As an American that was born and raised here in the U.S. and having served my country in the Air Force I can tell you I'd rather be on the front lines than to go to a black friday sale
I worked every Black Friday the years I worked at a department store. All hands on deck from 6:30 am to I can't even remember when. Some stores opened even earlier. The only time we got to sit down was on break (2) and lunch (an hour, thank God) then finally in the car on the drive home. When I got out of my car, I couldn't stand up straight and had to walk, or rather shuffle, into my house. Mercifully, my memories of those BFs are very hazy. Christmas Eve days were just a shade less bad. So be nice to those sales associates!
Had my first experience of Thanksgiving in the USA today. Roast turkey, stuffing, corn pudding, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, some Polish noodles (the family I was with has Polish ancestry) followed by pumpkin pie. I won't need to eat again today I don't think!
Chip You’ve passed a major initiation in your North America existence. Next, ... Remember, after your first successful bison hunt, you’re supposed to take first bite of the heart - just like in ‘Dances With Wolves.’
I'm so happy to hear a Brit say that distinguishing between an American and Canadian accent is sometimes hard for them. I've heard so many Brits and Aussies get genuinely upset when an American confuses the two and have heard some call Americans morons for making the mistake. Which only really happens with some specific British and Australian accents. Meanwhile, have a Canadian and American each with their respective "generic" accents talk to a Brit and they'll have no idea which is which. Where as an American or Canadian can usually spot some very distinct differences. And if all else fails, get a Cajun or a deep deep Appalachian to talk to a Brit and blow their minds with an American accent they can't understand. It's hilarious.
The Pilgrams faced Hell during their voyage to America. Sick and dying, they needed help. The Natives showed compassion and offered shelter, medicine, food and knowledge of native crops. November is a time when the last of the harvest perishables needed to be consumed. So, the Natives shared with the Pilgrims. And it was a THREE day celebration, then. Needless to say, the Pilgrims were very "Thankful". This was one of the most peaceful times in our History. These communities maintained peace for 20+ years.. til all hell broke loose... Today, we use this time to be Thankful for our blessings and do good things for others. (And eat really really good food!!) I'm a Slav so, during this long Holiday weekend, women in our family made peirogi for the Christmas Holiday. (after the Friday Black shopping, which I've done ONCE and will never do again!!!)
Lorri Lewis We only attempted it once about 10 years ago. My husband and I were going to get our children clothes @ Kohl’s. I told him we had to get there early. He decided we’re not going until 7am. The store opened at 5am. We got inside and saw the register lines. They wrapped around to the back of the store. This is why I prefer online shopping.
I think most Americans would agree with me when I say that, Thanksgiving at its core, is about spending time with friends and family. My family likes to get together and have a big feast and spend time with each other. We play games, mingle and discuss what were thankful for and the blessings we have here in America. I love Thanksgiving because there are no gifts, reservations, or big plans to worry about. You just bring some food to my parents and spend the day with family. Unfortunately, black Friday is ruining this. But a lot of people, myself included, are not participating in it. Just wait until cyber monday.
As an American (and former retail worker), I find Black Friday disgusting. I'm sad that it has become a 'tradition.' Spend that time with your families, and let the poor retail employees spend it with theirs.
bamjo Black Friday shopping IS spending time with family. You get big gangs of family and friends to go out -it’s fun. And I’m related to several retail employees and they like working these extra days including on holiday eves because it gives them time and a half, which may not be a big deal to you but it means a lot of difference to them in their paychecks. How nice to not have to worry about such things.
@@stockinettestitch, time and a half? Who offers that?! One of the culture shocks of changing work to a big retailer (I won't mention them by name) is that there is no time and a half for part-time workers.
As a healthcare worker, I cant stand seeing all the people who say poor retail workers.. it's almost laughable. Try working somewhere that never closes. Ever.
Happy Thanksgiving! Thanks for creating this video. I'm American, but I did not know why or how long the date is the fourth Thursday of the month. That's fun to know. I skip Black Friday sales - only venture in supermarkets, libraries, or drugstores. No sale is worth being trampled or tackled, lol. Plus, we have Cyber Mondays now. If you need to get your bargain shopping done on a specific day ....
As a kid, I never really questioned the whole "there was a guy named Squanto who just happened to speak English" thing, but it's actually true. For a sad reason. He was a member of the Patuxet tribe and was captured and sold into slavery in Europe. After quite some time and with help he could escape, and he was set up with a job in a shipyard for several years, which is where he learned English and saved money to make the journey home. He made it back to New England in 1619 only to find that his whole tribe had been wiped out by the plague a year before. He was reluctantly brought in (some say captured) by the Wampanoag tribe, which is the tribe of natives who helped the Pilgrims their second year.
FDR moved Thanksgiving from the last Thursday of the month to the fourth Thursday in 1939 to give one more week of shopping before Christmas (there were five Thursdays in November that year).
I went to a 24-hour Walmart today that was gearing up for the sale to start at 6pm. I felt bad for the employees who had to work but boy, it was great...they had a small army there! Everywhere I looked there were clerks, and one was standing at the end of each aisle to help and direct you. Yes, there were lots of shoppers, but it was the most positive experience I've ever had at a Walmart. Plenty of check-outs open and virtually no lines! 😊 I didn't go back at 6:00 but that would have been interesting.
Walmart has made some massive changes over the last few years. I remember having to wait behind roped off areas until the sales started, then they would drop the rope and people would stampede in and grab what they wanted. Now they set everything out just before the sales start and its first come first serve. They usually have a massive quantity as well. For the big ticket items they form lines starting a few hours before the sale and they hand out tickets so people dont have to stand in line for hours. I dont normally go to black friday sales but the stores in my small town are pretty tame.
The first Thanksgiving in the English colonies was in Jamestown, before Plymouth was ever settled. There was a thanksgiving type celebration in the Spanish colony of St Augustine before that.....and American Indians had their own thanksgiving celebrations for ages before that.
Did you know that black Friday is named that because retailers typically ran in the"red" (or not profitable) until the holiday shopping season so black Friday was the first day for Christmas shopping allowing stores to begin running in the"black"(or profitable)
Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE holiday!!! I worked retail right after college and in the 27 years since I left retail, I rarely step foot in a mall and ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY NEVER on Black Friday!
