Americans are marking the annual Thanksgiving holiday Thursday.
The holiday is engrained in American life as a day for family gatherings
with sumptuous turkey feasts, accompanied by a wide array of side dishes
and pies. By one estimate, more than 43 million people are expected to
travel 80 kilometers or more to attend holiday gatherings between now
and Sunday.
But other Thanksgiving traditions are prominent in the U.S. as well,
including religious services and key youth and professional football
games. One major retailer, the Macy's department store chain, stages a
splashy parade in New York City, with large inflated cartoon balloons
and marching bands.
Origin
Tradition says the first American Thanksgiving occurred in 1621, with
early North American settlers commemorating a harvest after a harsh
winter.
More than a century later, the nation's first president, George
Washington, declared it a national holiday in 1789. The current U.S.
president, newly re-elected Barack Obama, followed tradition Wednesday
and "pardoned" two turkeys, nicknamed Cobbler and Gobbler. He said the
birds would then get to live out their days at George Washington's
nearby Mount Vernon estate.
Obama called on Americans, even as they celebrate the holiday, to do all
they can to help less fortunate people, including those who lost homes
along the country's Eastern seaboard because of the recent superstorm
Sandy .
"I'd like to ask every American to do what they can to help families who
are in need of a real Thanksgiving this year."
Shopping deals
The American Thanksgiving, by law on the fourth Thursday of November,
also serves as somewhat of a respite from the commerce of the
approaching holiday shopping season, leading to Christmas on December
25.
But that no-shopping-on-Thanksgiving tradition is fading in the U.S.,
with some chain stores planning to open their doors for early holiday
gift-buying on Thursday night. That is just hours ahead of what is
called Black Friday in the U.S., traditionally one of the biggest
shopping days of the entire year.
In
part, the day has been called Black Friday because of the millions of
shoppers and traffic congestion throughout the country, from its largest
cities to small towns. But the term is also said to describe the day in
which retailers have enough sales to be profitable, to put them in the
black, in accounting terms.
Consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of the U.S. economy and
some retailers say end-of-year holiday spending accounts for about a
quarter of their annual sales. But sales this year could increase just
2.5 percent compared to 2011, according to one estimate.
Holiday sales could be hurt by the sluggish pace of the U.S. economy,
with more than 12 million workers still unemployed in the aftermath of
the recession in 2008 and 2009.
One other complication is that the White House and Congress also are
facing contentious government spending and tax issues that could further
hurt the economy if left unresolved in the waning weeks of 2012. Almost
all American workers face tax increases January 1 if the dispute is not
resolved by the end of the year.
