World Wide Holidays...?
 

In America, tomorrow we will be celebrating Thanksgiving Day, which has no more respect, due the people's focus on Black Friday. (The time when shops are getting rid of their old stuff and bringing in the new, which is cause for major sales...)

A few years ago, the American government decided to move Thanksgiving Day up one week from the last Thursday of November to the second to the last week of the November.

The reason?

To give shoppers more time to buy Christmas gifts and such...That was taken with much hostility, and it's now back to the last Thursday of November.

Do any other countries have this same little respect for their holidays? I mean, I know America's bad, but are there any other stories like this one?

~HonoraryJapaneseGirl~

Who cares?

Jesus wasn't born in December he was born in spring. Everyone seems content to celebrate Christmas in December.

No, Jesus wasn't born in December, but what my point is, they moved the holiday for selfish reasons. To enlongate the shopping period. They broke tradition. I know other countries are very stern about keeping tradition, so I wanna see if there's anything smiliar...

i don't think it's a non-respect type of way just because of Black Friday.
yes, most of americans keep in mind about black friday and go out and buy things (sometimes wildly), but it's just the same as christmas.
i don't see how there is no respect towards that. since even though it's black friday, ppl will just spend time with their families (also) while going out and buy things.

also, the reason the gov move back to last thursday of the month was prob because they want ppl to spend time with their families shopping for Black Friday. :D

lol...I dunno, it was a big deal for my family. I take it like a slap in the face to the fact that we're celebrating our country being founded. But, I guess everyone has their own opinion.

I was just curious to see if anything similar has happened around thw world...

~HonoraryJapaneseGirl~

Indeed.
Thanksgiving Reflections:

Thanksgiving Reflections <click here>

But also think of all the other holidays that just aren't recognized really anymore.

I'm amazed at the amount of stores and businesses open on Thanksgiving and even Christmas now and just close early. It sickens me a bit the more and more we lose ourselves.

Most companies (like mine) today only recognize 5 US national holidays. When I look at the international branches, those countries recognize an astounding amount more, even our branches in Japan. but I'm a bit off topic now...

I actually throw up a little in my mouth every time I hear "memorial day sale" or "Veterans day sale" or whatever <insert> sale.

I don't know about the whole nation but since when did Halloween becoming like a month and a half event. I mean the Halloween stores and decore shows up in mid September.

Don't let Black Friday get you down.. its just another stupid artificial holiday to sell you stuff that will be on sale at a later date or somewhere else anyway. For some its a "sport"

I wonder how many casualties there will be this year.

this one year i was in kuwat, in the middle east, and the new years fell on something like a tuesday or wednesday,....

well the government decided that new years day should be moved closer to the weekend so people could have a nice long weekend, so the holidays that year were actually on the 3rd or something like that.

we all still got smashed on the 31st anyway :D

Since I was a kid there's been this weird kind of push to make Halloween the same kind of mega commercial event in the UK as it is in the USA. Although, where I live everyone has looked at all the hype in the shops and gone 'bugger that!' and gone out Halloween night to avoid the trick or treaters.

So I suppose the restaurants benefit, but Urgh. Halloween is for little kiddies and student house parties; I wish they'd stop encouraging drunk vindictive teens to go about harassing people on their own doorsteps.

In the UK the only holidays we have unique to us are Guy Fawkes Day and Remeberance Day (although I think some other countries in the commonwealth celebrate that). I think people have a healthy respect for the latter, and still tend to enjoy the former. Other holidays like Christmas, Easter etc. tend to be more about commercialism than religion, and Halloween - like another poster said - had little respect at all. I think most people consider holidays a time to just have fun, so there's little respect to be had ;)

problem in sweden is that we trying to take some american traditions. dont see the point in it. why have halloween and all saints night on same dayes?. all saints night is for honouring the died.

dont see the point of having halloween in sweden to. o.O

...especially because Halloween is just for getting candy in the US, Canada, and any other place where people "celebrate" it according to whoever came up with the idea of dressing up and giving out candy on that particular day(what exactly IS there to celebrate?). XD Such is the deviation from it's original purpose, and sadly enough, that's what she's talking about.

