Copyright 2006 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Tuesday, November 21, 2006

The Motiwala family of Sharon: from left, Puneet, 8, Paresh, Bhavana and Henal, 14, celebrate Thanksgiving with a feast of traditional Indian food. (MICHAEL IVINS/For The Patriot Ledger)

By SYDNEY SCHWARTZ
The Patriot Ledger

Each Thanksgiving, the Motiwala family attends a multicultural Thanksgiving celebration in Mansfield. They feast on Indian rice cakes and spicy mashed potato balls, Mexican burritos and enchiladas and Russian and Colombian specialties - everything, they say, but the traditional American turkey.

The Hindu Indian family also exchanges small gifts to commemorate the national holiday they celebrate as pilgrims in their new land.

‘‘In India, they don’t have Thanksgiving,’’ said Henal Motiwala, 14, of Sharon, who emigrated from Bombay, India, with her parents and younger brother in 1998. ‘‘We had no clue what it was.’’

Though the Motiwala family may not celebrate Thanksgiving like their American counterparts, Bhavana Motiwala still wants her children to participate in the holiday - even if it’s in their own way.

‘‘I don’t want my kids to be left out,’’ she said. The Motiwalas celebrate the holiday with another Indian family they met in an English class. ‘‘We want to celebrate.’’

Thanksgiving is the quintessential American holiday, a celebration of survival, tolerance, reconciliation and the bounty of the land - ideas different cultures easily embrace. The modern holiday is traditionally marked by parades, football and, of course, a dinner of turkey, stuffing, cranberries and pumpkin pie.

But as newer immigrants have transformed the American landscape over the past three centuries, they have brought their own ethnic, cultural and religious traditions to the Thanksgiving table - just like the Pilgrims and American Indians did during harvest celebrations in 17th-century Plymouth.

‘‘It’s not Thanksgiving without the lasagna,’’ said Giovanni Balsamo, a Sicilian immigrant who owns the D&D Deli in Quincy.

Balsamo, who had his first Thanksgiving in 1961, typically stuffs his turkey with Italian spices and surrounds it with chestnuts, broccoli rabe, stuffed mushrooms and artichokes, along with homemade wine.

Petagay Stennett of Taunton, a clerk at the Center for Multicultural and International Affairs at Bridgewater State College who moved to the area 17 years ago, prepares oxtail each year for her Jamaican family’s celebration.

Her family’s feast combines island favorites like rice and peas, curry goat and fried fish along with the all-American roast turkey, she said.

Christina Liu, an information specialist at Quincy Asian Resources Inc. who emigrated from Hong Kong as an infant 31 years ago, said her family’s Thanksgiving dinner is a ‘‘mish-mosh’’ of Chinese and American foods like turkey with soy sauce instead of cranberry sauce and mooshu pork on the side.

Over time, each immigrant group has put its own take on the holiday, transforming the Thanksgiving menu into a cornucopia of foods as diverse as the country itself, said Kathleen Curtin, food historian at Plimoth Plantation and an author of ‘‘Giving Thanks: Thanksgiving Recipes and History from Pilgrims to Pumpkin Pie.’’

Many families retain the turkey, which children learn at school is at the heart of the holiday, but prepare it with ethnic seasonings and side dishes.

Others, Curtin said, ‘‘choose to forgo the bird and trimmings entirely-. They honor the sentiment of holiday with the celebratory foods from their own culinary heritage.’’

‘‘The meal has changed and evolved. The way that Americans perceive Thanksgiving has changed and the menu has changed,’’ she said. ‘‘The Thanksgiving holiday is still seen as a means of uniting a very diverse America, but it has also become a means of expressing who we are and where we come from as individuals.’’

Celebrating the holiday is a way for immigrants to simultaneously retain their own traditions and participate in American culture, said Noah Pickus, a professor of ethics and public policy at Duke University who studies immigration and citizenship.

Unlike many holidays, the concept of giving thanks is not far-fetched for most immigrants, he said. Many believe in thanking God and celebrating with family. Often, he said, immigrants have survived many hardships and feel they have a lot to be thankful for.

‘‘The holiday itself is not so strange in terms of its core,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s easier to sort of trim around the edges in terms of what you’re serving for dinner.’’

Liu said many of her clients are excited to participate in American traditions like Thanksgiving.

Some have already heard about it before they moved to the United States, she said. Others, like Motiwala, learn about the tradition in their English classes or from family or friends.

‘‘There is a huge amount of interest and also a lot of pride in all things American,’’ she said. ‘‘They really want to know how it is that Americans celebrate.’’

Wendy Mui of Canton, who emigrated from Taiwan in 1985, said her siblings learned from their extended family and friends to eat turkey on Thanksgiving.

‘‘We come to America. We have to accept the culture here, too,’’ said Mui, manager of the Mandarin King restaurant. ‘‘We know that Thanksgiving Day everybody eats turkey; that shows holiday spirit.’’

Her family doesn’t really like roasted turkey, so they chop it up and barbecue it Chinese-style as they would duck.

She said Thanksgiving is the only day Chinese restaurants close, so restaurant workers traditionally go out for dim sum in Chinatown or to the casino.

Her brother Robert Chen, head chef at the restaurant, has spent the holiday gambling many times. But the family usually gathers for parties at the restaurant or at a relative’s or friend’s home for a big feast, a game of mahjong and karaoke. Some relatives even watch football.

‘‘Just like Americans, everyone gets together,’’ Mui said.

Stennett, the Jamaican immigrant, said she didn’t know about Thanksgiving until she came to America almost two decades ago, but has come to see it as a spiritual holiday.

During dinner, her family members go around the table giving thanks to God.