The Whos adore Christmas yet give themselves less than a day to dress their houses. If they are so passionate about the holiday, then why don't they observe the whole season? It takes a long time to make homes as fancy as the Whos like theirs, and they should want to enjoy the products of their labor for as long as possible.
shareSome cultures have specific traditions on decorations. My Grandparents were from Lentini in Sicily. There tradition, which they practiced after immigrating to the US, was decorations go up on December 16. They come down on January 6.
They were quite strict about it. Now my mother (her daughter) loved Christmas. She followed the Dec. 16th tradition, but she ignored the Jan. 6th one. Decorations rarely came down in our house until Valentine's Day. One year it was Easter when Easter was early.
An argument can also be made that the "specialness" of Christmas decorations can only be maintained by short exposure.
To sum up, the Who's tradition may be to put up decorations on Dec. 24th. When they would come down would be conjecture.
Thank you, Costumer. What was the significance of December 16 for your grandparents? If your family celebrated Valentine's Day and Easter, then why didn't your mother want to prepare for those holidays too? As she loved Christmas deeply, it would have made more sense for her to have not wanted to diminish its meaning by keeping its decorations well past its time. Even though the practice never would have worked for me, you had a decent point about the holiday seeming more special if its observation was shortened. Still, Christmas Eve was a highly impractical day to begin dressing homes, especially since it was part of the holiday itself. You probably gathered from my first post that I had known Christmas season to begin on Black Friday, and had always wanted as much time as possible with it because it wasn't going to last after the first week of January.
shareYou know, my Grandparents never told me the significance of December 16. I sure it traced to some celebration in Lindini.
I think it just tore my mother about the takedown. Sometimes she did take them down, but often not. Stretching it to Easter was unusual, but did happen. Logically, she would admit that keeping the season shorter would heighten its importance, but sometimes she just couldn't bear to take them down.
Until I started working retail (which I did for forty years) Black Friday didn't mean much to us. We never went out and shopped that day and my parents and grandparents didn't really look at it as the beginning of the Christmas season.
We didn't really celebrate Valentines much; mostly just what the school sponsored. We would give my parents cards, and they exchanged cards; but I don't think they ever did anything special; at least after we kids came along.
Easter was different. It was an important day, but we didn't put up decorations. It was a family gathering time with lots of traditions of food to serve and visiting. Interesting, we would be with my grandparents and people came to us; we never went to them. My grandparents did seem to have some type of status amongst the relatives, though, again, it was never explained to us.
Oh, so you found the practice peculiar, too. I never shopped on Black Friday either, especially since I knew that stores could be dangerous places during those twenty-four hours, but was told that it was the start of Christmas season. My mother shopped on that day once before I was born, and said that it was a wild nightmare. She vowed to never do it again.
shareI was on the other side of things. I worked retail for nearly 40 years. Which meant I was at work at 4:30 AM on Black Friday and worked a 12 hour shift for all those years.
shareThere's no such day as "Black Friday." This is industry jargon that originated with the American department stores. It comes from the accounting phrase "in the black," meaning turning a profit. The After-Thanksgiving Sales (the proper designation for these events) were highly profitable, so retailers referred to the day as Black ("in the black") Friday. So it basically means "Profit Friday" or "Money Friday," which is not what the holiday season is about.
The holidays are a time to take a break from the daily grind. It's not a time to shove and trample one another over some shoddy imported junk.
It's called the DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING, not "Black Friday."
While you are correct about the origins, and that there is no official designation, claiming there is no such day is just be stubborn. No one claims it is a holiday, but it is a day with a name for very specific reasons. No one calls it After-Thanksgiving Sales and I don't recall them ever being called that. So your assertion that it is the proper name is your own head-canon and has no relevance to the rest of us.
I am a very religious person. I also live in the world and a business making a profit is necessary to keep people employed. This year has been very difficult and we will have to see if Black Friday comes back next year. If not, it could be the end of more brick-and-mortar, which would be a shame in my opinion.
See this example:
https://www.jewelry-secrets.com/Blog/images/After-Thanksgiving-Day-Sale-Flier-Ad-Lg.jpg
It's supposed to be a four-day weekend starting with a day for taking time off and being thankful; it wasn't all always about money and materialism.
People have different traditions
shareThank you, jdforyou1983. I know that, but it's discomfiting for the Whos to wait until the holiday itself to decorate for it. They don't give themselves enough time for their work, or to observe the Christmas season. It doesn't suit them, and is unrealistic.
shareA lot of people are unaware that centuries ago, Christmas was a twelve-day celebration. Decorations were put up on Christmas Eve. December 25th was the First Day of Christmas and the season ran until January 5th, the Twelfth Day. The night of January 5th was Twelfth Night, which was originally an even bigger celebration than December 25th.
With Twelfth Night, the Christmas festivities came to an end. The next day, January 6th, was the Epiphany, or Three Kings Day.
I believe some cultures don't decorate until after the kids have gone to bed on Christmas Eve. Imagine getting that duty?
sharePaladinNJ, that must be unbearable, and it's ridiculous for people to bring it on to themselves. Not only is it unnecessary, but it ruins a major element of Christmas for families. Children should be able to enjoy participating in the preparation for the holiday and decorate their homes with their parents. Much of the excitement comes from dressing houses and yards.
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