whats thanksgiving?

124

Replies

  • bregalad5
    bregalad5 Posts: 3,965 Member
    If you don't know how to cook, or can't or just don't want to.....lot's of places sell pre made Thanksgiving dinners.

    :laugh: I bought a box of stuffing and some goodies. I'll be working part of the day and home alone the rest, so I figured why not pig out on my own!
  • 12skipafew99100
    12skipafew99100 Posts: 1,669 Member
    Thanksgiving eve is one of the busiest drinking nights of the year. Most people don't have to work the next day.

    I personally would like to fast forward through the holiday season here in the U.S.

    Any countries out there I can defect too that don't celebrate all these "family holidays?"

    I actually have never heard of drinking the night before Thanksgiving. Its not a "thing" in my area.

    It's true. In my area the night before Thanksgiving is the busiest drinking night of the year. I was surprised to find that out as I would have guessed New Years Eve or St. Patrick's Day.

    In our area its Dingus Day for drinking and polish sausage! Right after Easter, the kick off of all the political junk.
  • Helice
    Helice Posts: 1,075 Member
    Ooo is thanksgiving like Yule?
    I mean its not strictly an english holiday.
    But i celebrate it!
  • Helice
    Helice Posts: 1,075 Member
    It always confused me too!
    You have it like a week before xmas, and your suppose to have a massive turkey dinner aswell..
    Is it just like an added celebration so that people have something to do with the left over turkey?

    Is this serious?
    Haha Its a whole month before Christmas! Not to mention, its all about giving thanks for what you have. Spending time with the people that you love. It is one of the major holidays in the US and we love it. Its all about friends, family, and food! There is nothing more fulfilling than sitting around the table with people that you love and sharing a meal. It really is beautiful ( I'm such a friggen sap).

    But i thought that was the point of Xmas?
    I mean thats all my family does on xmas as were not christians.
  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
    i thought this was a joke at first. i can't stop laughing.

    Why? I wouldn't expect a non-American to know our holidays... especially considering how most Americans aren't aware of any other culture's holidays.

    Really? We celebrate many of them here...
  • killagb
    killagb Posts: 3,280 Member
    It always confused me too!
    You have it like a week before xmas, and your suppose to have a massive turkey dinner aswell..
    Is it just like an added celebration so that people have something to do with the left over turkey?

    Is this serious?
    Haha Its a whole month before Christmas! Not to mention, its all about giving thanks for what you have. Spending time with the people that you love. It is one of the major holidays in the US and we love it. Its all about friends, family, and food! There is nothing more fulfilling than sitting around the table with people that you love and sharing a meal. It really is beautiful ( I'm such a friggen sap).

    But i thought that was the point of Xmas?
    I mean thats all my family does on xmas as were not christians.
    You could say that about any holiday where you get together with family, if you completely ignore the whole basis of the day.
  • mcintyrekn
    mcintyrekn Posts: 55 Member
    It always confused me too!
    You have it like a week before xmas, and your suppose to have a massive turkey dinner aswell..
    Is it just like an added celebration so that people have something to do with the left over turkey?

    Is this serious?
    Haha Its a whole month before Christmas! Not to mention, its all about giving thanks for what you have. Spending time with the people that you love. It is one of the major holidays in the US and we love it. Its all about friends, family, and food! There is nothing more fulfilling than sitting around the table with people that you love and sharing a meal. It really is beautiful ( I'm such a friggen sap).

    But i thought that was the point of Xmas?
    I mean thats all my family does on xmas as were not christians.


    Christmas is about the birth of Christ. That alone is the sole purpose of Christmas. However, for those that are not Christians or do not believe in God, it is more of a time of giving...and I don't mean of gifts. Its a time to give back to those you love, help out in your community and just help others in need. Though both Thanksgiving and Christmas both have the idea of good will and love attached to it , they are different because one is traditionally religious and the other is not. But either way...as long as we are thankful for what we have, spend time with people we love, and help others when we can...we're pretty well off. I like to try to continue that year round :) ( yep thats the sap in me, again.)
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    It's one parade in one city. Not a central feature of the holiday for most folks in the states.
    I'm assuming you're referring to New York, but Detroit has a HUGE long-standing Thanksgiving Day parade tradition, and I'm guessing there are plenty of other cities in the U.S. that follow suit.

    I grew up in a very small town in upstate New York, and we had a parade.
  • Yakisoba
    Yakisoba Posts: 719 Member
    seen a few of my friends on here post things about thanksgiving. what exactly is it?! am i missing out on a huge party or something?

    I knew you were serious, but the huge party part got me laughing.
  • brookepenni
    brookepenni Posts: 787 Member
    Geez, even us Aussies know what Thanksgiving is... OP never watched any American movies, tv shows etc?!
  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
    ..
  • TheRoadDog
    TheRoadDog Posts: 11,788 Member
    It's the day before Black Friday.
  • Vaanja
    Vaanja Posts: 163 Member
    I agree with what everyone posted above, but they left out a few key points:
    *many of the men sit around and watch football all day, and
    *the women cook and clean until they are thoroughly exhausted. Traditional fare includes a roasted turkey, stuffing, cranberries, potatos, pumpkin pie, and much, much more.
    *The holiday always takes place on the fourth Thursday of November in the US and the second Monday in October in Canada.


    The following day is BlackFriday where many of the stores have major sales that start early in the morning to jump start the Christmas holiday.
    Your family is pretty sexist, huh?

