Should we celebrate Thanksgiving in Ireland

incentsitive · 21-11-2018 10:41am #1

Given Black Friday has been taken on in Ireland in a similar way to Love Day in The Simpsons, should we celebrate Thanksgiving too?

It could be a day to give thanks for the fruits of the earth, and our wonderful indigenous farming community who contribute so much to our economy and to ensure our shelves are stocked with meat, fruit and veg produced with a level of care to the end consumer that the yanks can but dream of as they fatten their cattle and poultry with hormones, antibiotocs, etc........

lawred2 · 21-11-2018 10:43am

What?

bodice ripper · 21-11-2018 10:44am

It'd force Christmas out of November...

Jerichoholic · 21-11-2018 10:44am

Only complete **** celebrate Thanksgiving in Ireland who aren't American.

21-11-2018 10:46am

No thanks

seamus · 21-11-2018 10:47am

Why would we celebrate a romanticised version of an event that happened in another country hundreds of years ago? It makes no sense.

Why would we celebrate Thanksgiving, but not Cinco de Mayo, or Bastille Day, or El Salvador's Independence Day?

Badly Drunk Boy · 21-11-2018 10:47am

Jerichoholic wrote: »

Only complete **** celebrate Thanksgiving in Ireland who aren't American.

And even then... :pac:

neris · 21-11-2018 10:48am

only if we get a day off

cormie · 21-11-2018 10:49am

It's enough we've already adopted the new materialistic tradition.

The less archaic animal slaughtering rituals the better and even though Irish produced flesh and secretions may not have the same hormones and antibiotics, you won't be able to avoid animal proteins and fats consuming them

m5ex9oqjawdg2i · 21-11-2018 10:50am

Lets celebrate Diwali too while we are at it

OP, I understand the sentiment but thanksgiving doesn't really have a place in our culture.

frag420 · 21-11-2018 10:51am

Sure lets invade some brown countries and live on Twinkies and Mountain Dew aswell!

When is Independence Day, lets do that too!

TheValeyard · 21-11-2018 10:53am

Wibbs · 21-11-2018 11:00am

Jerichoholic wrote: »

Only complete **** celebrate Thanksgiving in Ireland who aren't American.

There are enough Irish people with mid Atlantic accents going with their "mom" to the "store" about the place without going full Yank and celebrating thanksgiving. As it is we do halloween, one of our own actual festivities, with an increasingly American flavour. Or should that be "flavor"? Nope.

Wibbs · 21-11-2018 11:02am

incentsitive wrote: »

It could be a day to give thanks for the fruits of the earth,

We have, or had one already. Lughnasadh(in August/September IIRC). Though not exactly widely celebrated.

21-11-2018 11:10am

We have imported enough American customs.

TomSweeney · 21-11-2018 11:20am

When did all this Black Friday shyte start ?
In Ireland at least ?

godtabh · 21-11-2018 11:21am

seamus wrote: »

Why would we celebrate a romanticised version of an event that happened in another country hundreds of years ago? It makes no sense.

Why would we celebrate Thanksgiving, but not Cinco de Mayo, or Bastille Day, or El Salvador's Independence Day?

I was in Guatemala for their Independence day. That was great craic.

whisky_galore · 21-11-2018 11:24am

Black Friday here is aping the US so shops can sell on the otherwise unsellable. Barefaced commercialism that's all.

No cultural attachment to Thanksgiving but I see the odd event here aimed at homesick Yanks no doubt.

xi5yvm0owc1s2b · 21-11-2018 11:25am

Thanksgiving is celebrated in other countries as well. Canadians celebrate their own version of Thanksgiving. Freed slaves returned from the United States to Liberia in the early 1800s, bringing the tradition with them, and Thanksgiving is now a national holiday in Liberia. The Netherlands holds a Thanksgiving celebration of the Dutch who helped settle the American colonies. So it's not an exclusively American thing by any means.

vicwatson · 21-11-2018 11:25am

21-11-2018 11:26am

TomSweeney wrote: »

When did all this Black Friday shyte start ?
In Ireland at least ?

Only in recent years, no stampedes recorded as yet.

xi5yvm0owc1s2b · 21-11-2018 11:27am

seamus wrote: »

Why would we celebrate a romanticised version of an event that happened in another country hundreds of years ago?

Like Christmas and Easter?

OU812 · 21-11-2018 11:27am

seamus wrote: »

Why would we celebrate a romanticised version of an event that happened in another country hundreds of years ago? It makes no sense.

Why would we celebrate Thanksgiving, but not Cinco de Mayo, or Bastille Day, or El Salvador's Independence Day?

I’ll happily celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Margaritas & Enchalidas??? Where do I sign up?

whisky_galore · 21-11-2018 11:29am

bodice ripper wrote: »

It'd force Christmas out of November...

