American people explain thanks giving, UK person.?

Question

I live in the UK please explain the meaning of thanks giving in the USA.

What day does it fall on and how long does it last.

Answer 1

Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday in November. While Thanksgiving itself is a single day, the holiday always includes the following Friday, making for a four-day weekend.

The holiday originated, according to legend, with the settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1620s. Their first winter was terribly hard, and they suffered greatly due to ignorance of the climate, soil and local growing and hunting conditions. According to the myth, they made friends with the local native American tribes, who taught them how to recognize local fruits, vegetables and game, including pumpkins, maize, cranberries, and turkey.

At the end of the next harvest, the colonists proclaimed a great feast of thanksgiving and honored the native American tribes that had helped them survive the previous winter. It is still celebrated as a day to give thanks for the good things that have happened during the preceding year.

In practice, Thanksgiving is a huge feast including a number of foods native to North America -- roast turkey, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and others. This feast is always eaten on Thursday, though the leftovers can last, depending on the size of the household, for weeks.

In recent years, Thanksgiving has also marked the start, in earnest, of the Christmas merchandising season. The Macy's department store has, since the 1930s, sponsored a Thanksgiving Day parade in New York, with large inflated characters interspersed among marching bands and civic groups. The Friday after Thanksgiving has become known as "Black Friday" and is typically the single largest retail sales day in the United States.

In reaction to what many people see as the overcommercialization of this holiday (not to mention modern life in general), recent years have seen a growth in Buy Nothing Day, a movement to reverse the hype and mania for rabid consumption that Thanksgiving has come to represent (particularly in its "gateway holiday" role as the opening of the Christmas bacchanalia). Originating in Canada, Buy Nothing day has come to signify a "detox" from the incessant drone of marketing, merchandising and status.

Speaking of Canada, there is also a Thanksgiving in Canada, but it's celebrated on the second Monday in October, making for a three-day weekend. Both the Canadian and the US Thanksgiving days are believed to be derived from the British Harvest Festivals, held at the end of summer since ancient times.

You can read more in the Wikipedia article I posted below, and also in the Adbusters Web site on Buy Nothing Day.

Answer 2

To be honest I think there is a bit of give and take in any relationship. I would say the Brits that do claim to dislike the US are normally under the impression that Americans are brash, insensitive and full of their own self importance. However some Americans might have exactly the same opinion of the Brits. Sometimes in recognising a similarity in someone else it causes us to dislike the person, because it makes us uncomfortable seeing something we don't like about ourselves in someone else! Personally I inderstand The States is a massive place with many variants, so I would not presume to label all 'Americans' under the same label any more then I would put all 'Brits' I have many close American friends and hope it stays that way. I can see America or what it really is, but then I can see my own country for what it is as well!

Answer 3

Im not American but I think its the Harvest Festival and it falls this Thursday but I have no idea why its such a big thing in the States. They have a famly meal together and eat Turkey as if it was Christmas!!!

Answer 4

It's a harvest festival. Try those links that have already been given. They'll explain it.

Answer 5

I suppose it's like having two Christmases..they have to try and do one better don't they?!!

Answer 6

http://www.thanksgiving.org/2us.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving hope this helps im American