    The roles are also quite gender-seperated in my family, and family-by-marriage, yet somehow I wouldn't quite call them sexist....simply traditional.
    We have a large mass of people (20+) descending onto the family matriarch's very modest suburban home, so space is at an absolute premium. No one is much into football, so the men and a few of the younger women gather together outside to smoke, talk *kitten*, watch over the flock of kids running amok and maybe take a look at whoever's vehicle is currently having problems, and make sure the folding tables and chair are set up on the back patio. The 'women' include the matriarch (Granny), her daughters, and the eldest of the third generation's women who have been attending the affair for a decade or more. We all know who's doing what without asking, and have the ability to work efficiently around eachother in tight quarters without confusion. We 'womenfolk' get the buffet set up, and then prepare and carry the plates outside for our men and children. We know exactly what our men and kids want, and it's much less chaotic than having the men & kids running about in the tiny kitchen and dining room.

    So maybe it is sexist, but one could also argue that it's quite patronizing against the Y chromosomes...they only get in the way of the real work.

    (For the record, my family is staunchly Texan, highly matriarchal and not a one of us would 'take *kitten* from any man'. Many of the women in my family are the primary breadwinners, and the idea of some simpering, kowtowing-to-the-man newlywed girl would send us into gales of laughter.)
  • LuckyLeprechaun
    LuckyLeprechaun Posts: 6,296 Member


    Christmas is about the birth of Christ. That alone is the sole purpose of Christmas.

    So why is it in December when Christ was born in the spring?


    OHHHHHH because Christmas is the celebration of the Winter Solstice that was taken over by early Christians so they could use the Pagan holiday as their own and not get so persecuted......I remember now.
  • Yakisoba
    Yakisoba Posts: 719 Member


    Christmas is about the birth of Christ. That alone is the sole purpose of Christmas.

    So why is it in December when Christ was born in the spring?


    OHHHHHH because Christmas is the celebration of the Winter Solstice that was taken over by early Christians so they could use the Pagan holiday as their own and not get so persecuted......I remember now.

    ^ So much truth.
  • DawnOf1969
    DawnOf1969 Posts: 726 Member
    It's the day that marks the beginning of Tony Romo's annual collapse.

    ^Isn't that the truth?

    For us, Thanksgiving is a day that we, as a family, run the Turkey Trot, and yes, we get together with family to give thanks for our blessings, but I do not overindulge. I do not eat until I'm miserable or my pants won't button. Thanksgiving does not send this MFP'er into a panic.
  • _Ben
    _Ben Posts: 1,608 Member
    Its a celebration of the harvest. Most european/european decended countries have some sort of holiday marking the harvest
  • thankyou4thevenom
    thankyou4thevenom Posts: 1,581 Member
    Sorrry i live in the UK, so when my american friends mention it i have noo idea what it is and i was just wanting to know!

    I think the UK should do thanksgiving! Id be goood at celebrating with drinks and food =)

    But noooo the UK is tooo lame for that sorta thing!
    Since the holiday in the States is tied to the arrival of Puritan pilgrims fleeing England's religious persecution, Brits could celebrate the departure of those wet blanket Puritans! :laugh:

    Actually this is untrue. Puritans did not leave England to escape persecution. They did it because English society did not want to act like them. We were far to debauched for their tastes.
  • Vaanja
    Vaanja Posts: 163 Member
    Sorrry i live in the UK, so when my american friends mention it i have noo idea what it is and i was just wanting to know!

    I think the UK should do thanksgiving! Id be goood at celebrating with drinks and food =)

    But noooo the UK is tooo lame for that sorta thing!
    Since the holiday in the States is tied to the arrival of Puritan pilgrims fleeing England's religious persecution, Brits could celebrate the departure of those wet blanket Puritans! :laugh:

    Actually this is untrue. Puritans did not leave England to escape persecution. They did it because English society did not want to act like them. We were far to debauched for their tastes.

    Actually this is partially untrue. The Puritans did protest that the English reformation fell short, and that the CoE was far too Catholic in it's practices, but -

    (from Wiki)
    "James I was succeeded by his son Charles I of England in 1625. In the year before becoming King, he married Henrietta-Marie de Bourbon of France, a Roman Catholic daughter of the convert Henry IV of France, who refused to attend the coronation of her husband in a non-Catholic cathedral. She had no tolerance for Puritans. At the same time, William Laud, Bishop of London, was becoming increasingly powerful as an advisor to Charles. Laud viewed Puritans as a schismatic threat to orthodoxy in the church. With the Queen and Laud among his closest advisors, Charles pursued policies to eliminate the religious distinctiveness and "excesses" of Puritans. Laud became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633, and moved the Church of England away from Puritanism, rigorously enforcing the law against ministers who deviated from the Book of Common Prayer or who refused to read the Book of Sports after its re-issue in 1633, a shibboleth for the Sabbatarian views spread by Nicholas Bownde and Nicholas Byfield.

    Charles relied largely on the Star Chamber and Court of High Commission to implement his policies, courts under the control of the King, not the Parliament, capable of convicting and imprisoning Puritans under prerogative. He adapted them as instruments of suppression, following the juristic methods of Elizabeth I in dealing in the 1590s with the supporters of Thomas Cartwright. The Puritan movement in England then allied itself with the cause of "England's ancient liberties"; the unpopularity of Laud was a major factor leading to the English Civil War, during which Puritans formed the backbone of the parliamentarian forces. Laud was arrested in 1641 and executed in 1645, after a lengthy trial in which a large mass of evidence was brought, tending to represent him as obstructive of the "godly" and amounting to the whole, detailed Puritan case against the royal church policy of the preceding decade."
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    If I were a teacher or college professor and a student turned in a paper using Wikipedia as a source, that student would receive an F.

Categories