Too late, that's already happened.

darlett · 21-11-2018 11:31am

TomSweeney wrote: »

When did all this Black Friday shyte start ?
In Ireland at least ?

It seems only in the last 5 years we were first staring with disgust at clips of Americans trampling over each other to get into shops to get the mystery items on sale. Thankfully we ve not yet reached that level of hysteria or at least the scenes of brutality where shoppers are left injured and crying on the ground, but-in a typical no such thing as bad advertising moment; it seemed to introduce the whole Black Friday online shopping to us. That which then became extended to the Monday after and the Thursday before...and now comes with weeks of preview sales. A phenomenal rise.

realitykeeper · 21-11-2018 11:46am

incentsitive wrote: »

Given Black Friday has been taken on in Ireland in a similar way to Love Day in The Simpsons, should we celebrate Thanksgiving too?

It could be a day to give thanks for the fruits of the earth, and our wonderful indigenous farming community who contribute so much to our economy and to ensure our shelves are stocked with meat, fruit and veg produced with a level of care to the end consumer that the yanks can but dream of as they fatten their cattle and poultry with hormones, antibiotocs, etc........

I am certainly very grateful to the Dutch farmers who supply things like tomatoes and the farmers in others countries that send us food that we could produce ourselves. I am grateful to the EU for granting us the money we needed to build motorways. Above all, I am grateful to the Almighty for the annual harvest and for these reasons, I think thanksgiving should be done in a prayerful way in honour of our God and also by paying down our debts in a timely manner, which is a way of thanking those who were good enough to lend to us in the first place, like the banks for instance.

I think with a little more gratitude and a lot less entitlement, we Irish would be a better people.

seamus · 21-11-2018 11:52am

Anya Round Theater wrote: »

Like Christmas and Easter?

Yep, just like them.

Oh no wait, they've been celebrated for millenia across large swathes of the world. Both predate all of the major religions.

I'm all for partying. Can't get enough of them national holidays.

But I don't see any reason to inherit some random feast day from some random other country.

If we were going to have a new feast day, I'd rather we invented our own.

Ten of Swords · 21-11-2018 11:58am

We should also celebrate a 2nd Christmas too (Julian calendar). Double the consumerism, double the fun

DEFTLEFTHAND · 21-11-2018 11:59am

TomSweeney wrote: »

When did all this Black Friday shyte start ?
In Ireland at least ?

About 2011 or 12 at a guess.

Advertisers just start pushing it on us all of a sudden.

Ten of Swords · 21-11-2018 12:00pm

seamus wrote: »

If we were going to have a new feast day, I'd rather we invented our own.

Happy bailout day?

jimgoose · 21-11-2018 12:03pm

No, for the love of God no. Why do some people do that?

DEFTLEFTHAND · 21-11-2018 12:05pm

I remember UL campus used to have TG celebrations back in my time there.

I suppose it was for the yank students. Also a decent promotional tool for the bar. Students will celebrate anything if it means going on a bender.

xi5yvm0owc1s2b · 21-11-2018 12:12pm

Deleted User wrote: »

We have imported enough American customs.

Including, incidentally, St. Patrick's Day, the first recorded celebration of which took place in Boston in 1737. The first St. Patrick's Day parade happened in New York in 1766. Ireland didn't have widespread St. Patrick's Day celebrations until the mid-20th century, when the custom was imported from the US.

The way the Irish celebrate holidays such as St. Patrick's Day, Halloween, Easter, and Christmas today depend hugely on imported traditions, notably from the UK and US. Everything from the modern image of Santa Claus to "Jingle Bells" are of American origin.

Harry Palmr · 21-11-2018 12:30pm

Given how reliant this place is on American inward investment and watches American TV to beat the band (the band is American as well) and speaks American English then why not?

Badly Drunk Boy · 21-11-2018 12:37pm

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Given how reliant this place is on American inward investment and watches American TV to beat the band (the band is American as well) and speaks American English then why not?

I don't speak American English. Do you? And just because we might depend on American investment, it doesn't mean that we have to become American.

But here's a little something...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLSveRGmpIE

witchgirl26 · 21-11-2018 12:45pm

Why would we? That would be like celebrating the 4th July as Independence Day. It's not from our culture or our country so why have it widely celebrated. Sure if any Americans here want to celebrate it then they can go for their lives - it's their heritage afterall but I won't be joining in. I'll wish happy Thanksgiving to my family in America and leave it at that.

As for Black Friday - it was imported here due to the fact that retailers saw an opportunity to make some more money in the lead up to Christmas. It has little to do with Thanksgiving apart from the timing.

