Sunday, November 25, 2018

LET'S MOVE THANKSGIVING TO OCTOBER !


We recently celebrated Thanksgiving in the U.S. – giving thanks for our blessings.   Our tradition has been a family gathering for a big dinner.   The occasion also is taken by some groups to provide turkey dinners or meal provisions to those who might otherwise do without.

We’re commemorating what most of us learned from the time we were children – that our Pilgrim ancestors and the Native American Indians shared food each harvested that fall symbolizing peace and harmony. 

The Pilgrims and the Indian tribe actually had a three-day celebration with the signing of a mutually supportive treaty.  Gradually, the over-simplified folklore we knew has been giving way to a much more complicated reality best appreciated by reading the only two brief Pilgrim contemporary accounts HERE – one of which wasn’t written until about twenty years after the fact.  

Understanding more about the circumstances preceding this celebratory event and the Pilgrims subsequent relations with all Native American Indian tribes does have a significant bearing on the story we’ve come to know.  Appreciating the perspective of both groups is important.

Thanksgiving to the Native American Indians may not mean the same thing that it did to the white settlers in American History” as described at Indians.org HERE.

National Geographic reveals a pertinent Native American Indian succinct historical perspective HERE.

Take a look at those links abbreviated content, then consider the following.

Our nearest northern neighbor, Canada, celebrates Thanksgiving, too, but in October.  They began celebrating this holiday long before we did in the U.S. for reasons different than ours in 8 ways which you can read about HERE. 

Especially interesting to me was learning Canada celebrates their holiday in October, so they apparently don’t experience the aggravating time crunch with commercial overlaps as we do with Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

Thanksgiving weekend in the U.S. has seemed to have become increasingly commercially corrupted into one gross sales pitch compared to when I was a child which has annoyed me more and more every year.   We celebrated Halloween the end of October which occurred primarily just one evening – an activity mostly for children.  This day has become exploited commercially, gradually drawing in more and more adults to celebrate with greeting cards and costumed parties. 

We had a respite from commercial promotions for a few weeks those years ago, then looked forward to Thanksgiving – a welcomed day that could occupy our full attention.  The next day signaled business to begin their special lightings, displays and advertising for Christmas.   I recall as a child thinking the time from then until Christmas Day was interminable.

All this has changed in succeeding years with what I consider an abhorrent commercialization that is drawn out -- sometimes starting even before Halloween, but definitely before Thanksgiving.  In fact, retailers now keep ridiculous shopping hours, people line up to shop these stores at all sorts of hours, often mauling each other in the process when the doors open.  Children must be numb from anticipation by the time Christmas arrives.  

No doubt the competition between brick and mortar stores with the 24/7 shopping accessibility of the Internet world accounts for some of this madness.  I don’t see this commercialization compressing holidays changing any time soon as long as people succumb to the advertising lures.  My only choice is simply to ignore it all which I have been doing as best I can.    

But perhaps there is one change that could be made in connection to the Thanksgiving/Christmas commercial overlap time squeeze.   Consider that history indicates the very Pilgrim/Indian dinner we are supposedly commemorating on Thanksgiving may well have actually occurred in October. 

Maybe we should consider changing our Thanksgiving to the third or fourth Thursday of October.  What do you think?   Does our culture’s commercialization bother you? 




29 comments:

  1. The commercialization has bothered me forever. I still don't understand how Halloween got to be such a huge deal.

    Thanksgiving has had many different meanings, and its precedent as a retail stimulus was already set long before; here is this from the History Channel website--

    President Lincoln, "at the height of the Civil War, in a proclamation entreating all Americans to ask God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.” He scheduled Thanksgiving for the final Thursday in November, and it was celebrated on that day every year until 1939, when Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week in an attempt to spur retail sales during the Great Depression. Roosevelt’s plan, known derisively as Franksgiving, was met with passionate opposition, and in 1941 the president reluctantly signed a bill making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November."

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    1. Yes, Pres. Lincoln reportedly scheduled Thanksgiving to heal the wounds of the Civil War and moving it was one of several actions FDR took to combat the Depression. Maybe we should move the day again — it’s a different retail world now.

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  2. I'm for Leaving Thanksgiving right where it is. That said, it used to be celebrated all over the October calendar because fall harvests came in at different times. In 1621 Lincoln proclaimed the former 'Evaluation Day' to be the day of national 'thanks and praise' in November. Changing it to October would just mean we'd have to put up with an even longer advertising season for Christmas.

    What I'd like to change is the growing commercialization of Halloween...the adult costumes and parties, the house decorating, the movies, and especially the zombie walks.