Also in Texas in 1598, and Florida in 1565, bith with Spainards. While they never caught on, they may have been the first. Regardless of which came first, Plymouth is the one with influence.
My mom and I do Black Friday every year. We spend the night before setting up a game plan/battle plan based on deals vs. desire. Crazy tradition. My favorite part is the iced mint white chocolate I get around 8AM when we stop the major battle shopping and pick up the folks who wanted to sleep in!
Laurence, back to the Pilgrims, they were receiving some persecution in England at the time, and thus moved to Holland/Netherlands, eventually sailing to what turned out to be Plymouth, Mass., where they met the local Wampanoag tribe, who taught them how to grow corn. That, plus their gratefulness to God for sparing the lives of those who survived the voyage, and the first winter, and the Wampanoags for their part in the Pilgrims' survival, put this first Thanksgiving together. Sadly, today, many portions of our society are downright embarrassed by the spiritual side of this nation's history, and would just as soon sweep this story under the rug, or try to say that it isn't true.
It's bigger than the same dates on the UK now, it's followed/turned into "Black Week" or "Black November" with shops and websites offering different deals throughout part of all of the month with the biggest on Black Friday and Cyber Monday - Amazon of corse leading this with different deals each day. The same has happened with Christmas and what you'll remember as the "January Sales", which are now called the "Boxing Day" sales which start as early as midnight both on the High Street and online.
Happy Thanksgiving to the Browns! My Brother made a wonderful meal and I was able to chat with my favorite bloke for an hour or so....topped off with a healthy dose of history served up by my favorite ex-pat..... awww, I'm a happy cow. Take Care you two....
it is so important not only is it giving thanks for the harvest but the Protestants did not make such a large celebration of Christmas like the Catholics it was a turned into a major Holiday.
Black Friday, the day retailers sell you big screen TV's(best example) for $100 that they sell for $450 the rest of the year. That television is not being sold at a loss for $100 there is still a retail and manufacturer friendly profit on the item which means the other 364 days of the year we are getting fleeced for $350 dollars.
Good fun. Like T-day itself. What you might also not realize, from all the Turkey talk, is that Thanksgiving is one of the best holiday dinners for vegetarians to deal with, at a non-veg family gathering. It really is a harvest festival, and most of the must-have dishes, aside from the roasted centerpiece, are vegetable offerings, including the necessary pumpkin or sweet potato pie. Some families have creamed peas & onions, corn, green beans or broccoli or asparagus, salads, cauliflower, every kind of potato, plus cranberry sauce (we always have three kinds), and special breads; it's my favorite feast ever.
I wish the stores were closed as they were when I was a kid. Everyone should be with their loved ones on Thanksgiving, not shopping for Black Friday deals on Thursday night.
@pjd412 Black Friday refers to being "in the black" (profitable) as opposed to being "in the red" (losing money). The idea behind it is that the sales between Thanksgiving and Christmas are where stores make all of their money for the year. That is, they go into the black from losing money from the beginning of the year. I don't know if that is reality or not, but that's where the term comes from.
@@LoveClassicMusic0205 Actually that was a myth started by stores to rebrand "Black Friday" as a good thing. The term first popped up in New York City, where newspapers likened shoppers clogging the streets on the day after Thanksgiving to an apocalyptic event like the massacres, stock crashes, etc to which "Black [day of the week]" or "Bloody [day of the week]" normally referred. Somewhat jokingly, to be sure, but still not related to going "in the black". Stores wanted to offer deals to encourage the frantic impulse shopping, but didn't want to tarnish their image by egging on the associated riotous crowds. So around the same time they started advertising their Black Friday deals, they spread a false etymology for the holiday's name to the media so they could get the best of both worlds.
I am a former Walmart employee (cashier in fact). I can admit that Black Friday was one of the few days I actually enjoyed the job. It’s a completely different experience from the retailer end, rather than a fellow shopper. It was rather like spectating a WWE match.
I cannot imagine anyone using instant mashed potato on Thanksgiving! I have never eaten them myself and really don’t know anyone who eats boxed potatoes. I am from Southern Indiana and most families try to put their best cooking efforts on the table. Homemade pies, homemade dressing/ stuffing (no Stove top) homemade mashed potatoes and fresh veggies (not canned, and at worst frozen). So boxed potatoes are a big no-no for most Americans.
When I was a kid in the 90's Black Friday was interesting. Stores would open up a couple hours earlier than normal and have early bird sales then the rest of the day would have some less amazing sales. There wasn't the crazy competition of shoppers fighting over the last gaming console even though they are only going to save maybe $30. I enjoyed it then. Now-a-days I hate Black Friday.
The biggest cure for Black Friday is having to work a Black Friday. Did so at a Walmart in Scottsdale, AZ in 2003 and would rather die than set foot in a department/mall/retail store that day.
I’m old enough to be your mother and two things I proud of, kind of petty, I have never gone to a Black Friday nor watched a soap opera. Thanksgiving is getting better and better every year cause I cook less and less each year.
Canada being, farther North, does have earlier seasonal change (Autumn). European harvest festivals (UK, Germany) are usually in October. Thanksgiving, being later in November, works well for southern states (and between Halloween and Christmas).
Actually, when I was growing up, churches in my area had a Harvest Home festival in October which more nearly matches your service where you donate food. In my church, which was in a rural area, the donations were often included unprocessed crops or home canned food.
i dont mean to shit all over anyone thanks giving turkey dinner, but i do not eat turkey because i see how cruel the farming is and the uncovered semis loaded with turkeys flying down the road when its freezing cold. Dont want my money going to torture of animals. It is ironic that thanks giving and christmas is promoted as being all about peace and love and good will and kindness, yet the center piece of it is an animal that was treated with horrific cruelty
PipsKay That's crazy talk. It's a known fact that Americans hardly ever eat anything and are actually famous for being the sveldtest peoples in the developed world. Olive Oyl is a prominent American role model.
