The exercise below may be assigned to groups to do at one session or done one at a time as a class,  If you have the opportunity, this is a good exercise to be done around Thanksgiving in the Fall.

  Your group members are to act as a team of sociologists.  You are to use each other as case studies to study one of the social aspects of a national holiday, Thanksgiving.  You are to find what rituals of the holiday your group members have in common with the others (we all eat turkey, don’t we?) as well as the rituals we, as individuals, have which are different from the group.  While food is usually the focus, think beyond food to other activities and rituals.  You will share your findings with the class.

 Each group is to look at one set of rituals.  The sets of rituals are:

1. What do you eat at Thanksgiving?
2. What are the sex roles on Thanksgiving day?   What do the men do?  What  are the female roles that day?    Who shops for the food, cooks,  serves it?
3. Where do you meet for Thanksgiving?  In the past?  Now?  Do you have a moving feast or many dinners?  Where & Why?
4. Who’s invited to the meal?  Who is not invited, excluded?  How do you deal with the strange relatives & other guests who you wish to avoid?
5. What are the rites of passage?  When do you get to eat at the big folks table?  When do you get to drink in front of your relatives?
6. What religious rituals are connected to Thanksgiving day?  Have they changed over the years?  If so, why?

Looking at the above sets of rituals, of what importance are they in your life?

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
 --Chinese Proverb