By Ian Proano | Echo
Thanksgiving arrives early to Taylor's campus. Different halls celebrate the big day with a few traditions before people scatter to gobble down tables full of pie at home.
Among these is the First East Olson (1EO) pick-a-date. The weekend before break, every couple gets paired with another. The four go to a wing's Community Connection's house and cook a specific recipe for the feast.Then everyone gathers back together to enjoy a glorious meal.
Second West Wengatz (2WW) and First West Olson's (1WO) annual tradition tests the integrity of their stomach linings and adds some Puritan fashion sense. Both floors go to the ladies' Community Connection's home dressed up as Pilgrims to dig into a homemade Thanksgiving feast.
"It's a nice time to reconnect and catch up with our sister wing, since we're all extremely busy throughout the semester, and then we'll go around and say what we're thankful for," said junior Landon Stuart, 2WW's Discipleship Coordinator.
Instead of stuffing their gullets, the ladies of English Hall host a Thanksgiving-themed Secret Santa. It's called "Secret Turkey" and involves all floors exchanging anonymous gifts during the two weeks before Thanksgiving. This year, each day's gift was tied to the theme "The Five Senses."
The gifts are often presented in unusual ways. "For one of my gifts this year, I'm good friends with (my secret turkey's) PA, and so I just told (her PA) to give her a really big hug, and that was her gift for the day," 2CO PA and junior Lizzie Wilson said.
The only gifts Broho is giving for Thanksgiving are violent bear hugs and crazy chases. They call this the "Turkey Trot."
On the appointed day, one of the Brotherhood's own dresses up as a turkey, and the rest as Pilgrims and Native Americans. The turkey is a specially chosen freshman who, throughout the day, can be tackled by any member of Broho. This year's tribute was Noah Nemni.
"At the end of the day we do have a one last turkey chase where we go out behind the DC and we pray over Thanksgiving," Broho PA and junior Will Hussey said. "We eat around him at the DC for our Thanksgiving meal."
At Taylor, traditions are a great opportunity to get closer to people on campus. As you grow in your independence here, what traditions will you adopt?
