In some very definable ways, it feels like the last unspoiled holiday. 46.3 million Americans are going to be traveling this year during the Thanksgiving holiday. (89% of us are driving! Hooray for cheap gas!) Most of us are going to be going over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house - well, at least to SOME relative's house even if the over and through part is symbolic. We will be toting food and drink as well as buzzing about what has changed for either the better or the worse in the family over the past 12 months. Some of us who can't make it 'home' will be toting food and joining friends.
Americans may eat a wide variety of food, heavy on the ethnic, but most agree there's only one 'right' meal at Thanksgiving and it starts with a 't' and goes gobble, gobble. We are brainwashed from an early age to accept the Pilgrims started Thanksgiving (wrong) and they ate turkey - well, maybe. Those 53 pilgrims in 1621 would have eaten anything put in front of them since starvation was still a very real way to die in the 'new world', and it's a good thing the Indians who showed up brought their own food because successful harvest or not, there was still a New England winter to be gotten through. The Pilgrim thanksgiving was actually just the same old harvest festival they'd always celebrated in England with a few Indians showing up unannounced.
The Thanksgiving WE celebrate was actually announced by Abraham Lincoln in a speech written by William Seward (the guy who bought Alaska) as a day of Thanksgiving to be celebrated the fourth Thursday in November in thanks for the victory at the Battle of Gettysburg. Lincoln was actually formalizing the idea of a day of thanks which goes back to George Washington. Many American historians consider Gettysburg the turning point in the Civil War which assured the continuation of the Union of the American states. So, based on the joint Pilgrim and Indian meal, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, it's easy to see why we claim Thanksgiving as a uniquely American holiday.
Everybody knows what one is supposed to do on Thanksgiving Day: Watch a parade, drink coffee, start cooking, greet guests, and sit down to dinner. Then, eat, then eat some more, watch a football game, clean up the kitchen, gossip with the relatives, take a nap, then eat some more - especially pie - and watch some more football.
What you're not supposed to to is SHOP. That's for Friday, now known as 'Black Friday' because merchants see their yearly sales go into the 'black' (out of the red) on that day. Have you noticed starting oh, maybe a couple of years ago, some stores started opening at midnight - as if 5a.m. wasn't soon enough! Now, you can shop on Thanksgiving. K-Mart isn't even paying lip service to the holiday - they are opening up at 6am on Thursday, and the word is if you work at K-Mart and refuse to work Thanksgiving Day, it's collect your pink slip and don't let the door hit you on your way out. The list is HUGE of national retailers who are opening up at 6pm Thursday. Basically, it's virtually every major seller in America. I say no. I say HELL, no.
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE - REFUSE TO SHOP ON THANKSGIVING DAY.
Think about the people who have to work retail. It's their livelihood. Most will be penalized if not outright fired if they refuse to work Thanksgiving Day. Think about having to get ready and go to work the evening of Thanksgiving - and work until midnight, or maybe just all the way through the night into the next day. Sound like fun to you? I know shopping on 'Black Friday' is a big sport to some people, but surely, you can restrain yourself for a few hours. If we refuse to shop on Thanksgiving Day, the stores will close. Maybe not this year; maybe not next year, but if we don't come out, the stores will close.
Pass it on: REFUSE TO SHOP ON THANKSGIVING DAY! Eat pie instead.
