Back in 2008, When I was in UK, I have seen the madness & craziness to buy items
on a Black Friday. People were standing in the queue early in the morning before
the shop opens & purchase as many as possible. I didnt know the significance of
these days & I was in assumption that these days are releated to christmas
event.
Fast forward to 2022, I see the Black Friday trend in India too. Media,
websites, apps promoting the sale & newspaper is flooded with offers. Today
morning while reading newspaper, I had to search for the news in between such
Ads & promotion.
Our Indian mentality is tend to believe in anything that is
shown to us multiple times without questioning. I am not making a generic
statement here but majority of the popoulation comes under that. Just because it
is sale, without even knowing the significance or history behind the
celebrations, we are yielded to make purchases.
Are we promoting Akshaya Thrithiya gold purchase in Western countries?
Are we promoting sale during Dasara/Duesshara ?
I learnt about Thanks Giving recently & it is unfortunate that for generations
we have been hearing one sided story/history in schools and
media.
In United States of America, the england piligrims who landed in
Plymouth, Massachusetts brought this tradition. The holiday commemorates the
peaceful, friendly meeting of English settlers and the Wampanoag tribe for three
days of feasting and thanksgiving in 1621.
However, it is important to know the history from the Native Americans who celebrates Thanks giving day as
"National Mourning Day".
Thanksgiving is a day of mourning and protest since it commemorates the arrival
of settlers in North America and the centuries of oppression and genocide that
followed. Organized by the United American Indians of New England in 1970, the
fourth Thursday in November (Thanksgiving) is recognized as the National Day of
Mourning for Native Americans and their allies.
Before the arrival of Europeans, 600 + unique Native tribes lived in eight rough geographic
and cultural regions across the United States. Their cultures and languages were highly developed
and diverse. Each tribe has its own history, its own stories, and its own forms of spiritual practice.
When settlers arrived, hundreds of these tribes died out over the course of a hundred years.
The Europeans brought germs over that Native Americans had no immunity to.
Between 1492 and the late 1500s when large numbers of settlers began to arrive, historians have
estimated that up to 90% of the Native population was wiped out by the introduction of measles, smallpox,
tuberculosis, and other Western diseases. Some scholars estimate that the original population of
Native Americans in North America before Columbus was
somewhere around 10 million people.
There is one small surviving community trying to make their point & standing up for their heritage & culture but
there is this whole world celebrating, rushing to malls, shops to purchase items & celebrate happiness.
Like me, there may be many out there who does not know the real history and following the crowd in this celebrations.
But the information is very accessible to everyone at your finger trip.
Develop some curiosity & question yourself why are we celebratining this day ? What is its significance ?
Be sure that you are referring to authentic sources & you should know how to figure out that part!!
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