US—It is the holiday season (Thanksgiving/Black Friday) and here is what that actually means

By សតិវ​អតុ 

The official holiday season begins here in the US with Black Friday and Thanksgiving. Black Friday officially starts the day after Thanksgiving, which now occurs in more than just Friday usually way before that Friday and then there is that great traditional and religious holiday Thanksgiving.

We could include Halloween as the beginning of the holiday season, but that day is more of a tradition that does not conger up as much money as Black Friday does. Thanksgiving is not a real big money maker, either, but it comes the day before the tradition of Black Friday and that allows for a paired holiday that provides religious tradition as well as consumerism, capitalism, gluttony and an orgy of gift buying and selling. While the average citizen sees the holidays as a chance for families and friends to come together out of love and generosity, which includes gift giving to our relatives and friends, it is also a scam for corporate America to make loads of money. So this article covers both holidays:

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving claims to have its roots in Plymouth Rock in the 17th century. But that event has little to do with the holiday we celebrate today. Native American Indians and white settlers from Europe came together to celebrate a difficult year, where the settlers were helped by the Native Americans, who helped them grow corn and other new world vegetables.. There was three days of feasting on native plants and animals, such as fish and deer, corn and pumpkins. There were also games played. It was a real big bash. From that event until the 20^th century, people found various reasons to get together and celebrate a kind of “end of the harvest” celebration.

The holiday we celebrate today was officially established in 1941. A “Thanksgiving” celebration has taken place from various days of the years and inspired by various events, such as the end of the Civil War. This took place of and on throughout US history, until the official holiday was declared, by Congress and the President, in 1941. The traditional fixings and food menu, such as turkey, came from a women’s magazine in the 1850s. Thanksgiving is a holiday dominated by Christianity, even though it is legally a secular holiday. Being Christian isn’t necessary to this celebration, but most Christians see it as a time to “give thanks to God.” While it is a nice day to get together with friends and family, it is ironic that we celebrate an event in which white settlers from Europe came together to feast and party with Native American Indians. For most of our history after that this country fought at least two Indian wars and Native American Indians didn’t enjoy all of the benefits of being American citizens until the early 20th century, when they were finally declared to be US citizens.

For a truly ghoulish look at the Thanksgiving holiday see: “American Thanksgiving: A Pure Glorification of Racist Barbarity” –from Humans are Free.

There are some groups of people who find it barbaric to celebrate a holiday by killing a bird and eating it. Some people are vegetarians and don’t take part in eating a dead bird. Some religions oppose eating and killing dead animals.

       

Pix from People | HowStuffWorks.

Black Friday

Each year I write about Black Friday, that fabricated holiday that corporate and capitalist leaders came up with to promote an orgy of gift buying and selling. To be honest, many people take part in the Christmas season mostly out of a combination of family tradition and religion. Black Friday is promoted as a part of the Christmas season. People buy gifts out of generosity for their family and friends. Capitalist, corporate leaders see this as a great opportunity to cash in and make a lot of money. I started writing about this earlier this month. Black Friday is a truly American idea. It is raw capitalism, a tribute to greed, excess and gluttony.

In years past people got up early, around 4am, the day after Thanksgiving, to go to the malls and stores to get really cheap deals on everything from cars, trucks, TVs, and stereo sound equipment (just about everything is on sale that day). Since the internet is changing the way people shop, many stores are opening up Black Friday days earlier. They make up all kinds of sales for just about any item a person may want. 

Santa Claus Used to be a spirit of generosity and gift giving. Today he represents raw capitalism. 

The rigid rules against promoting tobacco do not go back before the 1950s and before that time all kinds of lovable characters promoted its use, even Fred Flintstone.

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