Anya Round Theater wrote: »

The way the Irish celebrate holidays such as St. Patrick's Day, Halloween, Easter, and Christmas today depend hugely on imported traditions, notably from the UK and US. Everything from the modern image of Santa Claus to "Jingle Bells" are of American origin.

Actually an awful lot of the Halloween traditions are actually not American origin. Carving pumpkins originally started here in Ireland when common root vegetables like turnips were carved. The Irish brought this to America where pumpkins were more common and that changed it slightly but the practice originated here. The same with the dressing up aspect - it's very Celtic in nature and was originally brought to America by Europeans going there.

topper75 · 21-11-2018 12:45pm

vicwatson wrote: »

****ing hell.

Hello. Operator? Yes can you put through to the John Birch Society please.
I have somebody I need to report.

w/s/p/c/ · 21-11-2018 12:47pm

Bring back Arthur's Day!!!

Snickers Man · 21-11-2018 12:48pm

Only if invited by Americans to their own celebration of Thanksgiving, wherever that may be.

It's not meant to be for anyone else.

starlit · 21-11-2018 12:48pm

What would we really be celebrating? Breaking away from British rule and becoming a Republic!? We have St Patricks Day and Christmas and New Years are enough to celebrate. Black Friday is big enough here really without the need for Thanksgiving its more appropriate celebration for America - Birth of a new Nation etc

incentsitive · 21-11-2018 12:52pm

Didn't say it should coincide with US thanksgiving, could be the end of harvest time in Ireland (September) to celebrate the wonderful contribution of our farmers to our society?
Our farming community are great people altogether. Why not give thanks for it?

retro:electro · 21-11-2018 12:56pm

Surely once a year is enough to be around every member of your family and pretend ye like each other never mind twice in the space of four weeks

witchgirl26 · 21-11-2018 1:18pm

incentsitive wrote: »

Didn't say it should coincide with US thanksgiving, could be the end of harvest time in Ireland (September) to celebrate the wonderful contribution of our farmers to our society?
Our farming community are great people altogether. Why not give thanks for it?

Actually this already happens - my friends church does a harvest festival every year where the church is decorated in autumnal colours and seasonal fruits (which are then given to the local school) and there's a service of thanksgiving for the harvest and the farmers of the country. It's quite lovely and a very old tradition. Don't see the need for a particular holiday though country-wide to celebrate one profession.

Boom_Bap · 21-11-2018 1:34pm

Black Friday is not Black Friday unless there are people bateing the faces off each other in shakey footage.

The only thing I'd take is the deep fried turkey and pumpkin pie.

iguana · 21-11-2018 1:58pm

seamus wrote: »

Why would we celebrate Thanksgiving, but not Cinco de Mayo, or Bastille Day, or El Salvador's Independence Day?

Over on the Christmas forum we're all big fans of Swedish Waffle Day in March.:p

Wibbs · 21-11-2018 2:15pm

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

I don't speak American English. Do you?

Quite the number do B. Certainly with accent intonations that are American. A mate of mine's ten year old daughter and all her mates speak with very strong American/mid Atlantic accents. More subtle versions are to be found all over the place. Though it tends to be more among young women. Like I was saying earlier words like "Mom" are very common, nigh on ubiquitous and though some insist it's from the Irish and maybe in some tiny enclave of the Gaeltacht it is/was, but try find anyone who was Irish saying or writing "mom" before the mid late 90's.

kneemos · 21-11-2018 2:24pm

Turkey once a year is more than enough.

How about an Octoberfest to celebrate...well,whatever?

blackbox · 21-11-2018 2:55pm

witchgirl26 wrote: »

Actually this already happens - my friends church does a harvest festival every year where the church is decorated in autumnal colours and seasonal fruits (which are then given to the local school) and there's a service of thanksgiving for the harvest and the farmers of the country. It's quite lovely and a very old tradition. Don't see the need for a particular holiday though country-wide to celebrate one profession.

Most Protestant churches (perhaps not in Dublin) do a Harvest Thanksgiving Sunday. Ancient tradition, not a fixed date and no connection to USA.

Boom_Bap · 21-11-2018 2:57pm

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Pumpkin Pie mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Elmo · 21-11-2018 2:58pm

blackbox wrote: »

Most Protestant churches (perhaps not in Dublin) do a Harvest Thanksgiving Sunday. Ancient tradition, not a fixed date and no connection to USA.

shhh .... it's called Halloween .... don't let them hear you now!

Basically sometime at the end of autumn, were having a harvest thanksgiving :rolleyes:

Electric Sheep · 21-11-2018 3:22pm

*
OP, I understand the sentiment but thanksgiving doesn't really have a place in our culture*

This is true. Paddy is never thankful for anything, just bitch and moan.

Should we celebrate Thanksgiving in Ireland

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