Cyber Monday and Cyber Thanksgiving in the US – the Electronic Black Fridays

Now when the craziness of the Black Friday weekend is behind us we can all relax, finally get some rest and in the coziness of our own homes … go shopping online. 

Just like the Black Friday, the Friday right after Thanksgiving, is the beginning of the Holiday shopping season, the Cyber Monday, following the whole Thanksgiving weekend, has become its online equivalent in the e-world and a great start to the year end digital shopping frenzy on the world wide web or net. 

Black Friday in the USA - the Start to the Holiday Shopping Season

Happy Thanksgiving!  Now when The American Holiday is over and we are all stuffed like the turkey we can do what Americans do best – we can go shopping.

The Friday after Thanksgiving is really crazy.  Not only is it the day of super promotions and super sales.  It is also one of the most dangerous days of the year for traffic and security.  People not only shop till they drop.  Crooks are coming out of the woods looking for an opportunity to make the extra buck pick pocketing, breaking into cars in shopping malls parking lots, robbing homes and just stealing whatever they can put their hands on.

Thanksgiving in the USA – The American Holiday of Eating Meeting and Visiting

Celebrating Thanksgiving is all about eating, meeting and visiting.

Families, relatives, or just friends get together at the proverbial dinner table not really to commemorate the first mutual fest of the Pilgrims or immigrants from Europe and the Native Americans or the original residents but to indulge themselves in great food, relax and have fun in the company of the dearest ones.

People tell jokes, watch football games, have a beer or too, so to speak, or a glass of wine, or rather a bottle … to be closer to reality, stuff themselves with turkey meat or filling and other traditional, or not so conventional Thanksgiving dishes and goodies.

Thanksgiving in the USA – How the Turkey Day Really Started

Turkey is on the table!  What could be more American than the Thanksgiving turkey?  Well, maybe the American apple pie or the pumpkin pie?  Maybe?  May be.  The tradition of serving turkey for Thanksgiving dinner is as old as the celebration itself, right?  Maybe not.  Actually … not really.

You may not believe it, but the turkey tradition is relatively new and did not became the Thanksgiving staple food until it was popularized on a massive scale only in the late 1940-ies (nineteen forties) by Mr. Sears and company through mail catalogue sales, which is the predecessor to the current day Internet commerce.

The tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving in America we learn in history classes started in 1620-ies (sixteen twenties).  The modern day Thanksgiving is, by popular belief, considered a direct ancestor of the Pilgrims’ celebration.  It, as the research shows however, is not.

Halloween Goes to America

Halloween in America was popularized by Irish immigrants in the mid 1800’s  (eighteen hundreds).

 

The traditional turnip used for carving scary ghost faces was replaced by American pumpkin, which was plentiful and easier to work with.

American Halloween or All Hallows E'en

You probably know the story of Jack O’ Lantern.

Did you know, though, that the Halloween tradition is much, much longer and started as a Celtic celebration of Hallow E’en or All Hallows Eve’s?  Hallow is another word for holy or saint.

Some historians believe that the origins of Halloween can be traced even further in distance and farther back in time – as far as to the Roman Empire.

Did You Go Pumpkin Picking?

With only one week left to Halloween it is time to start carving pumpkins for Halloween.

Pumpkin is a truly American vegetable.  Well, technically it is a fruit.  Just like tomato.  It belongs to the same family with cucumbers, melons and squash.  Americans Indians used it as one of their staple foods.  Pumpkins were planted together with corn and beans in self sustaining, self supporting and self enhancing micro ecological cultivation systems called the “Three Sisters”.

American English – First Changes from British English

Since the first British reached America in 1497, they came in contact with people who did not speak English.

The first successful English settlers arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 where they were greeted and treated by Virginia Indians who spoke Algonquian.  On the way to the New Continent, the travelers had stopped at Puerto Rico, where they dealt with Caribbean Spanish, which had already developed from its European mother tongue just the way American English would, with time branch off from British English.

Columbus Day Sales

What originated as a holiday commemorating the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus has turned into a “get a deal” weekend.

Most holidays in the USA are floating holidays.  They are observed on a specific weekday as opposed to a fixed date.  Even though officially Columbus Day falls on October 12^th, it is celebrated on the
second Monday of the month, regardless of the date.  Many other US holidays are set up in a similar manner.