Nakiki-culture, or Why are we having Thanksgiving dinner in Manila?
Us: Why are people having Thanksgiving dinner in Manila?* Did their ancestors arrive on the Mayflower? Did they give the natives smallpox blankets? (That came later though)
Noel: Hahahaha! Because if the Mayflower never arrived, we would never have been colonized. And we would never have discovered Hollywood.
Us: So we celebrate the colonization of our colonizer?
Noel: Mismo! We are that grateful.
Us: Nakiki-colonize, nakiki-genocide…
Noel: That’s it! We’re always nakiki-something.
Us: Nakiki-culture!
Noel: Kurak! In films, nakiki-edgy. In music, nakiki-hip-hop.
Us: We have a theory.
* Unless they are American or grew up in America or didn’t get the memo about Philippine independence or working for American companies so they get the day off or running restaurants patronized by Americans.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
November 24th, 2011 at 18:46
This seems to be a relatively recent phenomenon. My grandparents did not recall any Thanksgiving celebrations in the Philippines during the so-called “Peacetime” American colonial period between the turn of the last century and World War II.
And when I worked for an American multinational company in Manila from the late 1980’s to the late 1990’s, I don’t remember the American expats ever celebrating Thanksgiving publicly — I suppose they only did so at home with their families, if at all.
I wonder what has led to this then. Perhaps it’s merely a commercial gimmick, like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Grandparents’ Day, etc.
November 24th, 2011 at 19:11
@Akyat-Bahay: That, I think, is more in keeping with the spirit of the holidays – just spending time with your family and friends. We Filipinos already have Christmas and town fiestas as our main food-and-family holidays, though, so I wouldn’t put it past anyone to turn Thanksgiving into a gimmick.
My parents have finally succeeded in talking me out of celebrating Thanksgiving, though. I tried serving bread stuffing with lechon manok on my first Thanksgiving away from the States, and it wasn’t the same. Then I had my Mom’s chicken relleno the following Christmas, and I forgot about Thanksgiving altogether.
Besides, the only commercial aspect of Thanksgiving that I (sort-of) miss is Black Friday, where everything goes on sale in anticipation of the Christmas season. But we already started that in September – belat na lang!
November 24th, 2011 at 19:20
Momelia has a funny blog post about this.
November 25th, 2011 at 17:47
So what do Native Americans “celebrate” on Thanksgiving?
November 25th, 2011 at 19:01
Haven’t had turkey ever. Is it any good? My dad wanted to have a turkey farm but I haven’t been able to do much research on this yet. Requires too much actual leg work and I still have a day job so, no go.
November 26th, 2011 at 13:01
Similarly, I still find it unusual that many Pinoys celebrate Halloween like in the US.
November 26th, 2011 at 22:58
Turkey is like bland chicken. Stick to chicken.
November 27th, 2011 at 08:36
As for me, naki-Black Friday lang ako. Thanks to Amazon and the smart and cheap US-Phil forwarding services.
I also find turkey too bland. Stuffing and pies are okay. But the absolute worse are the turkey leftovers. Those giant birds go on for weeks! Turkey sandwiches, turkey on gravy, salad with turkey, adobong turkey…on and on and on for 2-3 weeks. *gag*
November 27th, 2011 at 10:27
I used to eat a lot of turkey when I was little. Hindi kami sosyal ha. We raised them and allowed them to wander the grasslands surrounding our home.
Sometime in high school, I was given supervision over three chicks. They were orginally intended to be raised for eating but they became pets. Bad idea to be emotionally connected to your holiday centerpiece. When the three of them became young adults, they took to wandering the streets and even the side of the highway. They always came home around dusk.
One afternoon, our maid brought home the body of one of the two females. The other one was male. She was apparently hit by a car. The two surviving turkeys, were just behind our maid and the turkeys were obviously distraiught. The body was put on the kitchen floor. While we were discussing how to cook the dead turkey, the suriviving turkeys began to gobble loudly at the dead body. They nudged it with their beaks, scratched it with their feet and the other female even flapped her wings and jumped on it. They made eerie sounds and I never heard turkeys sound like that before.
When the body was all chopped up and served steaming hot for dinner. I could not bring myself to eat it. I never knowingly ate turkey after that. Yes, I’m weird. Hahaha.