Reese Bennett, rb313@uakron.edu
Thanksgiving is a well-known holiday that is centered around being thankful for what you have. As the decades went on from the original Thanksgiving, there have been numerous traditions to the time.
While the first Thanksgiving was considered to be in November of 1621 to celebrate the success of the Pilgrims, the first national celebration of Thanksgiving was on November 26th, 1863 for a completely unrelated reason. Abraham Lincoln encouraged the celebration of the first true Thanksgiving as a celebration of the Union’s current success in the still-occurring American Civil War. Thanksgiving was the name chosen, resulting in the relation to the Pilgrim’s holiday, occurring on the last Thursday of November. From there, Former President Franklin D Roosevelt changed the holiday’s date from the last Thursday of November to the Fourth Thursday of November to allow more time for Christmas shopping.
The day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday. This name has a history rooted back to 1950s America, where amidst financial trouble, businesses were ”in the red”. However, the Friday after would boost sales and put businesses “in the black” in terms of their profit.
Among all of this, there is a rumor going around that the term “Black Friday” was used in the 1800s to refer to days when slaves were sold. There is no factual evidence or popular stories to support this, so the mini holiday is still kicking.
On November 27, 2010, Small Business Saturday was introduced. This day is the day after Thanksgiving it encourages people to, like the name suggests, purchase from small businesses. The mini holiday was originally advertised by American Express; an American bank company.
Next on the list is the most recent addition to the post-Thanksgiving season. Secondhand Sunday was made a national holiday on behalf of the company Poshmark in the Thanksgiving season of 2022. The purpose of this day is to give items that you no longer need to others, or to repurpose them. The actions taken during this day are also eco-friendly and slow the effects of things such as climate change.
The next edition of the week is Cyber Monday. Introduced in 2005 by the National Retail Federation (NRF), Cyber Monday is the Black Friday of the online world. Many companies give discounted prices for items around or before this day.
The final day of the Post-Thanksgiving week is known as Giving Tuesday, which is by far the most in line with the ideals of Thanksgiving. On this day, everyone is encouraged to donate to charities, whether it be their favorite or otherwise, one or multiple. This day was established by New York’s 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation in 2012.
At the end of the day, all of the mini holidays that occur after Thanksgiving add a nice spice to the gap between the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.
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