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    1. We’re having all the advertising now which seems to increase every year, so just thought a change might give Thanksgiving a little breathing room.

      I agree about Halloween with you and Nance, I think it’s grown partially, at least, due to advertising and promotion by commercial interests that has attracted a segment of the adult population.

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  3. The commercialisation of Halloween and Christmas is just as bad in the UK. Especially Christmas, with the Xmas ads and media gift suggestions in full flow from October onwards. I think all Christmas ads should be banned until say, two weeks before Christmas. Which is as likely as Rudolph knocking on my front door.

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    1. Let us know when Rudolph comes knockin’ on your door!

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  4. Oh yes, the commercialization is rather appalling and somehow I feel any thankfulness has been lost as folks gobble the food in order to hit the stores while still digesting. Think if the day was changed, the shopping madness would still exist, just in another month.

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    1. A change would not eliminate the commercialization but thought it might relieve the close pressure toward Christmas.

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  5. It is money that makes America go round, sadly.

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    1. I’m not opposed to money, I just would like to see every minute of every day not monetized. It’s up to each of us to set our own limits and willingness to be sucked into the melee.

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  6. I've had many blogger friends from Canada over the years and I've loved it when they describe their Oct. Thanksgiving celebrations. I would definitely prefer it to how we do it.

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  7. Yes, lets. And too, maybe travel will be easier.

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    1. Might spread out travel time between holidays.

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  8. There were a lot of posts on Facebook putting down Thanksgiving as negative and about a story that never happened. My niece said something quite good about it as a Native American woman that she saw the pain of it, how it took the country from her people, but she also celebrated it as a sharing time and prepared the traditional foods.

    Those who make a big deal out of how wonderful it is with their families don't get how it is for many where they no longer have family. We, since we will be heading south in a few weeks and had no family coming, got ourselves HungryMan turkey dinners ;). I had some great Thanksgivings and am grateful for them as some never knew any good ones.

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    1. I guess like so many stories that evolve there’s a kernel of truth that becomes elaborated on in even in historical lore. After years of preparing family meals, a break from doing so with a prepared meal is likely welcomed by numerous people.

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  9. Comments here must be in English. Also, any with commercial/promotional links are not accepted. I repeat these blog policies as I’ve been receiving such comments but they do not pass my screening procedure for posting here.

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  10. We haven't done the Xmas thing in years, we do Solstice (1 gift, made, recycled or thrift) each. Solstice has not been monetized (yet). We do Icelandic Xmas Eve - exchanging and reading from the books we exchange. Keeping it simple and ignoring the incredible insanity all around us. Frenzied unhappy people shopping till they drop.

    Create your own celebrations of the Coming of the Light without losing your minds and your wallets.

    XO
    WWW

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  11. I do wish the holidays weren't so linked to mass consumerism, but I don't see the situation changing anytime soon, unforunately.

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    1. There would have to be massive change in our cultural values. This is
      possible over time if we consider other changes that have occurred generationally, but there would likely always be a segment of society caught up in that superficiality.

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  12. Any day or month is fine with me. I don't really care.

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    1. The timing isn’t a problem for me now either, but when I was working full time, family was here plus helping older parent trying to live independently it was a real time squeeze. Thanksgiving in Oct. would have been much more manageable.

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  13. Very interesting. As long as I have been able to think for myself our traditional thamksgiving story has offended me; In fact everythingg about our relationship with native americans offends me, It syrikes me that maybe our indigenous folk are playing thje same long game as the Chinese. If that is true we are screwed.

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    1. Maybe the Indians will outlast their invaders and can salvage our planet environmentally. Meanwhile we keep borrowing more from the Chinese to finance our debt. Hopefully voters will wise up and give us an administration capable of addressing these issues.

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  14. The most appropriate comment I have ever read with regard to Thanksgiving is when a Native-American referred to that first three day celebration that is so historically commemorative of the holiday as "The Last Supper". Don't believe I have ever seen it put in a better term...

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    1. Does sound most appropriate given how the Native-Americans have been treated, treaties with them violated.

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  15. Wow! You have been blogging since 2006. I just started and will try it a years...

    Anyway, my comment: Why don't we move Christmas to November to take Thanksgiving's place? Or should it go into January and keep T'giving in November!

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  16. Welcome to blogging. Couldn’t find link to visit your blog.

    I don’t think Christmas being moved would be as readily accepted for many reasons — plus there’s no basis for doing so, unlike Thanksgiving in Oct. which is probably when the harvest dinner was held in the first place.

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