Gathering together to eat a meal, all sitting at one table and sharing conversation, is the most important component of a Friendsgiving dinner. The people you choose to share dinner and a space with are important to your life. It helps you build a lasting relationship with these people and memories that are hard to replace. Things like this are so vital because we get to know each other outside of classes and our normal conversations, without the stress of texts and papers. It also requires us to learn more about each other’s background, as people bring dishes together, dishes they consider staples at a family dinner, and share them with one another.
To participate in this sharing of food and conversation makes Friendsgiving what it is: a time to eat and be in community with people who are important to you. As opposed to a traditional Thanksgiving, where you may see the Great-Aunt you can’t stand, or the cousin that used to tease you when you were younger, the friends that you choose to associate with have also become a sort-of family, but one that doesn’t have the really awkward conversations about what you are going to use your major for. Coming together with people who you know accept you, and eating with them can sometimes just be good conversation and food, but it is often so much more than that. It is a communal sharing of lives, and that is what makes it worth celebrating.
Shane Witzer 
Hannah Bonanducci