BTW quick history on Survivor Series. For many years many wrestling organizations ran on Thanksgiving. It was one of the most profitable days of the year. One of the biggest was Jim Crockett promotions. It was located in the Carolinas and they put together the first supercard called Starrcade. This was a few years before Wrestlemania and it was huge for the region. Eventually most of the other NWA territories went under and most of what was left was under the JCP banner. In essence JCP became the NWA and later WCW. Anyway a few years before WCW Crockett basically became number two to the WWF's number one. As you well know Vince is a cutthroat business man. After a few years of Starrcade, the birth of PPV, and the huge success of Hulk vs Andre at Wrestlemania III he decided to expand his list of PPVs, so he created along with Pat Paterson created the Survivor Series he put it on Thanksgiving in direct competition with Starrcade. To make it even more brutal, he told all the cable companies that if they showed Starrcade, they wouldn't get Wrestlemania IV with the Hulk vs Andre rematch.
Fun related indie-gaming fact: If you play the game "Don't Starve" or "Don't Starve Together", and click on the character Woodie, the last line of his description changes depending on where you're playing the game from. If you're in America, the line is "Celebrates Thanksgiving too early" and if you're in Canada, it says "Celebrates Thanksgiving at the right time". (Other countries? "Is grateful for a bountiful harvest.") ...Klei Entertainment themselves are from Vancouver, incidentally. ;)
Thank you for that information because I was born here in America in 1957, and I always thought Thanksgiving was November 23rd. But I do remember a couple of times thinking it was on the 25th and now I just ask somebody when is Thanksgiving. Now thanks to you I understand why I was always a little off-kilter about the Thanksgiving date. Now if that isn't admittedly ignorant I don't know what is!
No, what happened is that Roosevelt tried making Thanksgiving earlier because he thought people would start shopping for Christmas right after, meaning more shopping days for Christmas & that might help the economy but people had a fit over it so it was changed back to the fourth Thursday.
I am miserable with flu, and banished from my family's Thanksgiving get-together. But I will find the courage to wish everyone everywhere a Happy Thanksgiving. PS. Floridians will tell you they were doing Thanksgiving in St. Augustine before it was done in either Virginia or Massachusetts.
First time I've seen the new intro! Very nice! I agree, Thanksgiving is even better than Christmas. Although my birthday is likewise in November, so maybe that's all there is to it :P
I don’t think FDR had the original idea to change the day. It was changed to leave more time until Christmas. Thanksgiving has become the principal holiday for family gatherings.
The fiscal year starts ending during the 2nd week of December. Maybe, by upping the Thursday that Thanksgiving falls on, helps businesses to prepare their bottom line for the month, the quarter and the year, before taxes get done?!
I hate black Friday. The day after being thankful for what we have, we go and kill each other for sales over shit we don't have. I hate it and refuse to purchase anything on black Friday. It makes no difference to the stores for one dude to ignore it, but I stand on my opinion.
Ugh, I hate Black Friday, and it seems to get more ridiculous every year. I try to stay away from the malls and shopping centers around town from Black Friday to New Year's, since the traffic in those areas is even worse than usual during that time.
1:50 Thanksgiving 🦃 is the 2nd most important holiday, after Christmas 🎄 I actually had no idea Canada celebrated Thanksgiving 🤯 thought it was exclusive to the US. I wish I had known that 😕
OMG, my guests just left and I'm exhausted. As usual I drank more booze than I ate food. Gonna make turkey tetrazzini this weekend with the leftovers. Next comes Christmas!
There are some people that camp outside a store for up to a week before black Friday. BTW, stores have the same sale throughout the year. I will never stand in that line again!! 1 hour to shop and wait 2 1/2 hours to get to check out! NEVER AGAIN
No. Thanksgiving is not a harvest festival. It was originally a giving of thanks by the Pilgrims for surviving their first winter. It has become a celebration in America to give thanks for the country we live in, the greatest country on Earth.
I heard or read somewhere that the first Thanksgiving was an exchange of gifts mostly in the form of food between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans.
I spent this past Thanksgiving in Rome. Black Friday (in English) has even reached there. Half the stores call is "Black Weekend", which just does not sound quite right.
You’d be amazed how many Americans aren’t even aware of the 4th Thursday rule. Or the first Monday of September rule, or the last Monday of May rule (oh! And a good one is the first Saturday of May...)
I'm an American and I can tell you that "Black Friday" used to be called "the day after Thanksgiving sales". As far as I'm concerned, no matter what it's called....I'm not shopping or even leaving the house. I was in Brazil on the day after Thanksgiving in 2018 and there were "Black Friday" sale banners everywhere. The same in Argentina. Thanksgiving is virtually unknown in these countries. "Consumerism" is not pretty and should not be associated with such a beautiful tradition as a harvest festival or Thanksgiving. I've been in the U.K. many times. I love it there. Thank you for sharing your experiences and thoughts. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Lone Star State.
I am fascinated by Brit's views of America. This small island nation conquered the world, then spawned a rebellious stepchild. To Brit's, 100 miles seems a long way. To Americans, 100 years is a long time. There are so many places here that I never realized took their names from "the old country". Virginia, New York, New England (duh !!). And the UK has such influential historical figures. Monty Python, Mr. Bean, and James Bond to name a few.
My Canadian coworker told me that so many Canadians crossed the border to participate in America's Black Friday that their merchants started their own Black Friday, and now they shop on both Canadian Black Friday and again on American Black Friday
Funny thing about the date for Thanksgiving: my father’s birthday is today, so for a long time, I’ve associated Thanksgiving with my father’s birthday.
November is my favorite too. My birthday is November 17th 1983. When is your bday? I have never gone Black Friday shopping nor do I plan to. One day we are being thankful and the very next we are trampling someone for a discount. Disgusting. I will never shop on Black Friday.
Don't forget the big lie that they came over to practice "freedom of religion" either. Hell no, they came over to practice freedom of THEIR religion and woe to anyone who chose to worship another way.
Logically tho, Canada should naturally celebrate their harvest festival much earlier because they're much farther north (mostly) so their growing season and harvesting are over much sooner.
Its not harvest day. It started from when the immigrant came on several ship.suffering hardship.the native of the land,indian,helped out.gave them corn,pumpkin&turkey to survive. It's thanking for giving help when in need.
What?! You're not Australian? I don't know if this is true, but I learned as a kid that the pilgrims had such a rough time in New England that the first Thanksgiving was a celebration of a great harvest, without which they'd have been facing famine and death over the winter. That was supposedly why it was such a big deal.
