Meaningful Holidays - And A New Calendar For Them

I've long thought that Thanksgiving, now just two days away, was the quintessential "American" holiday because of its non-denominational aspect.   All of us celebrate Thanksgiving in one way or another, regardless of religious beliefs.  It's something we all have in common, and something we all share.  Further, Thanksgiving remains the only holiday that has not (yet) become just another excuse to go out shopping.  It has by and large preserved its meaning.

Now, however, Thanksgiving is under attack.  First, with the supercommittee on the deficit seemingly at a bitterly partisan dead end, it begins to appear that Thanksgiving is the ONLY thing we all share these days.  Can it survive in today's politicized environment?  Further, the greater threat is that commercialism is slowly gnawing its way into Thanksgiving, seeking to turn it into yet another shopping spree.  The Tin Lizard recommends boycotting the barbarians, but it's not likely they will be stopped. 

Nearly three years ago I wrote my ambitious new calendar of American holidays.  No one has seen fit to implement it yet, but with Thanksgiving under attack, it seems this may be an opportune time to revisit it, which you can do here.

Comments

[Gabbygeezer]

Creative and good ideas. Unfortunately, like joining the world with the metric system, it will probably take Americans a couple of hundred years to get around to a "celebration day" calendar like the one you propose. Might that be better than "holiday?"

[JHawk23]

You're absolutely right, we need a term other than "holiday," given the etymology of that word. But as you note, we have a century or two to think of an appropriate one.