to search for Christmas plans. Some of them had the impression that their European friends would invite them home to spend the holidays in Italy, or Germany, or Spain, etc. And even though that’s how it would work in Canada, the culture isn’t quite the same here. The Europeans are all expressing their excitement to head home for the holidays, and the Canadians still don’t have any invitations. Most of them are now looking up travel options that are going to cost them a fortune because it’s the holidays and yet, they’ll still end up sleeping alone in a hostel on Christmas Eve.

All of this is making me feel pretty fortunate that I’m heading down to South Africa and staying with Warren and his family for the holidays. It’ll be nice to be around a family, and it’ll be a totally new experience having Christmas in the summer, and spending New Year's in 35-degree weather!!