That's how the viejos—the elders—in our family pronounced Thanksgiving. Now we say it that way to remember them and the wonderful blending of Cuban and American traditions at our table and beyond.
Hola Joe! Haven’t heard that word in a long time. For anyone who’s wondering, comelata is Cuban slang for something like pig out, food fest, etc. Joe, you got anything better? 😊
Just to say that even to this day, when all the viejos have passed, the new viejos (I'll be 80 this coming year) still keep the traditions alive. Most of us have both the American side of the family and the Cuban side. So usually the Saturday after Thanksgiving we have "Cuban Night" and we all get together. This, of course, includes the American side also which can have Italian, Polish, German, etc. mix.
We are all surprised as to how similar we are after all.
This post made me hungry!
Good! Hoping you had some fried sweet plantains on your Sansgiving table😘
So glad I found you. We called Thanksgiving Zangeelee. I have a piece today about the name on my Substack. Happy zangeelee/sansgiving
That’s awesome! Never heard that version but muy cool. Will check out ur substack!
This reminds me of similar "comelatas" in the basement of our first apartment in Chicago 1950's
In the early 60's we started hosting additional relatives and friends coming from Cuba. Great times, thanks for sharing
Hola Joe! Haven’t heard that word in a long time. For anyone who’s wondering, comelata is Cuban slang for something like pig out, food fest, etc. Joe, you got anything better? 😊
Just to say that even to this day, when all the viejos have passed, the new viejos (I'll be 80 this coming year) still keep the traditions alive. Most of us have both the American side of the family and the Cuban side. So usually the Saturday after Thanksgiving we have "Cuban Night" and we all get together. This, of course, includes the American side also which can have Italian, Polish, German, etc. mix.
We are all surprised as to how similar we are after all.