A
TheBestTraditionofAll
ThomasW. Horton
Chairman and CEO American Airlines
©CHET SNEDDEN
WINTER 2012
celebratedliving.com
8
FROM
THE CEO
AtAmericanAirlines,
weareall about
bringingpeople together.Thisyearalone,
wehavehelped tensofmillionsof people
connectwith family, friends,and lovedones.
Andof course, during theholidayseason
ourwork takesonanaddedpoignancy.
Mostofus in theUnitedStatesconsider
Thanksgiving tobe thesemiofficial launch
of theholiday season. Indeed, except for
theFourthofJuly, it’shard to thinkofa
morequintessentiallyAmericanholiday.
Butoneof the funand interesting things
aboutoperatingaglobalnetwork is the
glimpse itgivesus intosome trulyunique
holiday traditionsaround theworld.
Mypersonal education in cross-cultur-
al holidaydifferencesbeganyearsagowhenmy familyand
I lived inLondon. There,we learned that theSantaClaus
weknewand lovedhadbeen replacedbya fellownamed
FatherChristmas.
Traditionally,whenwe thinkof theendof theyear,we
considerDecemberholidayssuchasChristmas,Hanukkah,
andKwanzaa tobe theapexof theseason. Fromaglobal
perspective, however, theholidayseason is justhitting its
stride. In theBahamas, the traditional celebrationof Junk-
anoo—aseriesof joyousmusical parades— takesplaceon
December26andagain, forgoodmeasure, onJanuary1.On
December28, PuertoRicanscelebrateDiadeLos Inocentes
(Dayof the Innocents), adayof foolingpeoplesimilar to
AprilFools’Day in theU.S.
Incountries throughout theAmericannetwork, foodplays
abigrole inNewYear’s traditions. Insomecountries, cabbage
— thought torepresentpapercurrency— iseatenasawish
forprosperity in thecomingyear.Likewise, inLatinAmerican
countriessuchasChileandBrazil, lentilssymbolizewealth
andareofteneatenonJanuary1.OnNewYear’sEve inSpain,
it is tradition toeat12grapesas theclockstrikesmidnight
(eachgrapesignifyingamonth in thecom-
ingyear).Meanwhile, inFrance it iscustom-
ary tousher in theNewYearwithpancakes
— indeed, inmanycultures, circular foods
suchaspancakesareconsidered tobe lucky,
as theysymbolizea fullyear’scycle.
Let’snot forget that thebiggestNew
Year’scelebrationof themallwon’teven
takeplaceuntilFebruary.OnFebruary10,
2013, theChineseyear4710willbegin, and
wewill transition from theYearof the
Dragon to theYearof theSnake.TheChi-
neseNewYear is thatcountry’s longestand
most importantcelebration, and the festivi-
ties typically includefireworks, parades, and
theLanternFestival, inwhich thousandsof
lanterns light theway to thenewyear.ChineseNewYearcoin-
cideswithChunyun, aperiodofwidespread travelwithin
China.Considered tobe the largestannualmigrationofpeople
in theworld,Chunyunstems from the long-held tradition for
mostChinesepeople tospend theNewYearcelebrationwith
their families. Inrecentdecades, economic forceshave led toa
vastmigration fromrural tourbanareas, andeducational
reformshavegreatly increased thenumberofyoungpeople
who leavehome toattenduniversity.DuringChunyun,which
typicallybegins twoweeksbeforeNewYear’sDayand lasts
about40days,millionsandmillionsofpeoplereturn to their
hometowns.And, sincestartingservice toChina in2006,we
arehonored toplayan increasingrole in theChinesepeople’s
journeyhome.
Whileourholiday traditionsmayvary, Ibelieve theyare
all rooted in that sameuniversal desire toconnect— to the
peoplewecareaboutand to theworldaroundus.Tome,
that’swhat theholidaysareall about.Onbehalf of allmy
AmericanAirlinescolleagues, Iwant to thankyou forflying
withusandwishyouandyoursa joyousholidayseason.
Haveagreat trip!
