HOUSTON – In the land of many cultures, there are just as many Thanksgiving Day traditions.
It’s probably the first time all year the entire family is under one roof, so agreeing on doing one thing isn’t easy.
When you finally figure out something in common, oddly enough, it becomes the tradition.
Some dictionary decided to define tradition as the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation. For some of you, it makes perfect sense, but I’m not sure it has to be that complicated.
Uma Krishna took her family to Buffalo Bayou Park for a fun day of games with extended family on Thursday. It always starts harmless, but then the real competition sets in over bocce ball.
“We’re all outdoor people and we like to play a bunch of games,” said Krishna.
On the other side of the park, drums echo through Buffalo Bayou.
Rain Flower as her name translates to in English, is of Native American descent. Every year, she and other Native Americans gather at Buffalo Bayou to pay tribute to their ancestors.
“We’ve been at the forefront of defending not just our culture, and our customs and who we are as people, but our actual existence,” said Rain Flower.
Spreading tobacco on the field and cleansing themselves with smoke, Rain Flower says the idea is to reinforce the connection with the Earth.
The tradition stretches far across the country, between various tribes, so no one forgets what this land meant before native lives were lost.
In Downtown, a far different sound as people were more than ready to put Thanksgiving behind and focus on Christmas cheer by an ice rink.
No one blames you of course for staying in all day, you ate the turkey, maybe put up a tree or even did a little online shopping.
These families however, chose being outdoors for a change.
For a word with many meanings, one thing seems to stay the same. It doesn’t matter what you do, it’s who you do it with, that makes it memorable.
If you’re looking for a post-Thanksgiving day tradition of your own, many of the tree farms will open their doors Friday for the first time this season.