After the passing of Halloween, people have been buzzing about the very jolly holiday, Christmas. Although Christmas is exciting and offers a lot of happiness to people, everyone seems to skip over the one holiday, Thanksgiving. How come? Yes, Christmas is a time to spend with family and friends but Thanksgiving also does the same. So why do people seem to “forget” about Thanksgiving?
“In my experience being a child of immigrants, we never really celebrated Thanksgiving because we don’t consider it a part of our culture.” Omer Kamran, a sophomore at Canyon High School, states. He further explains, “Unlike other holidays, such as Christmas, Thanksgiving is really only ever celebrated in America and Canada, which makes it seem less important compared to other holidays.” He also talks about how Thanksgiving is in an odd place. “It’s between Halloween which is a big holiday where people dress up and Christmas where people give and receive gifts.” Another point he brought up was that Thanksgiving has no real defining features. “A lot of companies don’t really make merchandise for Thanksgiving. After Halloween ends, a lot of companies and influencers stop promoting Halloween and go straight to making Christmas products using Christmas-themed marketing.”
Colette Aitken-Penn, another sophomore at Canyon, shared her thoughts on the forgotten holiday. “I think people forget about Thanksgiving and focus more on Christmas because Christmas is generally more advertised to people.” To add to what Omer said, “There’s pumpkin spice lattes, campfires, and presents that make people want Christmas more. Colette goes on to say, “Christmas is also before school’s final exams.” she further explains, “Students are more likely to look forward to such a big event like finals. And the reprieve you will get after the three or two weeks from winter break.” She also shares, “For me personally, I use Christmas as a motivator to get all my work done and keep going.”
From the two students I interviewed, The main reasons Thanksgiving is “forgotten” is that it’s never as often advertised and marketed as much as Christmas is, and it’s also sandwiched between two more exciting holidays, Halloween and Christmas.