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American Thanksgiving marked by mantras, Muslim prayers

Arthur J Pais

Next to Christmas, Thanksgiving is the biggest holiday in America. It is the day that marks the first harvest by the Pilgrims on the American soil over three centuries ago.

But to a small set of people, perhaps less than one percent of Americans, the celebrations are reminders of the cruelty that followed after the arrival of the white man -- the slaughter of hundreds of thousands native Indians and the concomitant acts of land-grabbing.

The Thanksgiving dinner staple includes baked turkey and pumpkin pie. But over a million vegetarians across America including the members of dozens of ashrams, including the ones run by Shree Chinmoy, have a completely vegetarian meal.

A different kind of Thanksgiving was celebrated this Thursday around Lloyd Helt's and Ruth Gray's dining room table in Westminster near Baltimore in which half a dozen Western Maryland College students from India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh participated.

Hindu mantras, Buddhist chants and Muslim prayers were heard at the dinner table -- and instead of the traditional thanking of the Lord, the group prayed for more social justice, greater amity between American races, and peace between nations.

While the group went on to enjoy a fine dinner, shared a lot of jokes and reminisced about their families, their prayers remembered the plight of refugees across the world.

"How'd you find all these hungry kids," Helt and Gray were asked by a reporter.

"They don't find us. We find them," said Ahsan Latif, a Western Maryland College senior who was lounging in the living room. "We moved to Westminster for college and just adopted them."

Western Maryland has about 100 foreign students among its 2,000 students. At the University of Maryland, about 280 foreign students are among its 8,000 undergraduates.

As at Christmas, at Thanksgiving too many American families invite foreign students to lunch or dinner in their homes.

As Gray, Helt and their daughter Martha, 15 -- sat down to eat with the students, Gray asked for a volunteer to say the prayer.

"Come on," she said, "A nice little Muslim prayer never hurt anyone."

"They just move in here over the holidays," Gray said playfully. "They are out at all hours of the night, doing who knows what. Last night, they got in at 4 am -- not that I was keeping track or anything."

To many open-mined host families, Thanksgiving and Christmas offer occasions to learn about the culture and history of their guests. Gray, who has been a host to many Indian students, makes at least one curry dish.

"The curry powder she uses is pretty good," says an Indian student. "I am getting her to appreciate the beauty of freshly ground masala, though."

Dinali Jayasinghe from Colombo, could not help getting misty-eyed at the recent Thanksgiving.

"It's times like this -- holidays when you see families getting together -- that we really start to miss our own families," she said. She had not been home for about two years.

Latif, who is from Karachi, added, "For me, it's been three." He reminisced about good times but also found time to discuss the sectarian violence in Pakistan.

Jayasinghe remembered her first Thanksgiving with the family. She had especially been struck by family members' willingness to drive long distances to be together for the holiday.

"The unity, how you hold hands and say a prayer, that, to me, was more important than the food," she said.

Gray, who has mothered these young people like her own, brushed the nostalgic moment aside.

"Well, you've got a family here now, too," she said.

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