By Skylar Yoder
While thanksgiving is traditionally a North American holiday, I had the pleasure of celebrating it in Armenia this year. At CivilNet, several of my colleagues went out of their way to prepare a Thanksgiving feast for the office, which happened to coincide with my last day in Yerevan and a period of deep sorrow for Armenians everywhere.
The meal itself was highly impressive, with us somehow collectively supplying in one day’s time: ten kilos of Turkey, rice pilaf, roasted vegetables, cranberry sauce, and even apple pie with vanilla ice cream. While this alone was an experience, what struck me even more was the atmosphere of thankfulness that this meal and gathering cultivated.
Though this was the first, and perhaps only, time some of my Armenian colleagues would celebrate Thanksgiving, the practice of gratitude came quite naturally. As we dove into our carefully curated plates, people around the room took turns standing up to share what they were grateful for and raise a toast to the future.
As a native Oklahoman, I understand why many Americans are reticent to celebrate the holiday in its whitewashed context, without acknowledging the genocide of indigenous peoples and the structural violence Native Americans continue to face today. It is also no secret that the Armenian people have not had it easy either, historically or as of late. They suffered a horrific genocide in the early 20th century and, only weeks ago, ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Sitting at the table and enjoying an unexpected Thanksgiving meal with my Armenian colleagues, including several from Nagorno-Karabakh, the parallels of these two distinct but similar stories was magnified. In this situation, some might focus on the troubling fact that, despite hundreds of years of change in the world, atrocious crimes against humanity continue to be perpetrated. I chose instead to see the indescribable resilience and hope of humanity that persists in spite of everything.
Skylar Yoder is The Armenia Project Journalism intern at CivilNet. She is a graduate of King’s College London.
