Black Friday and the Presidential Thanksgiving Pardon

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving Day in the USA and falls on the Friday after the fourth Thursday in November. It is a busy shopping day and is a holiday in some states. Many people have a day off work or choose to take a day from their quota of annual leave on Black Friday. Some people use this to make trips to see family members or friends who live in other areas or to go on vacation. Others use it to start shopping for the Christmas season. Many stores have special offers and lower their prices on some goods, such as toys.

Image credits: Harshal Desai, via Flickr

Black Friday is one of the busiest shopping days in the USA. There are two popular theories as to why the day after Thanksgiving Day is called Black Friday. One theory is that the wheels of vehicles in heavy traffic on the day after Thanksgiving Day left many black markings on the road surface, leading to the term Black Friday. The other theory is that the term Black Friday comes from an old way of recording business accounts. Losses were recorded in red ink and profits in black ink. Many businesses, particularly small businesses, started making profits prior to Christmas. Many hoped to start showing a profit, marked in black ink, on the day after Thanksgiving Day.

In TimeAndDate (adapted and abridged)

The Presidency, Barack Obama said at the White House Wednesday, has 'many awesome and solemn responsibilities.' 'This is not one of them,' he added. The tradition of the President pardoning a turkey around Thanksgiving is probably America’s silliest tradition, and has only grown more cartoonish over time. The National Turkey Federation has donated two turkeys to the White House every year since 1947, according to the Washington Post, and Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower ate their birds. Now the pardoned turkeys are given names - 'Caramel' and 'Popcorn' this year - with their height, weight, walk ('steady and deliberate' and 'proud strut') and favorite song dutifully documented on the White House website. Caramel bobs to 'Bad Romance' by Lady Gaga; Popcorn prefers 'Halo' by Beyoncé. Read more HERE.

In TIME Magazine (abridged)

Image credits: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

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Thanksgiving Day in the US and UK

Thanksgiving Day in the United States is a holiday on the fourth Thursday of November. It precedes Black Friday. Most government offices, businesses, schools and other organizations are closed on Thanksgiving Day. Many offices and businesses allow staff to have a four-day weekend so these offices and businesses are also closed on the Friday after Thanksgiving Day. Public transit systems do not usually operate on their regular timetables. Thanksgiving Day is one of the busiest periods for travel in the USA. This can cause congestion and overcrowding. Seasonal parades and busy football games can cause disruption to local traffic.

There are claims that the first Thanksgiving Day was held in the city of El Paso, Texas in 1598. Another early event was held in 1619 in the Virginia Colony. Many people trace the origins of the modern Thanksgiving Day to the harvest celebration that the Pilgrims held in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621. However, their first true thanksgiving was in 1623, when they gave thanks for rain that ended a drought. These early thanksgivings took the form of a special church service, rather than a feast. In the second half of the 1600s, thanksgivings after the harvest became more common and started to become annual events. It was celebrated on different days in different communities and in some places there were more than one thanksgiving each year. George Washington, the first president of the United States, proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving Day in 1789.

Source: www.timeanddate.com (abridged)

Thanksgiving Day Macy's Parade, NY City - photo credit: asterix611 via photopin cc

Across the Atlantic Ocean Thanksgiving is also celebrated in London with American food and fun! Also known as Turkey Day in London, the American holiday of Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November, as well. In Britain, while it's not an official holiday, lots of American expats and tourists, their friends and relatives, like to mark the occasion by coming together to eat a traditional Thanksgiving feast. Festive food for Thanksgiving includes turkey, pumpkin pie, chowder and anything with an American theme. Thanksgiving menus are available on the day from lots of London hotels, pubs, clubs and restaurants. For more information about Thanksgiving events in London, just follow this LINK.

Pumpkin pie @visitlondon.com official visitor guide

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