Thanksgiving Ritual Essay

777 Words2 Pages

Through my Thanksgiving ritual, I noticed that the men and women in my family have different tasks in the preparation, serving, and removal of the meal. The rituals of the men and women show different gender ideologies. Before we left, my grandma called us to ask to bring brown sugar as she participates in the “forgetting to buy an ingredient ritual” for the sweet potato soufflé. Therefore, upon arrival on Wednesday evening, my grandma and my sister prepare the soufflé. My grandma prepares most of the food because she is the oldest woman in the family. However, as she shows my sister how to prepare traditional dishes in our family, she passes down her role of the sole preparer of the food. Also, early Thursday morning, my grandma arranged the …show more content…

She performs the “setting of the table ritual” because she is responsible for the conduct of her household. While grandma sets the table in the dining room, my grandpa and dad stuff and prepare two turkeys for dinner (baked and grilled). Typically, the turkey is the most demanding part of our Thanksgiving ritual and traditionally, the men in my family always fix the turkey. After reading Janet Siskind’s “The Invention of Thanksgiving” I realize that we are not the only family where gender determines role in the ritual. Siskind writes, “The preparation of the Thanksgiving feast is a traditional responsibility of women, the carving of the turkey usually the prerogative of the men of the house” (185). Because my grandfather is the most esteemed male in my family, he has the honor of carving the turkey. While we await dinner, which finishes cooking promptly at five o’clock, other members of my extended family arrive for the occasion. My dad’s two brothers who live in town arrive with their families. My dad’s younger brother arrives with his wife, stepson, his stepson’s girlfriend, and his wife’s

Show More
Related

  • Culture in Samalian Life

    815 Words  | 2 Pages

    -at home, it is the culture for women to serve the men first, and then eat with their children after the men have finished

    Read More

  • An Essay About Turkeys At Thanksgiving

    243 Words  | 1 Pages

    This is a disgrace! To all the turkey’s at Thanksgiving! forty-five million turkey’s are cooked a year. Not only are those awful humans eating us, now they are entrapping us in disgusting cages and making us eat only corn and soybeans. That’s not even the worst part, they put something in our food called vitamins and minerals. I heard yesterday from keith, my turkey friend, that they talk about how they feed turkeys healthy things so that the people who buy the turkeys won’t get sick or something like that. They also say we taste different at different ages.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay About Thanksgiving

    1319 Words  | 3 Pages

    Thanksgiving is a holiday in the United States, which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November every year. Although the way holidays are celebrated over time, thanksgiving has always been a holiday feast. However, Thanksgiving is more than just eating food together with your family. For instance, some families do charity work for the poor people and create a Thanksgiving dinner for them, other family’s watch sport in addition to the food that they eat together. One part that is common at almost every Thanksgiving dinner is the type of food that is served. Families in the United States have celebrated Thanksgiving for hundreds of years, but the way it is celebrated has slightly changed from the first Thanksgiving. To be able to explain

    Read More

  • Domestic Divo Rebecca Swenson Summary

    224 Words  | 1 Pages

    "Exploring gender as activity, because of institutional and social norms and any contradictions." It was always considered that women belong in the kitchen to show that they are productive and devoted to their families. Now, both men and women share the kitchen somewhat equally. Rebecca Swenson argues this in "Domestic Divo? Televised Treatments of Masculinity, Femininity, and Food."

    Read More

  • Cultural Autobiography Essay: My Personal Cultural Identity

    1328 Words  | 3 Pages

    White men controlled the government and created how America is today. White women were also seen as superior to other races, but not superior to White men. Women were seen as only being capable of taking care of children and doing housework. Unfortunately, this is still represented in my family today. A main event that sticks out to me that represents gender stereotypes and roles is holiday gatherings. At holiday events the women are in the kitchen preparing the food while the men are in the living room talking and/or watching a sporting event. After dinner, the men go back to the living room, while the women are expected to put away leftovers, clean the dishes, and so

    Read More

  • Persisting Gender Roles: A Barrier to Progress

    1525 Words  | 4 Pages

    Caregiving and homemaking are the primary roles given to women by society. And as Brigid Schulte stated in her article “Women aren’t the only ones trapped by gender roles”, “As long as women are expected to do the bulk of the caregiving and housework, and work cultures respect and reward people who don’t, women will remain at the disadvantage”. This quote simplicity sums up the effect traditional gender roles on the potentials of women. As long as these societal expectations are set in place, men will be the ones consistently given the rewards because their position in society is seemingly “superior” to women. According to an article from Forbes magazine entitled “The 5 Most Damaging Myths That Keep Women From Advancing and Thriving In Our World Today”, the second most damaging myth is the thought “that gender equality is just a workplace issue”(Caprino). Though this is a major issue surrounding traditional roles, the behavioral and physical expectations of men and women cannot be overlooked. “Social roles are the part people play as members of a social group. With each social role you adopt, your behavior changes to fit the expectations both you and others have of that role”(McLeod). Women are expected by society to be dependent, passive, emotional, and nurturing and look graceful and petite. Opponents to the aforementioned statements would suggest that