Here, this article just in from the NY Times - some of what we learned as kids was true, much was not: www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/us/thanksgiving-myths-fact-check.html
Beautiful Dayzee Yes, thanks for posting that. Hadn't seen that article yet. I get a kick out of the plethora of articles in this vein that pop up lately. The Times piece isn't too bad, but a lot of them are so damned eager to make people think they've uncovered some startling new information that's going to forever change the way Americans view Thanksgiving. They often have the "Everything You Thought You Knew About Thanksgiving is Wrong" sort of titles, but when you read them there's not really anything new there. Even the Times emphasizes that the idea of the Indians being invited to the Thanksgiving celebration is a "big misconception". Then they go on to explain this by saying there is no specific historical data to indicate that the colonists formally invited them to attend, and such things must never be assumed by historians. But since Massasoit and his people were on very good terms with the Plymouth colonists at that time, and since they lived many miles away from Plymouth, yet we know that 90 of them showed up, isn't it fairly likely they were invited? Same thing with the turkey. The authors like to say there was no turkey served at that Thanksgiving in 1621 and that the colonists and natives probably ate pheasants and swans, but the only evidence for this claim is that turkey was not specifically mentioned as being served. But neither were pheasants or swans. We know they ate various types of fowl. Turkeys were commonly found in that northeast back then (as they still are) so why is it such a myth to think they might have had turkey? My grammar school evidently did a pretty good job teaching us about Thanksgiving because since I was about ten years old I've been aware of almost all the info that keeps getting passed off as news lately😀
American holidays have a heavy religious connotation. Thanksgiving is no different as it is celebrated by Christian Protestants. I grew up with it and I’m quite fond about celebrating Thanksgiving. When you’re a kid, we did Thanksgiving crafts like the finger turkey and designing pumpkins. Today, Thanksgiving is more secular especially with Black Friday, or Cyber Monday.
Yep Canada's Thanksgiving is celebrated on the 2nd monday of October, also we refer to armistice day as Remembrance Day (Nov 11th). My birthday is also in November (was supposed to be born Nov 11th but was actually born on the 19th). Curious when your birthday is?
I think WE should have Thanksgiving in October too. It's the real harvest and the weather is better. Also would prefer more distance between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Yes it is a harvest festival but it’s more than that for us. For us, it represents the Pilgrims surviving & their new friendship with the Indians & in general giving thanks for what we have. It was made popular after the Civil War as a way of bringing people back together, as it was a holiday we could all celebrate together. So in essence, our Thanksgiving is one holiday that is uniquely American, as it’s much more than a harvest festival for us.
I agree that Thanksgiving is the most wonderful national holiday in the U.S. However, Pond, Thanksgiving is more than a 'harvest' type celebration; it's mostly a day to give our Heavenly Father special thanks for our blessings. Thanks, for your thoughts.
Black Friday is the most anxiety-inducing thing ever... unless you sit in your pajamas on your computer at get the deals there. I mentally and physically cannot go out with hard core Black Friday shoppers.
I sometimes wish we did have 'proper' black Friday sales in the UK.... not that I'd go to an actual shop, I'd do it online, but the deals we have under the name black Friday are terrible, a few pounds mostly off things no one would ever want. Even if it seems a good deal on electronics for eg, they always hike the price up before the sale so the drop looks more dramatic than it really is.
By the way... Thanksgiving became an official National Holiday by proclamation in 1863 from Abraham Lincoln. So, in the middle of the bloodiest war in America’s history, in which more Americans died than in all our other wars COMBINED, the president asked us to set aside a day to give thanks for our blessings. Think about that for a minute.
South Park explained it the best. It's the aliens. Like in Ancient Alient on History channel. South Park pretty explained everything about anything. There's nothing they didn't tackled.
Lisa L Tradition. It’s a good thing. Also November is cozier. I’m from Minnesota too: 👋🏼 hello! Also - harvest comes sooner but the things harvested had to keep all winter so it was/is no biggie waiting a few more weeks.
As an American that was born and raised here in the U.S. and having served my country in the Air Force I can tell you I'd rather be on the front lines than to go to a black friday sale
tgroomes1 As a fellow American, we thank you for your service.
I worked every Black Friday the years I worked at a department store. All hands on deck from 6:30 am to I can't even remember when. Some stores opened even earlier. The only time we got to sit down was on break (2) and lunch (an hour, thank God) then finally in the car on the drive home. When I got out of my car, I couldn't stand up straight and had to walk, or rather shuffle, into my house. Mercifully, my memories of those BFs are very hazy. Christmas Eve days were just a shade less bad. So be nice to those sales associates!
Mostly likely because they are rules on the front line
Deadass.
tgroomes1 😂😂😂😂😂😂👍🏼 no lie
Had my first experience of Thanksgiving in the USA today. Roast turkey, stuffing, corn pudding, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, some Polish noodles (the family I was with has Polish ancestry) followed by pumpkin pie. I won't need to eat again today I don't think!
Chip you may be surprised by the need for a turkey sandwich around 9 pm. 😉
Chip Were the noodles kluski noodles? I love those. I buy them at the Polish festival every year.
Chip
You’ve passed a major initiation in your North America existence. Next, ...
Remember, after your first successful bison hunt, you’re supposed to take first bite of the heart - just like in ‘Dances With Wolves.’
g0679 LOL 😅
I'm so happy to hear a Brit say that distinguishing between an American and Canadian accent is sometimes hard for them.
I've heard so many Brits and Aussies get genuinely upset when an American confuses the two and have heard some call Americans morons for making the mistake. Which only really happens with some specific British and Australian accents.
Meanwhile, have a Canadian and American each with their respective "generic" accents talk to a Brit and they'll have no idea which is which. Where as an American or Canadian can usually spot some very distinct differences.
And if all else fails, get a Cajun or a deep deep Appalachian to talk to a Brit and blow their minds with an American accent they can't understand. It's hilarious.
A blessed Thanksgiving to all. We have so much to be grateful for!
I'm enjoying looking at myself through your British eyes. Thanks
Thanks, Carolyn!
The Pilgrams faced Hell during their voyage to America. Sick and dying, they needed help. The Natives showed compassion and offered shelter, medicine, food and knowledge of native crops. November is a time when the last of the harvest perishables needed to be consumed. So, the Natives shared with the Pilgrims. And it was a THREE day celebration, then. Needless to say, the Pilgrims were very "Thankful". This was one of the most peaceful times in our History. These communities maintained peace for 20+ years.. til all hell broke loose...
