An Italian-American Thanksgiving

As a full-time Italian Genealogist, I’ve had the privilege of spending extended periods in Italy researching the family histories of my clients and my own family.  It’s a great job.  I love being over there.  I am particularly intrigued by the many rich and colorful traditions of Italy that I experience while living in the midst of the culture.  In order to gain insight, I regularly encourage my Italian relatives and friends to relate to me their understanding and experience with the traditions, customs, and holidays of Italy.  We also often discuss American traditions like Thanksgiving.  In the course answering, it has become clear that my descriptions of American customs have been unconsciously filtered through the lens of my own Italian-American experience.

To the uninitiated, our family’s retention of Italian culture may be unexpected, given that my grandparents and great-grandparents left Italy so long ago.  It is not always understood that the evolution from Italian to Italian-American within a family does not mean the abandonment of Italian traditions, culture, and food – it’s part of our heritage.  On the contrary, traditions evolve and families, such as mine, put an ethnic spin on even the most American of holidays – Thanksgiving.

The Tedesco family came to the United States in 1929 and settled in Woburn, Massachusetts (My grandmother came later.).  I’m sure my great-grandparents had never heard of Thanksgiving before immigrating to the USA.  Why would they have?  Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Italy, and at the time there were no international TV channels to tell them about it.

The first Tedesco Thanksgiving in America took place on Thursday, 28 November 1929.  The day was celebrated with the family of Vincenzo Ferraiolo of Haverhill, Massachusetts.  The late Vincenzo AKA James was married to the late Maria Tedesco.  The Ferraiolo family, like ours, immigrated from San Pietro a Maida, Italy. (Read more about San Pietro a Maida.)  My grandfather, Edward Tedesco, recalls: “On all the holidays, Vincenzo would pick us up in his car and bring us back to his house.  It was a big deal to have a car then.  The whole family got into the backseat of the car and my father would ride in front.  We would celebrate every holiday together.  They were the only family we had in America at the time.”

My grandfather does not remember the details of what was served at his very first Thanksgiving in America at the Ferraiolo home on the 28 November 1929, but he is quite sure it included many delectable Italian compliments.

As the Tedesco family grew, the holidays were celebrated at the family home above my great-grandfather Giuseppe’s barbershop on Main Street in Woburn, Massachusetts.  Between the 1940’s and 1980’s, the Thanksgiving table contained the traditional faire of turkey, veggies, and mashed potatoes, but also included lasagna, Calabrian tomato sauce, cured meats, pork, meatballs, and of course, my great-grandmother’s famous salad.   The meal was completed with Carlo Rossi Paesano red wine, which continues to be a family staple.  (Yes, it’s sold by the gallon; don’t judge!)  Finally, there was always Pepsi at the table, never Cocoa Cola.  How perfectly Italian-American!

America is the great melting pot.  So the holidays that are traditionally “American” are often celebrated with an endearing ethnic twist.  In my family ‘a case, the twist is Italian.  But all ancestral cultures will ever be present at their descendants’ Thanksgiving tables.  America is not about abandonment of ethnic traditions, but about the acceptance and evolution of these customs.  I am proud to be both an American and Italian citizen.  I love America, the country of my birth and also adore Italy, the country of my ancestors.

Please accept my sincere wish for a Happy Thanksgiving.  And I hope you will choose to celebrate with a bit of the old country!

-Mary M. Tedesco, ORIGINS ITALY.