Thanksgiving

DISCLAIMER: This post was written by an American from a purely American perspective and, yes, with a bit of sarcasm that doesn't necessarily come through in writing. Rest assured, no offense is intended and I beg your indulgence for a few brief moments.

Romanians don't celebrate Thanksgiving, at least, not the way we Americans do (surprisingly, they don't quite get the whole pilgrims & Indians thing...maybe that's because some of them live in houses older than our country). Yet, since coming to Romania, I've celebrated more Thanksgiving than ever before.

You might remember that I have Canadian teammates. Being a bit strange in the north-land, they celebrate Thanksgiving on the first Monday in October (let's face it, Thanksgiving on Monday is just plain weird!). The turkey dinner is always yummy, and I don't mind eating it more than once a year. But I always get the urge to get my Christmas decorations out the next day. I have to keep reminding myself that I need to wait another six weeks until the real Thanksgiving ;) .

Romanian churches have somewhat adopted the custom, and many set aside a "Thanksgiving" Sunday some time in the fall. Every church has a different date; last year, Libertatii (our church) celebrated on the last Sunday of October while I was in Turkey, and this year they celebrated on the second Sunday of the month. Gotta' confess...sarmale, no matter how good it is, still isn't Thanksgiving dinner in my mind. But it is a good time of fellowship, testimonies, music, etc., followed by Romanian food in the church basement. (Sarmale, in case you do not know, is a cabbage roll stuffed with ground meat, rice & spices. The ladies in our church made over 1000 of them for Thanksgiving this year!)

But I'm excited for the real Thanksgiving this year. I'm excited for turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie (which I can't stand the taste of, but love the smell) and all of the other good Thanksgiving "stuff". I'm looking forward to traveling to Bucharest with some Romanian friends (who want a shopping weekend in the city) and then spending a day with American friends in Bucharest & not having to run back to my computer to get more work done.

Until then, here are some pictures from Romanian Thanksgiving this year.

Pastor Nicu Stremtan

Deacon Vio Gaga


Giving away all of the goodies...they asked questions from the different Sunday School classes and those who answered correctly got to take some of the fruits and/or vegetables home.

Edible decorations :)