I totally agree, I think it's rather repulsive that the American government has allowed it's society to be so lax about rememberance and such. It's offensive to me as a family member of a deceased Veteran that people make such a big deal out of shopping when it's time to remember those who gave their life for our country...

Yes, I also find it strange that there's a huge time period for Halloween...I dress up and all, but I find it rediculous to be so elaborate...

I don't think I want to know the calsualty toll this year...

~HonoraryJapaneseGirl~

lol...See, now, I have nothing against really that because the government's trying to do something nice for it's people...not trying to fix it's ecomonic problem or whatever by switching around a (should be) respectable holiday...

~HonoraryJapaneseGirl~

Same here...it's become another excuse to drink, and act like idiots in front of everyone...

It hasn't really been fun anymore these past years, and it's disappointing. I think countries should have more safe, fun, and family friendly events that everyone can attend without an issue...Unfortunately, it's not realistic...T.T

~HonoraryJapaneseGirl~

Yeah, which is unfortunate. People are forgetting why most holidays exist...I think that people should at least know why it's there...then they can benifit on their own: they can become more socially aware...lol...

~HonoraryJapaneseGirl~

lol...yeah, I think that's a problem too...

Countries should celebrate their own holidays, and not take up others; I believe it only causes contraversy, but it usually doesn't sit well with the rest of the population of that country...lol

~HonoraryJapaneseGirl~

Yeah, like I said before, I think people should know why they 'celebrate' what they celebrate...(even if not it's not really considered 'celebrating'...lol XD) They should know what the purpose is behind everything so they can decide if it's their cuppa tea or not. If people 'celebrate' blindly, then that can bring up more problems...lol

~HonoraryJapaneseGirl~

So you think the government should mandate how people celebrate holidays?

So as the world becomes a smaller place and the Internet brings us all closer together, we should not be allowed to celebrate festivals we find interesting and exciting if they are not from our specific culture? How do we learn more about the world if we do not celebrate festivals and holidays from other cultures? Should my friends stop doing hanami each year just because we are not Japanese?

Can you honestly say you know WHY you celebrate every tradition and holiday you participate in?

Really? Please elaborate.

Instead of multiple back-to-back posts, try editing your previous one.

While I agree the the emphasis on commercial revenue on holidays is disgusting, I find people wh rant about inaccurate information rather irritating as well. Before YOU chastise people for not understanding their holidays you should make sure you know their history as well.

The date of the legal celebration of Thanksgiving was established on its current date far more than "a few years ago". The bill making it the 4th thrusday of November was signed by FDR in 1942. The official (federal) date has never been changed.

But if you want to discuss insensitivity regarding holidays, try being Native American and seeing this country celebrate the beginning of genocide for your ancestors.

Guy Fawkes has always been my favorite holiday! But it would be extremely strange to celebrate it anywhere other than in England.

However, Remembrance Day is celebrated in almost all of the countries who were allies in WWI & II. The Americans call it Veterans Day, other places its still called Armistice Day. Though I don't know if anyone other than the UK has the tradition of wearing the poppies referring to Flanders' Fields.

FDR was the one who tried to extend the Christmas shopping season in 1939-1941, but signed the bill to keep it at the 4th Thursday starting in 1942.

Maybe you need to learn a bit about the former colonies of the UK... Guy Fawkes Day is celebrated in New Zealand, for the same reason as the Queen is still the head of state- because of we were a British colony. Not really strange at all, considering our history. We do not celebrate Armistice Day, instead in NZ and Australia we have Anzac Day (to remember the sacrifices of the Australia and NZ Army Corps during the wars) on the 25th of April, and yes, people wear red poppies around Anzac Day.

To answer the original question, about 10 years ago Japan moved a number of public holidays from their original dates to the nearest Monday- the main reason being that 3-day weekends are supposed to stimulate the economy. People are more likely to make big trips, go shopping etc on a long weekend. So it's not just the US.