Does anyone else celebrate Thanksgiving?

[Bob]

I think Canada does.  How about England? 

[birba]

In Italy, I celebrate Thanksgiving (my most favorite holiday of all times) on Dec. 26thl.

[thalbergmad]

Not celebrated in England as it is a Christian festival.

The Labour Party dicourages things like this, incase it upsets Muslims, Hindus or Zoroastrians.

Christmas has all but been cancelled by Health & Safety legislation.

Thal

[ahinton]

Not celebrated in England as it is a Christian festival.

You mean just like Easter and Christmas that are not celebrated in England, as is obvious from the distinct absence of services in England's cathedrals and churches to mark them...

The Labour Party dicourages things like this, incase it upsets Muslims, Hindus or Zoroastrians.

I'm no fan of the Labour party, but in the 12½ years that they've been in office they appear to have done nothing - or even attempted to do anything - to stifle the activities of the established Protestant Church, the Roman Catholic Church or other Christian churches in England; indeed, Teflon Tony (Bliar) made quite an issue (as is his wont) of having joined the second of these some years ago. The job of that party or any other political party whether or not in office is not to "upset" Muslims, Hindus or indeed Christians - and I've never noticed this one "upsetting" Zoroastrians...

Christmas has all but been cancelled by Health & Safety legislation.

Nonsense! Where's your evidence in support of this claim? I do agree that the Health & Safety legislation in England has reached quite a few heights of absurdity at times but I've seen no evidence of it sanctioning the enforced closure of Christian abbeys, cathedrals and churches or otherwise ruling against Christian celebrations of any kind; I've yet to encounter our delightful riot-shield-brandishing police officers kettling hordes of midnight mass attendees on the basis of their being a potential terrorist risk or other threat to the peace either....

Best,

Alistair

[go12_3]

Yes, Thanksgiving is a big celebration in my family---with the turkey and all the food that
a person can consume.  It's a fun day when my family is together, young and
old,to visit and enjoy being together.
Yes, I know, some may think "awww, isn't that sweet!"              

best wishes,

go12_3

[thalbergmad]

You mean just like Easter and Christmas that are not celebrated in England, as is obvious from the distinct absence of services in England's cathedrals and churches to mark them...
I'm no fan of the Labour party, but in the 12½ years that they've been in office they appear to have done nothing - or even attempted to do anything - to stifle the activities of the established Protestant Church, the Roman Catholic Church or other Christian churches in England; indeed, Teflon Tony (Bliar) made quite an issue (as is his wont) of having joined the second of these some years ago. The job of that party or any other political party whether or not in office is not to "upset" Muslims, Hindus or indeed Christians - and I've never noticed this one "upsetting" Zoroastrians...
Nonsense! Where's your evidence in support of this claim? I do agree that the Health & Safety legislation in England has reached quite a few heights of absurdity at times but I've seen no evidence of it sanctioning the enforced closure of Christian abbeys, cathedrals and churches or otherwise ruling against Christian celebrations of any kind; I've yet to encounter our delightful riot-shield-brandishing police officers kettling hordes of midnight mass attendees on the basis of their being a potential terrorist risk or other threat to the peace either....

Light the blue touchpaper and retire.

Works every time

[ahinton]

Light the blue touchpaper and retire.

I really do hope that you are not about to retire, Thal; I've no idea what the inhabitants of the street called piano would do if you did. You can light the blue touchpaper whenever you like, as long as you don't get your fingers burnt (and provided that you do not do it in a public place and risk contravening Health & Safety legislation)...

Best,

Alistair

[samjohnson]

Not celebrated in England as it is a Christian festival.

Thanksgiving is in no way Christian.  In America (the USA, that is) it is a day set aside to remember the first dinner the Pilgrims had with the Natives who helped them plant and harvest before their first winter.  In Canada, it is newer and ,I believe, to celebrate the same thing, though it wasn't made a national holiday until 1957 (I think...) and rather than celebrating it on the final Thursday of November, they do so on the second Monday of October.  No other country celebrates it simply because the survival of the first modern settlers of no other country had a special dinner with the natives after their first harvest. 

Now it is just an excuse to eat a lot and see family though. 

As an American living in Canada, I celebrated the Thanksgiving of both countries 

[samjohnson]

A correction

Wikipedia says:

"The history of Thanksgiving in Canada goes back to an explorer, Martin Frobisher, who had been trying to find a northern passage to the Pacific Ocean. Frobisher's Thanksgiving was not for harvest but homecoming. He had safely returned from a search for the Northwest Passage, avoiding the later fate of Henry Hudson and Sir John Franklin. In the year 1578, he held a formal ceremony, in what is now the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, to give thanks for surviving the long journey. The feast was one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations by Europeans in North America. Frobisher was later knighted and had an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean in northern Canada named after him — Frobisher Bay."

[elspeth]

I was horrified this morning to see on sale in a certain well-known high street shop which shall remain nameless, Easter eggs. Have I missed Christmas somewhere, along with about five months of my life?

[ahinton]

I was horrified this morning to see on sale in a certain well-known high street shop which shall remain nameless, Easter eggs. Have I missed Christmas somewhere, along with about five months of my life?

Horrified? You should be so lucky that they and other retail outlets are not already selling Christmas trees for 2010! I have to admit that, whenever I wake up, I tend to think that the month in which I've supposedly done so expired several months ago and that I must then seek, among other rather more pressing things, to try to catch up with as much as I can of what's just gone by - that's how we live now, n'est-ce pas? Astronomers can now see detail that is more than 60,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles away, which means that said data is already 10.2bn years old because it takes that long to get to us at the speed of light, so that if someone somewhere that far away out there happened to be able to look at us from the same perspective in terms of distance of space and time, the notion that we're selling Easter eggs just a few months early would surely seem rather seem puny by comparison, would it not? I wouldn't worry about it if I were you!

Best,

Alistair

[elspeth]

I wouldn't have minded so much if I could just have fast-forwarded through the last twelve months, but I object to missing the next five that I haven't even seen yet!

I must admit I'm looking forward to New Year this year, 2009 hasn't been a good one for me. Such is life though I suppose, we all have a bad one sometimes, just hope 2010 will be better!

[Bob]

Horrified? You should be so lucky that they and other retail outlets are not already selling Christmas trees for 2010!

I heard sales of artificial trees on up.  In that way, they are selling trees for 2010.  And 2011, 12, etc.