Thanksgiving Day

Fourth Thursday of November is a Thanksgiving Day in USA. It is different in different countries. In USA this the most eagerly awaited event. I may not call it as a festival, but is certainly an annual event. Thanksgiving is important in an individualistic society like USA where family and friends can meet and party on this day or on following days. This is the longest weekend in the US starting almost from Wednesday afternoon through Sunday midnight. Children meet their parents on this day and gifts are exchanged. The holiday season starts with this.

Thanksgiving was traditionally celebrated in England for thanksgiving prayers after the harvesting. It is known as Loaf mass. Farmers make a bread from freshly harvested wheat and that would be handed over to the local church. Thanksgiving is very much similar to Holi and Diwali in India which are also post harvesting festivals that are social and religious. In Christianity there were ninety-five holidays and fifty-two Sundays on which one was expected to offer the prayers in the church. Following reforms the numbers of holidays were reduced to twenty-seven. There cannot be any reduction in Sundays, in certain years these could be even fifty-three, so these were left untouched. Original migrants to America started celebrating this day during same period as that of England, even though in New England the harvesting is over much earlier than it is in England. No adjustment in dates was ever made, unlike other countries. This reminds me of Australians celebrating X-mas in summer, knowing well that Santa cannot come on a sledge in their country in that season.

Thanksgiving has assumed different dimensions and  great importance in America. England doesn't have that kind of celebrations as America has. Some researchers also put forward another theory. It states that the first batch of migrants was fighting with sickness and shortage of food when they landed in America. The seeds and food that they had brought with them was either of no use in this new-found land or had got spoiled, except for barley. The natives taught the migrants to fish, to hunt and to cultivate. The migrants in honour of the natives celebrated Thanksgiving Day.

Wild Turkey

Few things are of great importance in this period and one of them is turkey. This beautiful bird is roasted and served on this day to the invitees. As during Halloween everything is of pumpkin, likewise during this period everything is dominated by turkey (scientific name - Meleagris gallopavo). This native American bird travelled to Central Europe via Turkey.   I am not very clear via such an odd route, but Wikipedia says so and thus this native American bird got the name turkey. Guests are served turkey for few simple reasons. Being a large bird (can weigh upto 18 kgs) and cheaper than chicken, turkey was the choice. Turkey got preference over beef as cow was considered as a useful animal when alive (similar to considerations by Hindus) and thus was not preferred to be slaughtered for feasting. Ham and bacon are not considered as good meat for such occasions thus pigs were spared. Unable to compete with these edible creatures, poor turkey had to submit to the knives of the butchers to satisfy holiday hunger. PETA has campaigns to protect turkey. Average number of turkeys raised in America is about 248 million, valued at USD 4.37 billion.

Turkey farm

As per the published estimates as of 20^th Nov 2013, over 51 million Turkeys are reported to have been slaughtered for Thanksgiving Day feast. It is estimated that nearly 50% consumption of turkeys in America is between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas. 

Average American consumes about seven kg of turkey per annum. Turkey is relatively cheap, being priced around USD 2.50 per kg. Like the broiler farms there are domesticated turkey farms in US. The wild turkey hunting has restrictions from 1991 as these were declining.

There is a tradition to present a turkey to American President for Thanksgiving Day Dinner. However as per one legend Abraham Lincoln’s son Ted requested his father to release the turkey, meant for the President’s Christmas dinner, back in the natural habitat as the turkey also has a right to live. President gave a presidential pardon to the turkey and was thus released. So when did the Presidential pardon for the turkey for Thanksgiving Day dinner start? It is reported to have started with President Truman, who released the bird in 1948 in his home state. JFK sent back the turkey to the farm from where it came. President Eisenhower and President Johnson actually ate the turkeys that were presented to them. Officially the Presidential pardon started with President Bush (senior) in Nov 1989.  What an irony of fate, on one side millions of turkeys get slaughtered for Thanksgiving Day and on the other hand on the same day a lucky one is released to live the remaining life (about ten years) without fear of being slaughtered.

Presidential pardon by President Bush (Senior)

Another highlight of Thanksgiving Day is Black Friday. The next day after the Thanksgiving Day is traditionally the first day of Christmas shopping. The idea generated in mid 1960’s in Philadelphia and the police called it as a Black Friday due to jammed streets and congested traffic. Retailers try hard to get additional footfall on Black Friday. Accountants gave another angle in 1980’s. They called Black Friday for the reason that those retailers who were in loss, for which my accountant friends use red ink, make profit on this day, for which black ink is used in account books. Thus turning red into black makes this a Black Friday. For online shopping from 2005, the first Monday after the Black Friday is termed as Cyber Monday. For both these days prices are slashed for limited number of products and it is a very common site to see long queues outside retail outlets. At times the disappointed customers who could not get the desired product due to limited quantity offered for sale is sold out, do get into arguments and fights. In good old days shops would remain closed on Thanksgiving Day and would have an early opening on Black Friday. The mad competition changed the picture. Wherever the local law permits even Walmart keeps outlets open on Thanksgiving Day and offers the deals. The early opening on Friday morning is a history now. It got shifted to Thursday/Friday midnight and now it’s on Thursday afternoons, if shops are not open on the morning of Thanksgiving Day. Strange are the ways of marketers. Research shows that early opening increases the footfall but not the revenue. Early opening of stores cannot generate surplus cash with spenders.

Customers lined up outside retail outlet

This strategy reminds me of campus interviews in Management schools in India. In the year 2000 many management colleges would have companies coming on the campus for recruitment in March onward for vacancies to be filled up by June. Over a period of time the campus visits started getting advanced and now we find campus interviews as early as September or October. Many companies force the students to join early and some colleges even permit the student to remain absent in the last semester. Both the employers and colleges make mockery of management education creating a half-baked product in job market with a hope that it will mature with the time. Not everyone really matures, it’s a tragic reality.

Back to Thanksgiving Day, it’s a great holiday to enjoy meeting relatives and friends, exchanging greetings, even if you don’t shop, which is relatively a low possibility. With so much of promotion going on, one always lands up buying something whether needed or otherwise. Whatever may be the event, be it Halloween or Thanksgiving Day or Christmas, the marketing companies will never miss out an opportunity to earn an extra buck, no complaints. After all it’s a mainstay for the economic growth. Happy Holidays and enjoy.

Source: Wikipedia for the pictures, published non-copyright material

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