Eat and reflect on the good things in your life!
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I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving because, first of all, it simply isn’t part of my culture. I’m from Europe, and here this holiday doesn’t exist in our history or traditions. It grew out of very specific events in the United States, and it has no natural place in my own life or upbringing. Celebrating it would feel artificial — like trying to adopt a custom that has nothing to do with my identity or the culture I come from.
On a deeper level, I have an even clearer personal reason. The United States didn’t want me there. They deported me. It would feel strange, even contradictory, to celebrate a holiday that is so closely tied to a country that pushed me out after 22 years of living there and paying my taxes. For me, Thanksgiving doesn’t represent warmth or belonging; it reminds me of a place that made it very clear that I wasn’t welcome. There’s no emotional benefit in honoring a tradition linked to an experience that was painful and unfair.
And beyond my personal situation, the holiday itself carries a complicated historical story that doesn’t resonate with me. The narrative often told around Thanksgiving glosses over the reality of colonization and the suffering of Indigenous peoples. From where I stand, it’s a mythologized celebration that I have no reason — and no obligation — to take part in.
Thennnnn…. don’t celebrate it. You have that right.
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