Today, we use this time to be Thankful for our blessings and do good things for others. (And eat really really good food!!) I'm a Slav so, during this long Holiday weekend, women in our family made peirogi for the Christmas Holiday. (after the Friday Black shopping, which I've done ONCE and will never do again!!!)
I don't think I've ever gone to a Black Friday sale and don't intend to ever do so.
Lorri Lewis We only attempted it once about 10 years ago. My husband and I were going to get our children clothes @ Kohl’s. I told him we had to get there early. He decided we’re not going until 7am. The store opened at 5am. We got inside and saw the register lines. They wrapped around to the back of the store. This is why I prefer online shopping.
Jaime M
Those poor shop workers having to start work at 5am.
I have been, and no, you don't need to go to one. Wait. Some of those sales will keep on for a bit.
AMEN!
Never go. Go shopping anytime during the year.
I think most Americans would agree with me when I say that, Thanksgiving at its core, is about spending time with friends and family. My family likes to get together and have a big feast and spend time with each other. We play games, mingle and discuss what were thankful for and the blessings we have here in America. I love Thanksgiving because there are no gifts, reservations, or big plans to worry about. You just bring some food to my parents and spend the day with family. Unfortunately, black Friday is ruining this. But a lot of people, myself included, are not participating in it. Just wait until cyber monday.
As an American (and former retail worker), I find Black Friday disgusting. I'm sad that it has become a 'tradition.' Spend that time with your families, and let the poor retail employees spend it with theirs.
bamjo Black Friday shopping IS spending time with family. You get big gangs of family and friends to go out -it’s fun. And I’m related to several retail employees and they like working these extra days including on holiday eves because it gives them time and a half, which may not be a big deal to you but it means a lot of difference to them in their paychecks. How nice to not have to worry about such things.
Black Friday was created to help stores stay in business. It could be the reason some of those people have jobs.
Fortunately it has gotten better.
Black Friday was worse on my first retail year.
The next year it was not so bad.
@@stockinettestitch, time and a half? Who offers that?! One of the culture shocks of changing work to a big retailer (I won't mention them by name) is that there is no time and a half for part-time workers.
As a healthcare worker, I cant stand seeing all the people who say poor retail workers.. it's almost laughable. Try working somewhere that never closes. Ever.
Happy Thanksgiving! Thanks for creating this video. I'm American, but I did not know why or how long the date is the fourth Thursday of the month. That's fun to know. I skip Black Friday sales - only venture in supermarkets, libraries, or drugstores. No sale is worth being trampled or tackled, lol. Plus, we have Cyber Mondays now. If you need to get your bargain shopping done on a specific day ....
As a kid, I never really questioned the whole "there was a guy named Squanto who just happened to speak English" thing, but it's actually true. For a sad reason.
He was a member of the Patuxet tribe and was captured and sold into slavery in Europe. After quite some time and with help he could escape, and he was set up with a job in a shipyard for several years, which is where he learned English and saved money to make the journey home. He made it back to New England in 1619 only to find that his whole tribe had been wiped out by the plague a year before. He was reluctantly brought in (some say captured) by the Wampanoag tribe, which is the tribe of natives who helped the Pilgrims their second year.
Exactly. The Charlie Brown TG episode touches on this in a age appropriate way but keeps the story true thank goodness.
Watch This Is America, Charlie Brown: The Mayflower Voyages, it really does a good job explaining Thanksgiving in an easy to understand way
Thank you for telling the true story and not the fictionalized version a prior commenter stated above.
FDR moved Thanksgiving from the last Thursday of the month to the fourth Thursday in 1939 to give one more week of shopping before Christmas (there were five Thursdays in November that year).
I went to a 24-hour Walmart today that was gearing up for the sale to start at 6pm. I felt bad for the employees who had to work but boy, it was great...they had a small army there! Everywhere I looked there were clerks, and one was standing at the end of each aisle to help and direct you. Yes, there were lots of shoppers, but it was the most positive experience I've ever had at a Walmart. Plenty of check-outs open and virtually no lines! 😊 I didn't go back at 6:00 but that would have been interesting.
Walmart has made some massive changes over the last few years. I remember having to wait behind roped off areas until the sales started, then they would drop the rope and people would stampede in and grab what they wanted. Now they set everything out just before the sales start and its first come first serve. They usually have a massive quantity as well. For the big ticket items they form lines starting a few hours before the sale and they hand out tickets so people dont have to stand in line for hours. I dont normally go to black friday sales but the stores in my small town are pretty tame.
The first Thanksgiving in the English colonies was in Jamestown, before Plymouth was ever settled. There was a thanksgiving type celebration in the Spanish colony of St Augustine before that.....and American Indians had their own thanksgiving celebrations for ages before that.
Did you know that black Friday is named that because retailers typically ran in the"red" (or not profitable) until the holiday shopping season so black Friday was the first day for Christmas shopping allowing stores to begin running in the"black"(or profitable)
Happy Thanksgiving Laurence and Tara! I'm thankful for you both!!
Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE holiday!!! I worked retail right after college and in the 27 years since I left retail, I rarely step foot in a mall and ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY NEVER on Black Friday!
Also in Texas in 1598, and Florida in 1565, bith with Spainards. While they never caught on, they may have been the first. Regardless of which came first, Plymouth is the one with influence.
My mom and I do Black Friday every year. We spend the night before setting up a game plan/battle plan based on deals vs. desire.
Crazy tradition. My favorite part is the iced mint white chocolate I get around 8AM when we stop the major battle shopping and pick up the folks who wanted to sleep in!
It's giving thanks to GOD for the blessing .
This year the Target near my house had a line wrapped down the block on Thanksgiving afternoon for Black Friday sales. It was nuts.
Laurence, back to the Pilgrims, they were receiving some persecution in England at the time, and thus moved to Holland/Netherlands, eventually sailing to what turned out to be Plymouth, Mass., where they met the local Wampanoag tribe, who taught them how to grow corn. That, plus their gratefulness to God for sparing the lives of those who survived the voyage, and the first winter, and the Wampanoags for their part in the Pilgrims' survival, put this first Thanksgiving together. Sadly, today, many portions of our society are downright embarrassed by the spiritual side of this nation's history, and would just as soon sweep this story under the rug, or try to say that it isn't true.
