Nestled between the very spooky Halloween and joyful Christmas, two of the most iconic holidays, is an American Institution that brims with its own unique charm. Thanksgiving takes place in a period known as the holiday season, right before the season of giving, and right after the season of scaring, Thanksgiving is the chance for people to be thankful for what they have before they receive more. The November holiday is characterized by 3 F’s family, food, and fellowship. In a lot of households, Thanksgiving has replaced the traditional family reunion. The presence of food is almost as crucial as the attendees themselves. In recent years, Thanksgiving’s theme of kinship has evolved with several reinventions evolving the holiday, “Friendsgiving” becoming the most popular of these modern iterations. “Friendsgiving” gives people the opportunity to show that friendship can be thicker than blood on occasion, managing to simulate everything about thanksgiving, but with the catch that the circle of people attending is bonded together by solidarity rather than ancestry.
Yet despite these reinventions, Thanksgiving often finds itself playing second fiddle to its flashier neighbors. Halloween begins just as the summer sun begins to dim, with its spooky branding and association with candy, costumes and horror movies, kicks off the holiday season with a bang. But what comes after Thanksgiving, isn’t just a holiday season, but almost a cultural takeover. Christmas is a religious holiday, but regardless of what religion you practice, it seems as if everyone is bombarded with the face of Jolly Saint Nick, blinded by the lights surrounding the street, and the inescapable feeling of holiday specific music playing on the radio. Overlooking Thanksgiving is not necessarily a new thing but in recent years, the feeling has been enhanced by the marketing of Christmas starting earlier and earlier, to the point where the moment the clock strikes midnight on Halloween, pumpkins are swapped for ornaments and chocolate turns to candy canes. What must be examined is why does Thanksgiving seem to get lost in the rapid transition.
Mrs. Kuzma, a special education teacher at Briar Woods points out “Thanksgiving is the only holiday with no monetary gift, on Halloween you get candy, on Christmas you get gifts, thanksgiving is not about getting anything, it’s about being thankful” she thinks that people have lost sight of what the holiday truly means “I think people have forgotten about what holidays are really about, it’s about spending time with family and friends and not presents” While the lack of material gain might be a factor in why Thanksgiving is not in the same realm of importance as Halloween and Christmas, but It does not completely explain why the holiday is overshadowed.
The first reason may be the lack of a defined symbol of the season, Halloween has carving pumpkins, turning them into Jack O lanterns and putting them outside. Christmas has the iconic Christmas tree, which has a place in most houses, even for people who do not celebrate the holiday, they may have a menorah. Thanksgiving season is about 3 weeks and the absence of a symbol is felt, is the symbol the turkey, the food, or is it the gathering itself. Another reason could be the marketing. According to the National Retail Federation, over 13.1 billion is spent on the marketing for Halloween, with Christmas marketing dwarfing that amount by nearly 5 times. Thanksgiving normally slips through the cracks, lost in the shuffle with a measly 624 million being spent. Still a lot of money but paling in comparison to Halloween and Christmas.
However, there may be a darker reason for Thanksgiving’s decline. The history of Thanksgiving is more complex than the simplified version taught at school. Some people view the November holiday as a celebration that disregards the suffering of Native Americans. This viewpoint completely challenges the narrative that the first thanksgiving was a peaceful celebration filled with coexistence. According to the Smithsonian Museum, Thanksgiving was an evolution of the Wampanoag Harvest Ceremony, but was used as a tool for a political alliance that would turn into genocide. History has glossed over the genocide that led to land seizures and the complete destruction of the natives cultures that came soon after the showing of “peace.”
Whatever the reason, it is clear that Thanksgiving still occupies a space in the holiday season but the holiday may have to be reflected upon. While the holiday is the one night of the year that people can be grateful and appreciate family, Thanksgiving and its history makes as many people uncomfortable as it does comfortable. It does not have the same amount of appeal as its neighboring holidays and the scarcity of its marketing represents that. While Thanksgiving is often stuck in the middle, it will continue to live in the hearts of the many as a celebration of the simple things in life, and it will continue to be a reminder that the greatest gifts are not chocolate or toys, the greatest gift is the loved ones that we already have.
