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Thursday 25 November 2010

To all non-Americans out there

Hi, are you as lost as I have been over the last week or so? All this talk about "Black Friday" in the international beading community. It seems to be something important, and benefitial for business. Yes, and I managed to figure out one pattern. It is only Americans who write/speak about it. So what is it? Well, I just had to find out, didn't I.

I have taken all the text from Wikipedia.
Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.

On this day many U.S. retailers open very early, often at 5 a.m., and offer promotional sales to kick off the shopping season.

Because Thanksgiving always falls on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States, the day after occurs between the 23rd and the 29th of November.

The day's name originated in Philadelphia, where it originally was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving.

Use of the term began by 1966 and began to see broader use outside Philadelphia around 1975.

Later an alternative explanation began to be offered: that "Black Friday" indicates the period during which retailers are turning a profit, or "in the black."

Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, has been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863, when during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving.
The event that Americans commonly call the "First Thanksgiving" was celebrated to give thanks to God for helping the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony survive their first brutal winter in New England.

The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three days, providing enough food for 53 pilgrims and 90 Native Americans.
The feast consisted of:
  • fish (cod, eels, and bass)
  • shellfish (clams, lobster, and mussels)
  • wild fowl (ducks, geese, swans, and turkey)
  • venison
  • berries and fruit
  • vegetables (peas, pumpkin, beetroot and possibly, wild or cultivated onion)
  • harvest grains (barley and wheat)
  • the Three Sisters: beans, dried Indian maize or corn, and squash
The New England colonists were accustomed to regularly celebrating "Thanksgivings"—days of prayer thanking God for blessings such as military victory or the end of a drought.


HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all you americans out there! Me, I am so thankful for all of you, and all my other friends in the beading community. Thanks for excisting and being wonderful.

All my best,
Malin

4 comments:

Mary Harding said...

Hi Malin,
Happy Thanksgiving. I am so happy you are part of the beading community. Thank you for all your creative inspiration.

TesoriTrovati said...

Hey Malin! I think that you can be credited for teaching me more about Black Friday than I ever knew! There is a local store called Kohl's (a department store chain) that will be open at 3 AM on Friday! I personally am aghast at going shopping on Black Friday, I avoid it like the plague. I went to the mall last Saturday during 'deer hunter's widow' weekend (opening day of hunting) and it was insane! There is nothing, NOTHING that could make me get up and in line winding outside the store at 3am. I am more of a Cyber Monday shopper (you should wiki that one as well!). What I found most interesting is realizing how the rest of the world views our foolishness... Thanksgiving gets lost in the shuffle, but is a day filled with family and food and (American) football. A little respite of safe and calm in a crazy world.

Thank you for sharing this information. But most of all, I give thanks for you, Malin, for friends forged across time zones by the common love of beads.

Enjoy the day!
Erin

Angel Whisperer said...

Du är verkilgen gullig och skriver så fint i din blog!
funderade också på att ta reda på mer om deras helg...kul att lära sig lite mer..
kram från en insnöad typ i Mullsjö

Artisan Clay said...

Great Post!