Thanksgiving... history and traditions!
So, as we said, since we love chatting about holidays and history, this week we're diving into Thanksgiving Day, a celebration that not many Italians know much about. When you move to a place with a mix of cultures, you usually pick up the local customs and traditions, including the fun festivals they celebrate.
Thanksgiving rolls around on the fourth Thursday of November, and you can't go wrong with the classic stuffed turkey on the table. So, what else is out there?
We are in the seventeenth century when the Pilgrim Fathers, persecuted for their Calvinist Christian faith, decide to leave England, board the Mayflower, and sail for "the new world". They arrive tired on the coastlines of North America, hostile region inhabited by Native Americans, taking with them some traditional seeds from their homeland.
Given the soil conditions, the initial harvest yielded no fruit. The natives, as a result, began to assist them by suggesting the sowing and breeding of plants and animals that were well suited to the territory: corn, pumpkin, and turkeys (ed: the turkey originated with the Aztecs, who offered them as a gift to the Spaniards in the newly conquered Americas, who then imported them into Europe). The following year, their efforts were rewarded with a strong harvest, so the Pilgrims decided to set aside a day to honour God. The first official declaration of Thanksgiving, however, does not come until 1676.
Every single lunch is eaten in the comfort of one's own home, with the "secret" family recipe for the turkey and the usual fixings of pumpkin pie, pureed veggies, and corn focaccia (a Northern specialty). The conventional wisdom states that soaking the turkey in brine for at least a day will tenderize the flesh. Next, we go on to the filling, which can be a traditional chestnut stuffing made with cooked chestnuts or an assortment of aromatics like sage, apples, and onions. The world-famous cranberry sauce is a must-make if you decide to give it a go!
Nevertheless, a significant number of us are unaware of the fact that Thanksgiving is strongly connected to Black Friday, which is the day on which stores offer extraordinary discounts and promotions, so effectively beginning the shopping season for Christmas. It is not uncommon to witness lengthy lines of people waiting outside of stores beginning in the wee hours of the morning in the hope of securing the greatest promotional products that are being offered at discounts that on occasion can reach up to 90 percent of the original price. What led to the creation of Black Friday? Let's take a look at some of the mysteries surrounding today together.
Some claim that the phrase alludes to the 1860 New York Stock Exchange crisis, in which the government was compelled to increase the supply of raw materials in order to remedy certain market anomalies. As a result of the price drop, many investors suffered significant financial losses.
Conversely, some contend that the favourable implications linked to Black Friday pertain to the financial recovery of registers after the substantial revenues generated on this particular day, in contrast to the deficit accounts (designated as "in red").
But what about Cyber Monday, coming after Black Friday?
Cyber Monday was developed by the NRF in 2005. Online businesses wanted a piece of Black Friday, which was mostly an in-store sales event, so they started providing bargains on their websites, which Americans could access from their workstations on the Monday after Thanksgiving.
This stretched Black Friday throughout Cyber Week. Since 2020's COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns caused brick-and-mortar establishments to close, this has expanded.
November saw a rise in online buying and merchant incentives, a trend that has continued.
So, what plans do you have for upcoming Thanksgiving?
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