Omg, your black friday story had me in stitches.
It's bigger than the same dates on the UK now, it's followed/turned into "Black Week" or "Black November" with shops and websites offering different deals throughout part of all of the month with the biggest on Black Friday and Cyber Monday - Amazon of corse leading this with different deals each day.
The same has happened with Christmas and what you'll remember as the "January Sales", which are now called the "Boxing Day" sales which start as early as midnight both on the High Street and online.
You've paid your dues by going to Black Friday, once is enough.
i know, right?
Happy Thanksgiving to the Browns! My Brother made a wonderful meal and I was able to chat with my favorite bloke for an hour or so....topped off with a healthy dose of history served up by my favorite ex-pat..... awww, I'm a happy cow. Take Care you two....
it is so important not only is it giving thanks for the harvest but the Protestants did not make such a large celebration of Christmas like the Catholics it was a turned into a major Holiday.
Black Friday, the day retailers sell you big screen TV's(best example) for $100 that they sell for $450 the rest of the year. That television is not being sold at a loss for $100 there is still a retail and manufacturer friendly profit on the item which means the other 364 days of the year we are getting fleeced for $350 dollars.
The one key thing about TG, is it's the only holiday in the US that is 100% about family, and in the "family" sense, no one has to buy a "card".
i was always taught it started in Plymouth, Massachusetts
Good fun. Like T-day itself. What you might also not realize, from all the Turkey talk, is that Thanksgiving is one of the best holiday dinners for vegetarians to deal with, at a non-veg family gathering. It really is a harvest festival, and most of the must-have dishes, aside from the roasted centerpiece, are vegetable offerings, including the necessary pumpkin or sweet potato pie. Some families have creamed peas & onions, corn, green beans or broccoli or asparagus, salads, cauliflower, every kind of potato, plus cranberry sauce (we always have three kinds), and special breads; it's my favorite feast ever.
Black Friday wasn't always a "thing" in terms of the insanity it is now. it used to just be a concept and not an advertised event.
+Jwb52z How I long for simpler times...
I wish the stores were closed as they were when I was a kid. Everyone should be with their loved ones on Thanksgiving, not shopping for Black Friday deals on Thursday night.
@pjd412 Black Friday refers to being "in the black" (profitable) as opposed to being "in the red" (losing money). The idea behind it is that the sales between Thanksgiving and Christmas are where stores make all of their money for the year. That is, they go into the black from losing money from the beginning of the year. I don't know if that is reality or not, but that's where the term comes from.
It’s been like that for the 30 years I’ve been alive...
@@LoveClassicMusic0205 Actually that was a myth started by stores to rebrand "Black Friday" as a good thing. The term first popped up in New York City, where newspapers likened shoppers clogging the streets on the day after Thanksgiving to an apocalyptic event like the massacres, stock crashes, etc to which "Black [day of the week]" or "Bloody [day of the week]" normally referred. Somewhat jokingly, to be sure, but still not related to going "in the black". Stores wanted to offer deals to encourage the frantic impulse shopping, but didn't want to tarnish their image by egging on the associated riotous crowds. So around the same time they started advertising their Black Friday deals, they spread a false etymology for the holiday's name to the media so they could get the best of both worlds.
I am a former Walmart employee (cashier in fact). I can admit that Black Friday was one of the few days I actually enjoyed the job. It’s a completely different experience from the retailer end, rather than a fellow shopper. It was rather like spectating a WWE match.
I cannot imagine anyone using instant mashed potato on Thanksgiving! I have never eaten them myself and really don’t know anyone who eats boxed potatoes.
I am from Southern Indiana and most families try to put their best cooking efforts on the table. Homemade pies, homemade dressing/ stuffing (no Stove top) homemade mashed potatoes and fresh veggies (not canned, and at worst frozen).
So boxed potatoes are a big no-no for most Americans.
For a little insight into Thanksgiving, google George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation. It is eloquently written and quite beautiful. 🇺🇸
When I was a kid in the 90's Black Friday was interesting. Stores would open up a couple hours earlier than normal and have early bird sales then the rest of the day would have some less amazing sales. There wasn't the crazy competition of shoppers fighting over the last gaming console even though they are only going to save maybe $30. I enjoyed it then. Now-a-days I hate Black Friday.
The biggest cure for Black Friday is having to work a Black Friday. Did so at a Walmart in Scottsdale, AZ in 2003 and would rather die than set foot in a department/mall/retail store that day.
Thanks for not using the drone. Like your format without the drone. Happy Holidays to you and yours.
The reason is to thank God. He has been good to US.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
I’m old enough to be your mother and two things I proud of, kind of petty, I have never gone to a Black Friday nor watched a soap opera. Thanksgiving is getting better and better every year cause I cook less and less each year.
Canada being, farther North, does have earlier seasonal change (Autumn).
European harvest festivals (UK, Germany) are usually in October.
Thanksgiving, being later in November, works well for southern states (and between Halloween and Christmas).
Actually, when I was growing up, churches in my area had a Harvest Home festival in October which more nearly matches your service where you donate food. In my church, which was in a rural area, the donations were often included unprocessed crops or home canned food.
I am in such turkey coma right now
+PipsKay I am in a such a Tofurkey coma right now, which is much the same. :-)
i dont mean to shit all over anyone thanks giving turkey dinner, but i do not eat turkey because i see how cruel the farming is and the uncovered semis loaded with turkeys flying down the road when its freezing cold. Dont want my money going to torture of animals. It is ironic that thanks giving and christmas is promoted as being all about peace and love and good will and kindness, yet the center piece of it is an animal that was treated with horrific cruelty
there is no such thing as confederate scum, only blue yankee scum
Lost in the Pond and I went out again and ate more..another thing about Americans is Americans like to eat
PipsKay
That's crazy talk. It's a known fact that Americans hardly ever eat anything and are actually famous for being the sveldtest peoples in the developed world. Olive Oyl is a prominent American role model.
BTW quick history on Survivor Series. For many years many wrestling organizations ran on Thanksgiving. It was one of the most profitable days of the year. One of the biggest was Jim Crockett promotions. It was located in the Carolinas and they put together the first supercard called Starrcade.
