In modern times, people of all different cultures and ethnicities are able to celebrate the holiday that we call Thanksgiving.

But do you really know what you’re celebrating or do you just celebrate because of tradition?

“I like that my family all comes together and we just get to spend quality time with one another,” said Destinee Gabaldon, a junior at NMSU.

Traditions of this time range from a variety of things.

For Gabaldon, it stays traditional and her family eats and watches football.

But for Francisco Barrios, he celebrates it for the social aspect, rather than the historic meaning around the holiday.

“We don’t do anything out of the ordinary, my family gets together and we eat. It’s just a way to get together at least once a year,” said Barrios. “We celebrate it because it’s a social holiday, but I don’t really celebrate the meaning of it.”

In 1621, pilgrims and Native Americans celebrated the first Thanksgiving holiday for their coming to America. Today American families come together for different reasons, but for Viridiana Porras, it’s not worth celebrating at all.

“Do you really know the meaning of Thanksgiving?” said Porras. “If you go back in time you can find the meaning. And in my opinion, it is not a good reason to celebrate.”

According to the Huffington Post, a group calling themselves the United American Indians of New England met each year at Plymouth Rock on Cole’s Hill for what they say is a Day of Mourning. They gathered at the feet of a stature of Chief Massasoit of the Wampanoag to remember the long gone Pequot. They did not call it Thanksgiving. There was no football game afterward for them.

Porras is from Chihuahua, Mexico but her and her family cur

rently live in the United States where she is a student and a student teacher at NMSU.

“The problem with society right now is that we don’t know the meaning of what we celebrate,” Porras said.

Thanksgiving for the pilgrims was to celebrate God’s plentiful harvest. Most of us are taught since elementary school about the friendly Indians and the friendly Pilgrims that got to sit down and eat together, which wasn’t really the case.

Today Americans don’t really know what this holiday is about, but still fill their plates with tons of food and the next day go out and fight over black Friday sales

Though Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping days of the year, it is important to take a step back and look at the holiday we just celebrated the day before.

But for Ashley Green, it is a family tradition to go black Friday shopping the next morning.

“We celebrate Thanksgiving the good ol’ American way,” said Green. “That night we also put up the Christmas tree and then in the morning go Black Friday shopping. My favorite part is just being able to be with family.”

Thanksgiving in America has molded itself to be a holiday where we give thanks. And like Porras said, it is important that we are educated on the holidays that we celebrate, that way we can get the most out of them.

What are you thankful for this thanksgiving?

According to Arlie Whitlow, being thankful is healthy and has even been a subject of scientific research. Scientists have found that thankfulness is better than a multi-vitamin and has a beneficial impact on almost every major organ system in the body. Being thankful helps people live healthier, longer lives.

“In my opinion everyday is a day that we should give thanks,” said Porras.