Leave Black Friday to the Yanks, we have our own Christmas traditions

SIR, I doubt that the good citizens of the USA will enjoy their stuffed turkey and pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving Day this Thursday. Uncle Sam is still shell shocked by the unexpected results in the recent Presidential, Senate and House of Representatives elections which bitterly divided the country, but where 43 per cent of those eligible to vote didn’t even bother to exercise the franchise. The modern liberalism of the Blue Donkey Party was stampeded by the free market capitalism of the Red Elephant Party, where the mighty dollar reigns supreme.

What will distract polarized Americans this holiday weekend is their slavish devotion to consumerism. The deeper meaning of Thanksgiving Day, a major national family holiday in the USA, has been totally lost in the rush to a frenzied pre -Christmas shopping spree. For decades, Thanksgiving has been sacrosanct for Americans – a non-denominational national celebration, and a guaranteed family holiday. It’s also the day before Black Friday, the shopping frenzy that marks the start of the holiday season. Now Black Friday is slipping into ‘Grey Thursday’ and taking unfortunate retail workers with it. Many major retail stores will open their doors at 8pm on Thanksgiving Day.

Black Friday is the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the USA, and most major retailers open very early and even overnight to offer promotional sales. Many non-retail employees and schools have both Thanksgiving and the following Friday off, which makes it a four-day weekend, thereby increasing the number of potential shoppers. Marketing companies have now created ‘Cyber Monday’ to add another shopping day onto the Thanksgiving weekend and to persuade people to shop online. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of the busiest shopping days in the USA. In 2015, $54 billion was spent during the four-day Black Friday weekend by about 140 million U.S. consumers.

Traditional Irish Christmas values are under massive threat from American consumerism. The materialism of Grey Thursday, Black Friday and Cyber Monday has nothing to offer our Christmas season other than huge debts, maxed-out credit cards and unneeded goods. Frantic Christmas shopping in November rings very hollow. The Yanks can keep their Black Friday. Let’s continue to celebrate Christmas in a time-appropriate, meaningful and traditional way. Sincerely, Billy Ryle, Spa, Tralee.