    Read More

  • Jamba Juice Culture

    1094 Words  | 3 Pages

    On this particular day, there were three men and one woman working. Most of the time, they seemed to share most of the obligations. They all switched around making smoothies and taking orders. One glaring difference, however, was that the woman was the only one to ever do the dishes. The men only seemed to put the dirty utensils in the sink. The woman, on the other hand, went back and forth from taking orders, to making smoothies, to cleaning the dishes. This duty seems to parallel to the common view of women being the keeper of the household; hence, they did the dishes. Today, even without knowing it, people tend to stick to these gender constructions. One case where it is recognized is in the story “Two Women, Three Men on a Raft.” It only came to the narrator’s attention after his journey that he and one of the other males “proceeded to undermine the women” (Schrank, 1977, p. 35). They subconsciously took the power away from the females in order to “protect them.” All they really appreciated them doing was their “normal duties,” such as “[carry] food bags, buckets, and ropes” (Schrank, 1977, p. 28) while the men inflated the raft. Even though it can be pushed by men, it seems that women just tend to gravitate toward areas where they can feel that they are taking care of someone. So maybe the employees did not tell her she had to do the dishes. Maybe she just cleans them out of habit or

    Read More

  • The Evolution of the Idea of the “Macho Man” in Advertisement Dating From the 30’s To Our Times

    585 Words  | 2 Pages

    To understand the notions of this custom, one must go back a long time. Old societies used to base their economy on hunting, and here we can see the first division of tasks between men and women. Males had the mission to find food for home, this food usually consisted of wild animals to be hunted in groups, and women corresponded parental care and housework. This social division of labor becomes part of human settlement; it had to do with anatomical difference that made the woman a better prospect to take care of babies and mainly the possibility of breastfeeding. Subsequently begins to be attributed male labor, and women are seen in a more passive way and does not keep close relation to religious iconic model of the collective imagination of the men at the time, all the gods, mighty warriors should have the image of the fierce and skilled hunter, so is th...

    Read More

  • Gender Roles Essay

    1109 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Hochschild, “attitudes toward men’s and women’s roles have been referred to as gender ideologies” (as cited in Helgeson, 2012, p. 68). There are currently three different gender role ideologies that can be measured through the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (ATWS). The three ideologies include egalitarian, the belief that men and women should equally share in both household and workforce duties, traditional, the belief that women only do housework and men only are in the workforce, and transitional, the belief that it is okay for women to enter the workforce, however, they still do proportionally more household duties. Cultural differences also affect individuals’ gender role attitudes, depending on how “expectations for men and

    Read More

  • Culture In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

    1337 Words  | 3 Pages

    The roles of men and women are not the same in all cultures, especially for the Ibo and First

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay About Thanksgiving

    780 Words  | 2 Pages

    Thanksgiving is one of the most celebrated holidays in America because it’s a time to celebrate with family. This holiday is at number two following right behind the beloved Christmas. That's why it’s so hard to get a flight really close to the Thanksgiving cause so many families travel around this time. Therefore, there are many different ways families celebrate this special holiday. Many families have other friends and family members over while watching the football game with a nice turkey.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Women In Girl By Jamaica Kincaid

    1101 Words  | 3 Pages

    From the very beginning of history, women were portrayed to be insignificant in comparison to men in society. A woman was deemed by men to be housewives, bear children and take care of the household chores. Even so, at a young age girls were being taught the chores they must do and must continue through to adulthood. This idea that the woman’s duty was to take charge of household chores was then passed through generations, even to this day. However, this ideology depends on the culture and the generation mothers were brought up in and what they decide to teach their daughters about such roles.

    Read More

  • The Role of Women in American Society

    1488 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout history, the roles of men and women in the home suggested that the husband would provide for his family, usually in a professional field, and be the head of his household, while the submissive wife remained at home. This wife’s only jobs included childcare, housekeeping, and placing dinner on the table in front of her family. The roles women and men played in earlier generations exemplify the way society limited men and women by placing them into gender specific molds; biology has never claimed that men were the sole survivors of American families, and that women were the only ones capable of making a pot roast. This depiction of the typical family has evolved. For example, in her observation of American families, author Judy Root Aulette noted that more families practice Egalitarian ideologies and are in favor of gender equality. “Women are more likely to participate in the workforce, while men are more likely to share in housework and childcare (apa…).” Today’s American families have broken the Ward and June Cleaver mold, and continue to become stronger and more sufficient. Single parent families currently become increasingly popular in America, with single men and women taking on the roles of both mother and father. This bend in the gender rules would have, previously, been unheard of, but in the evolution of gender in the family, it’s now socially acceptable, and very common.

    Read More

  • Social Construction of Gender

    1142 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dads would expect their sons to help him in the garage or any other projects around the house and moms expect their daughters to help them in the kitchen. All of these characteristics are not unusual or out of the ordinary, this has been the tradition for hundreds of years and as far as I can see it will still remain the same. Society is a social factor that has many ways in which it molds an individual and defines his/her gender as a character. Society includes your friends, mentors, enemies, and our. co-workers and significant others.

    Read More

  • Reflective Essay On Gender Roles

    1859 Words  | 4 Pages

    As a child, growing up in my household there were no “proper” roles fulfilled for a man and a woman. My parents did things that did not necessarily fall into one specific role. Both of my parents work full time jobs and split duties that are involved in taking care of home. There were several instances where my mother would take out the garbage or change a light bulb, and other cases where my father would wash dishes or wash clothes. In the same aspect, if I went to my grandparents’ house the elements were different. My grandfather was the bread winner and he is the head of our family, which meant that in a sense we did serve him. At dinner he would get the first plate, he was disciplinarian, and he was also the voice of reason and got the last say. Even though my grandmother did work, she did the traditional responsibility that you would see a housewife do such as: cook, wash dishes, do laundry, and clean the house. It was always instilled in my siblings and cousins and I that we could do any that we put or mind and dedication to because our options are limitless.

    Read More

More about Thanksgiving Ritual Essay

Open Document