FDR literally changed the rules for how to calculate the date of Thanksgiving (from "the last Thursday of November" to "the *fourth* Thursday of November") because it so happened that that year (1939) it would add an extra week of Christmas shopping and boost the economyhttps://twitter.com/dynamicsymmetry/status/1329826132997320706 …
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The actual "first Thanksgiving" by Massachusetts wasn't even in November, it was most likely the end of September (Michaelmas, the traditional date for the harvest festival in England) The harvest is *over* by the end of November in New England, it's already winter at that point
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Thanksgiving is in November today because when Abe Lincoln created it, it was already October when he gave the speech and they needed time to get ready
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Also because he was conflating it with Evacuation Day -- a day of "thanksgiving" for the withdrawal of British troops from the 13 Colonies at the end of the Revolution on November 25, the original occasion for George Washington to proclaim a "national day of thanksgiving prayer"
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It has in fact been commented on in other countries, like Canada, that our harvest festival is weirdly late in the year, and there's barely a month between the big fall festival and the big winter one (The whole problem FDR controversially tried to solve with his rule change)
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It would really make a lot more sense for Halloween and Thanksgiving to switch Have the harvest festival at the peak of autumn when the leaves are bright in the air Have the celebration of the spooky and macabre on the cusp of winter with the dark setting in
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Just make Black Friday be the actual holiday and keep the name "Black Friday" The month of December becomes a war against the evils unleashed on Black Friday until they're finally joyously defeated on Christmas by you having purchased enough stuff
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Replying to @arthur_affect
I didn't realize how much I wanted more cohesion and drama between the holidays.
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Replying to @a0ashle @arthur_affect
We should turn boxing day into literally about boxing up old junk because we just got new junk from Christmas. This happens to be what my American brain has head cannoned since I first saw it on a calendar.
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It kind of is that It's "Boxing Day" because rich people would make a standard "Christmas box" (as opposed to a handpicked present) that they'd give out to servants and employees coming back to work the day after Christmas
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