You can’t force a tradition into being, you can’t just declare a holiday and expect people to actually observe it. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. The greeting card companies pretty much pulled Mother’s Day out of a hat and guilted everybody into celebrating it, and Valentine’s Day, too, so I guess that first assumption was bunk, but nonetheless, some holidays take hold and some don’t.
A Festival of Fighting
International Talk Like a Pirate Day, for which I had high hopes, is celebrated only by a few people who really, really like to talk like pirates and most people don’t even know when it is (September 19th, for the record). April 20th, aka 420, is beloved by pot smokers, but since those of us who celebrate 420 celebrate it the same way we celebrate any day that ends in -day, the effect is somewhat diluted.
But, it appears that a new holiday is creeping into the tradition, at least in the U.S., and I certainly hope this doesn’t spread but you never can tell, Europeans tend to adapt absolutely the worst aspects of American culture, like fast food. I am speaking, of course, of Black Friday.
It is the day after Thanksgiving and, lest you think a holiday cant’ follow a holiday, might I remind you of a thing the English call Boxing Day, and also that New Year’s Day follows New Year’s Eve.
Black Friday is the official first shopping day of the Christmas Season, lots of stores have big specials (for some reason electronics seems to be a Black Friday favorite) and people camp out in the parking lots (which means some of them are probably skipping out on Thanksgiving dinner, which is not too surprising – not everybody loves Thanksgiving) and rush into the stores as soon as they open. Fights break out, people get trampled to death, and yet the crowds are larger and crazier every year.
Like 420 and International Talk Like a Pirate Day, it appeals to a certain subset of people, i.e. people who enjoy mob violence, but that subset includes people of all races, all age groups and both genders.
So, its popularity will probably continue to grow. Sometimes I’m really glad I don’t live in the U.S.
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