A Very Happy Thanksgiving To All

[Warren W]

Wishing all here and elsewhere a very Happy Thanksgiving! http://us87.com/images/xeaf1.gif

[Emerald Rose Widow]

Happy thanksgiving friend, hope you get to spend time with loved ones.

[energongoodie]

Happy Thanks Giving U.S BOLS chums :)

[Cap'nSmurfs]

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm married to a Texan, so this is my first Thanksgiving. Turkey's in the oven! :)

[Wildeybeast]

I have a Thanksgiving question. Apparently it is much bigger than Christmas in the US (hence why all the big video games come out in early November). I'm just wondering why. Christmas dominates everything over here, so what is it about Thanksgiving that it holds such special significance in the hearts of Americans?

[DarkLink]

It's not bigger than Christmas. Thanksgiving and Christmas are our two biggest holidays, but Christmas is bigger, at least for most people. People spend months putting up Christmas decorations, putting up with crappy Christmas music, buying Christmas presents, and teasing little kids about Santa. The 4th of July is huge, too, as is Halloween and Easter, though people don't get a week off for those. Then comes days like Labor Day, Veterans Day, Memorial Day, etc.

Thanksgiving is neat in that 1) you get to stuff your face without remorse more than any other time of the year, and 2) it's all about being thankful for opportunity and stuff, and 3) about having a week's worth of leftovers to stuff yourself some more. For some people, I might have gotten 2 and 3 mixed up;).

[Wildeybeast]

I see. That answers that then. Do you do anything besides eat and give thanks? And what is it you give thanks for. I gather it's something to do with your colonial past, so I'm assuming it's for not being French (Britain does that on a daily basis).

[Cap'nSmurfs]

The semi-mythologised rationale is that when some of the first settlers came over, they were pretty hopeless and badly equipped (this is true), but they were helped getting through the winter by some of the friendly Natives, who brought them food and helped show them how to survive in their new home. It's thanks given for that. I think in past times the intercession of the Natives would be a divine-providence kind of thing, rather than the more direct modern "thanks guys".

It's now a time for general counting of blessings, family and feasting. It's also, more basically, an early winter/harvest feast, which is pretty culturally standard.