This was a few years before Wrestlemania and it was huge for the region. Eventually most of the other NWA territories went under and most of what was left was under the JCP banner. In essence JCP became the NWA and later WCW. Anyway a few years before WCW Crockett basically became number two to the WWF's number one.
As you well know Vince is a cutthroat business man. After a few years of Starrcade, the birth of PPV, and the huge success of Hulk vs Andre at
Wrestlemania III he decided to expand his list of PPVs, so he created along with Pat Paterson created the Survivor Series he put it on Thanksgiving in direct competition with Starrcade.
To make it even more brutal, he told all the cable companies that if they showed Starrcade, they wouldn't get
Wrestlemania IV with the Hulk vs Andre rematch.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
+Disney Gamer Same to you!
Happy Thanksgiving.
Fun related indie-gaming fact: If you play the game "Don't Starve" or "Don't Starve Together", and click on the character Woodie, the last line of his description changes depending on where you're playing the game from. If you're in America, the line is "Celebrates Thanksgiving too early" and if you're in Canada, it says "Celebrates Thanksgiving at the right time". (Other countries? "Is grateful for a bountiful harvest.")
...Klei Entertainment themselves are from Vancouver, incidentally. ;)
Thank you for that information because I was born here in America in 1957, and I always thought Thanksgiving was November 23rd. But I do remember a couple of times thinking it was on the 25th and now I just ask somebody when is Thanksgiving. Now thanks to you I understand why I was always a little off-kilter about the Thanksgiving date. Now if that isn't admittedly ignorant I don't know what is!
No, what happened is that Roosevelt tried making Thanksgiving earlier because he thought people would start shopping for Christmas right after, meaning more shopping days for Christmas & that might help the economy but people had a fit over it so it was changed back to the fourth Thursday.
I am miserable with flu, and banished from my family's Thanksgiving get-together. But I will find the courage to wish everyone everywhere a Happy Thanksgiving. PS. Floridians will tell you they were doing Thanksgiving in St. Augustine before it was done in either Virginia or Massachusetts.
First time I've seen the new intro! Very nice! I agree, Thanksgiving is even better than Christmas. Although my birthday is likewise in November, so maybe that's all there is to it :P
FDR changed it to the 4th Thursday to give enough buffer before the Christmas holiday season.
yeah my friends bday is the 22nd and mine is the 27th and sometimes thanksgiving was on the 22nd or on the 27th
I learned the difference between Thanksgiving in America vs Thanksgiving in Canada from a friend of mine who is Canadian 🙂
I don’t think FDR had the original idea to change the day. It was changed to leave more time until Christmas.
Thanksgiving has become the principal holiday for family gatherings.
The fiscal year starts ending during the 2nd week of December. Maybe, by upping the Thursday that Thanksgiving falls on, helps businesses to prepare their bottom line for the month, the quarter and the year, before taxes get done?!
I hate black Friday. The day after being thankful for what we have, we go and kill each other for sales over shit we don't have. I hate it and refuse to purchase anything on black Friday. It makes no difference to the stores for one dude to ignore it, but I stand on my opinion.
Ugh, I hate Black Friday, and it seems to get more ridiculous every year. I try to stay away from the malls and shopping centers around town from Black Friday to New Year's, since the traffic in those areas is even worse than usual during that time.
1:50 Thanksgiving 🦃 is the 2nd most important holiday, after Christmas 🎄
I actually had no idea Canada celebrated Thanksgiving 🤯 thought it was exclusive to the US.
I wish I had known that 😕
I absolutely love your Beatles poster. I have one just like it.
OMG, my guests just left and I'm exhausted. As usual I drank more booze than I ate food. Gonna make turkey tetrazzini this weekend with the leftovers. Next comes Christmas!
There are some people that camp outside a store for up to a week before black Friday. BTW, stores have the same sale throughout the year. I will never stand in that line again!! 1 hour to shop and wait 2 1/2 hours to get to check out! NEVER AGAIN
still say tinned instead of canned ...good man
I hate the idea of Black Friday.
No. Thanksgiving is not a harvest festival. It was originally a giving of thanks by the Pilgrims for surviving their first winter. It has become a celebration in America to give thanks for the country we live in, the greatest country on Earth.
I heard or read somewhere that the first Thanksgiving was an exchange of gifts mostly in the form of food between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans.
I spent this past Thanksgiving in Rome. Black Friday (in English) has even reached there. Half the stores call is "Black Weekend", which just does not sound quite right.
You’d be amazed how many Americans aren’t even aware of the 4th Thursday rule. Or the first Monday of September rule, or the last Monday of May rule (oh! And a good one is the first Saturday of May...)
Happy Thanksgiving You All! :D
+French Architect Same to you!
Thanks Laurence! :)
Happy Thanksgiving, friend :)
I'm an American and I can tell you that "Black Friday" used to be called "the day after Thanksgiving sales". As far as I'm concerned, no matter what it's called....I'm not shopping or even leaving the house. I was in Brazil on the day after Thanksgiving in 2018 and there were "Black Friday" sale banners everywhere. The same in Argentina. Thanksgiving is virtually unknown in these countries. "Consumerism" is not pretty and should not be associated with such a beautiful tradition as a harvest festival or Thanksgiving. I've been in the U.K. many times. I love it there. Thank you for sharing your experiences and thoughts. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Lone Star State.
I boil the giblets, use the liquid to make gravy, and then I chop up the bits and feed them to my cat and dog.
I am fascinated by Brit's views of America. This small island nation conquered the world, then spawned a rebellious stepchild. To Brit's, 100 miles seems a long way. To Americans, 100 years is a long time. There are so many places here that I never realized took their names from "the old country". Virginia, New York, New England (duh !!). And the UK has such influential historical figures. Monty Python, Mr. Bean, and James Bond to name a few.
It would be nice to have Thanksgiving in October.
My Canadian coworker told me that so many Canadians crossed the border to participate in America's Black Friday that their merchants started their own Black Friday, and now they shop on both Canadian Black Friday and again on American Black Friday
I have never and will never shop on black friday. Unfortunately I have had to work on black friday, but I'll never buy anything.
Funny thing about the date for Thanksgiving: my father’s birthday is today, so for a long time, I’ve associated Thanksgiving with my father’s birthday.
