Cultural stumble

[mbarker]

That 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

Comments

[saruby]

One distinction for me is that Halloween has religious significance (although perhaps not to the average American) and Thanksgiving is a political holiday.

[mbarker]

I think of Thanksgiving as a historical holiday, but you're right, it lacks that religious tie-in. Incidentally, one of the people at the dinner is from El Salvador, and he said that his background includes Halloween, but not Thanksgiving. I gather Halloween is much more of a European and descendants holiday, while Thanksgiving is pretty much North American/USA.

[mbarker]

Ah - thanks! I had no idea where the notion of carved pumpkins came from, although I had read the story of the Headless Horseman. Drat, I knew about Samhain, too -- although maybe I'll leave well enough alone. Our friend certainly looked a little surprised at all the knowledge we dumped on him during dinner. It was funny how both my wife and myself suddenly started dragging our memories about what each of these festivals is, and how they are different.