My Google calendar shows me all the American holidays.
This year, it lists Black Friday as one of them.
I’ve never been one to “celebrate” this holiday. I don’t like crowds or shopping. I don’t buy big ticket items for myself or others. I didn’t grow up shopping that weekend–Thanksgiving was always at my grandparents’ house, in the country.
I can’t remember when this day became big, but I have vague memories of seeing reports of the crowds, the near-riots. And I remember being upset when stores started opening on Thanksgiving night (according to the internet, that happened in 2011).
I have ex-pat friends overseas who are confused by the UK retailers’ efforts to stage sales on the Friday after Americans celebrate a holiday–in a country where people don’t celebrate Thanksgiving and thus when no one has the days off, what is the point?
A couple of years ago, I was flabbergasted by my students’ response to “Bart vs. Thanksgiving,” from Season 2 (1990).
“It’s not realistic–they didn’t talk about Black Friday.”
I tried to explain to my students that the episode does capture an older form of Thanksgiving–one in which the holiday wasn’t linked to shopping in that strong a way.
Sadly, the students found that unbelievable.
“Bart vs. Thanksgiving”