November is my favorite too. My birthday is November 17th 1983. When is your bday? I have never gone Black Friday shopping nor do I plan to. One day we are being thankful and the very next we are trampling someone for a discount. Disgusting. I will never shop on Black Friday.
The Pilgrims were from a Welsh church but English came over on the Mayflower also. Don't do what we Americans do and make the Welsh invisible.
Amber Higgins As an American with Welsh ancestry I’m all for Welsh awareness!
20% were Welsh, the majority English
Most of them were from east anglia dont know where you got the Welsh thing from.Puritanusm was strongest in the east and london.
Don't forget the big lie that they came over to practice "freedom of religion" either. Hell no, they came over to practice freedom of THEIR religion and woe to anyone who chose to worship another way.
Logically tho, Canada should naturally celebrate their harvest festival much earlier because they're much farther north (mostly) so their growing season and harvesting are over much sooner.
Its not harvest day. It started from when the immigrant came on several ship.suffering hardship.the native of the land,indian,helped out.gave them corn,pumpkin&turkey to survive. It's thanking for giving help when in need.
What?! You're not Australian? I don't know if this is true, but I learned as a kid that the pilgrims had such a rough time in New England that the first Thanksgiving was a celebration of a great harvest, without which they'd have been facing famine and death over the winter. That was supposedly why it was such a big deal.
Here, this article just in from the NY Times - some of what we learned as kids was true, much was not: www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/us/thanksgiving-myths-fact-check.html
Beautiful Dayzee
Thanks. Interesting article.
Beautiful Dayzee
Yes, thanks for posting that. Hadn't seen that article yet.
I get a kick out of the plethora of articles in this vein that pop up lately. The Times piece isn't too bad, but a lot of them are so damned eager to make people think they've uncovered some startling new information that's going to forever change the way Americans view Thanksgiving. They often have the "Everything You Thought You Knew About Thanksgiving is Wrong" sort of titles, but when you read them there's not really anything new there. Even the Times emphasizes that the idea of the Indians being invited to the Thanksgiving celebration is a "big misconception". Then they go on to explain this by saying there is no specific historical data to indicate that the colonists formally invited them to attend, and such things must never be assumed by historians. But since Massasoit and his people were on very good terms with the Plymouth colonists at that time, and since they lived many miles away from Plymouth, yet we know that 90 of them showed up, isn't it fairly likely they were invited? Same thing with the turkey. The authors like to say there was no turkey served at that Thanksgiving in 1621 and that the colonists and natives probably ate pheasants and swans, but the only evidence for this claim is that turkey was not specifically mentioned as being served. But neither were pheasants or swans. We know they ate various types of fowl. Turkeys were commonly found in that northeast back then (as they still are) so why is it such a myth to think they might have had turkey?
My grammar school evidently did a pretty good job teaching us about Thanksgiving because since I was about ten years old I've been aware of almost all the info that keeps getting passed off as news lately😀
I make Turkey-yaki with the leftovers.
American holidays have a heavy religious connotation. Thanksgiving is no different as it is celebrated by Christian Protestants. I grew up with it and I’m quite fond about celebrating Thanksgiving. When you’re a kid, we did Thanksgiving crafts like the finger turkey and designing pumpkins. Today, Thanksgiving is more secular especially with Black Friday, or Cyber Monday.
Yep Canada's Thanksgiving is celebrated on the 2nd monday of October, also we refer to armistice day as Remembrance Day (Nov 11th). My birthday is also in November (was supposed to be born Nov 11th but was actually born on the 19th). Curious when your birthday is?
I love giblets people say i'm mad and that they are for the dog. That's why I buy frozen poultry.
Darren Young
They make great gravy - my grandmother always made gravy with them.
Indeed they do Miss Shuck :D
Love you Lawrence! I'm a fan - Not a stalker. I'd need more than 1 reason to go to Chicago.
Black Friday is practice for the first day of the Zombie apocalypse.
the sooner you understand this the longer you will survive.
I think WE should have Thanksgiving in October too. It's the real harvest and the weather is better. Also would prefer more distance between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
But Halloween!
Yes it is a harvest festival but it’s more than that for us. For us, it represents the Pilgrims surviving & their new friendship with the Indians & in general giving thanks for what we have. It was made popular after the Civil War as a way of bringing people back together, as it was a holiday we could all celebrate together. So in essence, our Thanksgiving is one holiday that is uniquely American, as it’s much more than a harvest festival for us.
I agree that Thanksgiving is the most wonderful national holiday in the U.S. However, Pond, Thanksgiving is more than a 'harvest' type celebration; it's mostly a day to give our Heavenly Father special thanks for our blessings. Thanks, for your thoughts.
Black Friday is the most anxiety-inducing thing ever... unless you sit in your pajamas on your computer at get the deals there. I mentally and physically cannot go out with hard core Black Friday shoppers.
I agree...I refuse to participate in Black Friday unless I am shopping online.
Since Canada is north of the u.s. Harvest Time comes earlier and it would make sense they would have their celebration earlier.
I sometimes wish we did have 'proper' black Friday sales in the UK.... not that I'd go to an actual shop, I'd do it online, but the deals we have under the name black Friday are terrible, a few pounds mostly off things no one would ever want. Even if it seems a good deal on electronics for eg, they always hike the price up before the sale so the drop looks more dramatic than it really is.
today I learned Canada has a Thanksgiving...
By the way... Thanksgiving became an official National Holiday by proclamation in 1863 from Abraham Lincoln. So, in the middle of the bloodiest war in America’s history, in which more Americans died than in all our other wars COMBINED, the president asked us to set aside a day to give thanks for our blessings. Think about that for a minute.
Yes. That was quite poignant, and I always recall that on Thanksgiving.
Black Friday is tacky and insane
America's ideals and convictions were originally spoken with a British dialect. Let that sink in.
South Park explained it the best. It's the aliens. Like in Ancient Alient on History channel. South Park pretty explained everything about anything. There's nothing they didn't tackled.
I don't understand why we keep TG so late in Nov. To me, in Minnesota, harvest is in October.
Lisa L Tradition. It’s a good thing. Also November is cozier. I’m from Minnesota too: 👋🏼 hello! Also - harvest comes sooner but the things harvested had to keep all winter so it was/is no biggie waiting a few more weeks.