We jump from Halloween to Christmas with barely a blip on the radar for poor, forgotten Thanksgiving - hell, some places even put out Halloween and Christmas stuff together! There are a few token items for Thanksgiving (notably by the grocery stores) - a few pilgrims, a couple turkeys - but WHAM! comes Christmas, pulverizing a quiet, quaint hoiday (and the most-travelled one of the year at that).
Kudos to the few stores that refuse to decorate for Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving.
It just seems like Thanksgiving (and the season of autumn, to a certain degree) get the shaft.
What can we do to increase this holiday’s popularity?
Sad as such a prospect may be, I’d have to say that this is about the only thing that would get Thanksgiving back into the spotlight. Thansgiving has limited economic potential. There are no gifts to be given, no standardized traditions (ala Santa Claus, jack o lanterns, etc) to cash in on, and since it’s a time people prefer to spend alone with their families, there’s a limited potential for the “buy a lot of cool junk to impress the friends” kind of party that we see at Halloween and Christmas.
Thanksgiving’s economic impact lies almost entirely in the travel and food industries, and there’s little one could do to increase the money spent in these fields. (For example, I think it unlikely that airlines can convince people who weren’t going to travel for Thanksgiving to do so. Sure, they could run specials, but they do that already. The same with your grocery store–they already have sales around Thanksgiving. What else can they do to increase turkey day spending?)
Until we see the institution of that happy, present-bearing turkey (and don’t think I’m ruling that out!), we can probably expect to see Thanksgiving continue to shrink in the public conciousness.
Oh, and I think the happy turkey should fly through the air in a magical version of one of those tinfoil roasting pans that you get at the grocery for $3.50. And is he self-basting?
First, just because there isn’t a lot of hoopla in the media about thanksgiving dosn’t mean a lot of people don’t take is very seriously–there is still a pretty big descrepency between the America that is and the America that marketers want to convince us we live in. I think that that descrepentsy is probably shrinking, as we all tend to model who we are based on what the media tells us, but that is another debate.
That said, I feel that we do not need to increase the popularity of Thanksgiving–in fact, that is the very last thing we need, a game of “keeping up with the Joneses” between the fall holidays. Rather, we need to downplay Christmas so that the two holidays balence each other again. The only other option is to put the “Turkey Day” (Thanksgiving has a distasteful reek of obligation about it) decorations out in July, and I just couldn’t take that.
Unfortunatly, there is to much money to be made from Christmas, and I doubt we can ever get that cat back in the bag. THe only thing one can really do is on a personal level–don’t give in to Christmas until after Thanksgiving, and be serious about Thanksgiving in your own house.
Lastly, I think that schools still celebrate Thanksgiving pretty fiercely–it is a nice secular holiday that comes right at he end of the term. And I think that that school backing will keep the holiday alive even as the American Marketing Establishment tries to strangle it out in favor of more lucrative holidays.
Thanksgiving is perhaps one holiday that ain’t broke, so don’t fix it. It is widely celebrated, family-oriented, generates nothing but good will (and a little post-prandial lethargy) and is non-commercialized. The preparation lasts a matter of mere days, rather than months, costs relatively little, and requires no debate over Separation of Church and State.
But let’s keep this our little secret, or the next thing you know we’ll get pre-Thanksgiving parties, Thanksgiving TV specials, and Thanksgiving gifts.
“It just seems like Thanksgiving (and the season of autumn, to a certain degree) get the shaft.”
In what universe?
IIRC, the Wednesday before Turkey Day and the Sunday after it are the busiest travel days of the entire year. The airlines, Amtrak, and Greyhound scrimp together every vehicle with seats that rolls or flies and put them into jam-packed passenger service. The freeways and tollways out of the major cities are parking lots on Wednesday evening as people drive to their families’ homes.
Radio and television stations inevitably do “on the scene” interviews with harried and straggling travelers lugging their bags through congested airports and Amtrak stations, or “be careful!” spots about the rash of motoring accidents on the crowded highways.
As to popular culture, how many movies are based on either Thanksgiving dinners or the comic-epic struggle to reach home and family in time for same? How many sitcoms do a Thanksgiving episode on the same themes?
Thanksgiving is the best holiday, because all you do is have dinner with your family/friends. No more needs to be done, Thanksgiving is absolutely perfect. And may I say that I personally make the best Thanksgiving dinner you are ever likely to eat…including baked squash and vegan stuffing for veg-heads. MMMMM…stuffing…
What really needs to happen, as Manda Jo thoughtfully pointed out, is that Christmas needs to be taken down four or five pegs. Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving are disgusting. Ironically, my new wife is Jewish (I’m atheist), and we’ve decided to have Hannukah at our house instead of Christmas…no tree, but we can put up lights and exchange presents. Sounds pretty good to me…
Juniper, and the happy turkey can be microwaved for the busy cook!
Open question: how does a turkey "self-baste’? Doesn’t seem to go with what I consider basting…
Lemur, Wanna trade family? Some friends too? I wanna keep a couple of them:)
I’m tired of hearing people complain about the commercialization of holidays like Christmas and Halloween. Look, you can’t be forced to participate in that commercialization. You don’t like the way other people go overboard on spending for those holidays? Fine. Don’t spend as much as they do. I make sure I’m not at home on Halloween and I don’t send Christmas cards. I buy nice Christmas presents for my younger nephews and nieces, but only because I feel I should do something for them, and Christmas is as good an excuse as any other time. You don’t like the overdecorated stores at Christmas time? Fine. Don’t go into stores at that time of year. I buy my Christmas presents throughout the year so I don’t have to enter a store during the holiday season.
I wish I could celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. I’m single and none of my family live within 300 miles of me. It’s all I can do to save enough vacation to visit them at Christmas. On Thanksgiving Day I go out to see a movie, come home and eat some left-overs from my refrigerator, and cry myself asleep thinking about what a lonely life I live.
Huh. All in all, sounds like a good thing that Thanksgiving takes a back seat to Halloween and Christmas (which are, coincidentally, my two favorite holidays).
I still don’t care for the stress of Thanksgiving sometimes, though - love the family, hate having them in my house all day. Anybody ever see “Home for the Holidays?” Cute flick.
Actually, while I don’t dispute your point, I just have to say that as a vegetarian, Thanksgiving does create a little ill-will in that EVERYONE assumes I’m gonna eat turkey and it gets really annoying. Even people who know I’m a vegetarian say stupid things like “Not even turkey at thanksgiving??”
Part of the reason Thanksgiving isn’t hyped to the degree that Halloween and Christmas are is that it hasn’t been around that long. It was only made into an official national holiday during the Abe Lincoln administration.
