It’s time to start thinking Thanksgiving at Richmond!
With just a week to go before Thanksgiving on Thursday 22 November, Richmond faculty, students are staff are getting set for this most American of celebrations, which marks the start of the Christmas season for Americans.
As next week is International Week at Richmond, Thanksgiving will be celebrated as part of this event with food, music, film, fashion and more, marking the rich diversity of the University. The celebrations next Thursday will include a Thanksgiving lunch in the dining hall and some students will be attending the Thanksgiving service at St Pauls, which happens every year through the US expat community.
Allison Cole-Stutz, Vice President of Student Affairs, said:
“We’re very proud of our American heritage and would like to welcome everyone to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. We are also very international and aware that not everyone knows what Thanksgiving entails.
“So, just to provide a little background, Thanksgiving is not a religious holiday, it’s a date to commemorate the pilgrims sharing a harvest meal with the native Americans, who had been there long before the pilgrims arrived. The meal traditionally features foods of the new world such as turkey, stuffing, cranberries, corn, pumpkin, and is called Thanksgiving’ because it is meant to be a time for us to record our thanks for the land, food and people that we take for granted every day.”
“For us at Richmond, it’s a great opportunity to celebrate our American tradition and we’d like to welcome everyone to join us with the celebrations, not just on Thursday but throughout next week as we celebrate our diversity.”
Thanksgiving is not Thanksgiving without American football, with three games played every year on this day. Dallas (Texas) and Detroit (Michigan) always host, but there is also a third game that can be anywhere. This year it’s the Saints (New Orleans) vs Falcons (Atlanta) in New Orleans .
At Richmond, NFL games will be shown at both London campuses as available, but there will also be a number of American sports bars in and around London showing these on big screens.
