Thanksgiving

[poliphilo]

According to the news sheet they display at the checkout in Waitrose one in every ten Brits is now celebrating Thanksgiving.

What!

Why?

It's not our history.

Why put yourself to all the trouble and expense of a second gourmandising winter festival when it isn't mandatory?

Comments

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I suspect it's a case of any excuse of a booze up.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

People know so little history.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

These things just push me deeper into the "bah humbug" camp.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

I don't believe it for a moment!

Made up garbage and another way a supermarket has found to push additional crap at people in the run up to 'C' word!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Well, I did wonder...

I also wonder how on earth they arrive at these figures. How much research did they do?

(If any)

[(Anonymous)]

i am a Chinese student and i am learning English now. But i do not very understand the meaning very clearly, can you give me more explain about this?

[matrixmann]

Americanization of the world.

[tamnonlinear.livejournal.com]

Well, supposedly the Americans are celebrating coming to a new country. You could always celebrate that they left.

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

How bizarre! I live in America and I don't even celebrate Thanksgiving because Not My Culture. o_O

[howlin-wolf-66.livejournal.com]

Makes no sense to me... If you want a party, then just have one... You don't have to hijack a festival that isn't related to you!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanksgiving is an American festival- celebrating the harvest. According to an article I read yesterday the British are beginning to adopt it. I think one winter festival (meaning Christmas) is quite enough.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

You have a point. The puritanism of the Pilgrim Fathers is something we were well rid of.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I thought it was celebrated by Americans of all cultures.

Well, well, well....

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, quite.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

I know those in the US who don't celebrate it.

One has native American ancestry, the other is a woman of African ancestry.

Go figure, as our American cousins have it............

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

They've succeeded in supporting St Patrick's Day wholesale of course using the (reasonable enough) excuse of a large Anglo Irish community but that's just another booze fest.

After all, I have both Breizh and Romani ancestry but I don't rush out to celebrate St Anne or Sara e Kali (Saint Sarah).

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

If it's true, I wonder if it's because there are numbers of American expats living in the UK, and possibly because many Brits have family members and friends living over here that they've visited and who've visited them, so they just adopted the day?

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Because you can buy more stuff, eat lots more food than is good for you and get plastered!

[w. lotus (from livejournal.com)]

It's more ironic than that: it's America celebrating breaking away from y'all. Why would Brits celebrate that?

[w. lotus (from livejournal.com)]

I hadn't thought of that. Good point.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAHAHA!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I can understand why people of Native American and African ancestry might not identify with the Pilgrims.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Our neighbour is American and her family will be enjoying a turkey dinner.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Thanksgiving is one holiday here in the states that isn't overhyped much. People don't give Thanksgiving presents or hold big Thanksgiving parties, except insofar as family and/or friends gather for the canonical turkey. There are parades in the bigger cities, and of course there's football.

But people don't decorate their doors, windows, and front gardens for Thanksgiving the way they do for Christmas and, increasingly, Hallowe'en and Easter. Thank goodness!

I'm very fond of Thanksgiving. It's the pause before the plunge (or, for some folks, in the midst of the plunge).