LA CRESCENTA — An Armenian Thanksgiving menu hedges closely to the American tradition, especially the generous portions of turkey, mashed potatoes, corn and cranberry sauce.
Students at Vahan & Anoush Chamlian Armenian School went home full after chowing down on a feast Wednesday and celebrating the American cultural and dining wonder that is Thanksgiving.
“Giving thanks is good,” said Matthew Ghazarian, a third-grader. “I get to celebrate with my family [and] I love the food.”
Students and parents had collected donations to benefit the Salvation Army and the Armenian Relief Society.
“Thanksgiving celebration is a long-standing tradition at Chamlian,” Vice Principal Rita Kaprielian said. “Our first- and second-graders learn about the origin . . . of the special day through various reading, writing and art activities.”
The food was prepared in the school facilitates with parents arriving at 8 a.m. Wednesday to finish organizing preparations that began last week.
Vast pots of corn stewed on the stoves while teams of parents prepared sides of cranberry sauce. Between 25 and 35 parents were divided into shifts, with one group serving 200 students and the next shift about 260, and teachers, too.
The preparations resembled an assembly line — there was no other way to deal with preparing 37 turkeys, parents said.
“We’re like Santa’s helpers,” said Sossy Guekguezian, whose status as lead organizer was denoted by a chef’s hat.
Students donned costumes for their lunch. The boys wore brown construction paper hats with a yellow paper belt, and the girls wore similar white paper bonnets with yellow trim.
“It’s fun to celebrate an American holiday,” said Elita Nazearteian, a first-grader.
Students celebrate mostly Armenian holidays throughout the year. Christmas, for instance, is celebrated in January on the Armenian calendar.
“We are trying to raise our kids to know we are part of the community around us, but we respect our culture,” said Armineh Dilanian, whose daughter is in second grade.
Thanksgiving plays an important role to bridge an American language and cultural education with American traditions and character.
“They get the best of both worlds,” said Claudia Khodadadi, whose daughter is a third-grader.
