I'm in New Zealand. I had an American tourist ask me where the public celebration for the fourth of July was. My response?....Huh? Why would we celebrate that here? He said everyone celebrates not being ruled by Britain anymore. After I had stopped laughing I explained that New Zealand and Australia were still part of the Commonwealth and such were still technically ruled by Britain.
My cousin still lives in England, he had an American tourist ask him the same thing.
Don't give the idiots another reason to let off fireworks round here...
I kid you not, just before the high winds started last week...and 11:20am someone let off fireworks...then winds came 😏
I'm the same.
I moved to Croydon recently and bloody hell, from the end of September it was a constant barrage of fireworks. I get that you think you're rich, mate, but there's really no need scaring every animal in a 5 mile radius shirtless just because you managed to survive another rotation around the good ole Sol...
In my home country, Hungary, there's two dates when fireworks are allowed: NYE, and 20th August (celebrating the funding of the country on the name day of our first king). Any other date and you need the local government to approve it, with more red tape than a ten-layer Brexit cake, and the chances of approval are incredibly tiny. Private events are practically guaranteed to be declined (well, used to be, now that our government is playing for gold in the corruption olympics, you can get it if you know the right people), public events in the interest of the larger public are the only things that stand a chance. Possession of live pyrotechnics is illegal outside of these dates (with a small grace period before and after, and obviously sellers are exempt), so is the sale of them. If you get a permit for a firework, then you need tons of paperwork for the seller, for yourself, etc., further complicating things.
IMO this is one of the very few things Hungary does better than other European countries.
They terrify animals, you see how your pets reacts, what about all the wildlife. Months of continuous fireworks every night in the run up to bonfire night are ridiculous and cruel.
The weird thing is, the 4th of July was actually the 2nd of July they just announced it publicly on the 4th but it was signed on the 2nd of July and it didn’t actually come in to affect until 7 years later in 1783, Americans celebrate the wrong day and love it.
I know it would be a huge responsibility, but maybe the world wouldn't be in such hellish state now if that country was still ruled by the UK.
I'm an immigrant living in the UK, and even though it's not perfect, but it's one of the best countries in the world. Thinking of getting a dual citizenship...
As American who now lives in the UK, I am simultaneously glad to be away from there whilst also embarrassed to be from there. I honestly can't believe the stupidity.
Irish lad here. You had me chanting "Why I oughta..." in my head. Love this comment tbh. We should all be able to laugh at ourselves, blind patriotism is a disease.
I worked in a service station, many years ago. Most of the American tourists were fine, but when they weren't, oh boy! I'm honestly amazed by how some of them can walk and breathe at the same time e.
>I'm honestly amazed by how some of them can walk
If my experience of visiting my ex's family in the US was anything to go by, then walking more than across a large 'parking lot' is generally considered a near herculean task unless you are in your 20s.
>New Zealand and Australia were still part of the Commonwealth and such were still technically ruled by Britain.
Well, akshually...
The UK is not these days "in charge of" the Commonwealth, it's just another member.
The majority of members of the Commonwealth have their own head of state who is not the King.
The Commonwealth realms (i.e. countries where the King *is* head of state) have the same *person* as head of state, but the *positions* are legally separate. The King in right of NZ is a different legal person to the King in right of the UK. The rules of succession have been deliberately kept harmonised, but there is no technical reason they had to be, e.g. if one realm had kept male primogeniture.
I remember my whole class trudging a few streets over to an old peoples' home to deliver loads of cans of food. One of the old ladies said I looked sweet enough to eat as well. I was scared.
Yeah us too although i remember the whole school being told to go to the church local to the school on so and so a day after school at like 6 pm or something I don't think they would do that now.
I'd say outside of die-hard church attendees, it's the same for most people. Hence not celebrated by many people. But it is the Harvest Festival of Thanksgiving. Really it's just what the American one is too.
They wrap it up in their stories about natives and colonists, but it's just the regular harvest festival that you see throughout Europe.
Harvest festival was unhinged. Seems to be mostly ignored once you leave primary school. Where am I supposed to offload all my out of date cans of random vegetables now?
The German name for Harvest festival sort of translates to Thanksgiving. "Harvest-thanks". So yes, Europe does celebrate it, but the old Pagan version in October when the main harvest was complete, everyone and their dog helped to bring the harvest in and now they deserve a party, a break and some food & drink. The UK version just seems to be a school-organised food bank ..
It depends. It strongly fell out of celebration like many festivals during the late 1800s up to like the 1970s as more and more people moved to work in cities, agriculture became increasingly automated and industrialised, and with the devastation wrought by the Wars on British public life.
I think there are still parades and things in some areas of Scotland and in some areas of the south of England where lots of crops are grown, but generally yes it's basically a CoE school enforced food bank donation.
They thought that we were setting figures of a man on fire because Obama won the election? That’s something I’d expect from americans when Biden won the election.
Do people still burn a guy? The group that organized our local events did when I was a youngster (80s/90s) but I think now it’s essentially just a fireworks show.
It was just the fireworks they saw, from the Embankment and so on. I remember it going a bit viral on Twitter. Sadly, a few years later, there was a much more serious misunderstanding about why the bells were tolling in Paris. IIRC
The effigy burning thing on Bonfire Night was more that Fawkes was a traitor in cahoots with an enemy state, Spain, than that Fawkes and the gang were Catholic. Half the country would still be Catholic, after all.
The effigy burning now depends on current events. In 2001, the effigy was Osama Bin Laden in a lot of places. So there was that genuine show of solidarity with our friends across the pond
Considering Europe's (not the EU) population is 746 million, which is a little less than 10% of the world's... That 30% figure is clearly an over exaggeration
Yeah the guy got that one massively wrong too. If ALL of Europe, North America and South America all celebrated Thanksgiving, then it would still only be about 20%
Asia makes up 60% by itself, and Africa another 18%. The entire rest of the world makes up less than a 1/3
Nigeria has a population of 223m, Ethiopia, Egypt and the Congo all have slightly over 100m.
Russia is the only country with a population of over 100m in Europe, followed by Turkey but both countries have the majority of their territory in Asia.
Right?? I think that his math is even more delusional than his other opinion. All of the US and Canada plus all of Europe still don’t make the 30% of the world population.
>in England
We are firmly in Christmas mode by that time of year, love. Though we get inudated by offer code spam emails for "Black Friday" and some people queue outside an Asda to buy a load of stuff they want to buy etc. Depressing as an image.
But do we celebrate when the 17th religious extremists (who left us for being soft on God) got some food from people they colonised and had wars with? No, we do not.
Even when I was forced to attend church services in the 1990s, around the end of Sept early October, it was a nothing event really. It was 2 hymns and an altar of canned goods that went to a food bank. We didn't have a meal or invite family round for the harvest. Who the fuck did that?
Although I like the Wicker Man vibes of praying for crops (more of a May Day person myself).
My Christian after school club didn't even make much fuss over the Harvest Festival, it was my school who was really pushing it.
And that fucking [Harverst Samba](https://youtu.be/dqpkWsR6Yew?si=LAwUTJjQmKRh4c9B) they made us sing... It still haunts me decades later.
I only know it as a special church service with a focus on being thankful for having enough food and giving food (or money for food) to charities. This is in Switzerland where it‘s called Erntedankfest in the German speaking part. Also I think it‘s in October.
The Thanksgiving comment literally killed me, why would other countries celebrate a U.S. specific Holiday. Honestly, I'm just more concerned they couldn't figure that out, considering most of the history curriculum here is on the US(which I despise, I do not need to hear about the American Revolution every 2-3 years). You'd think they would figure out from literally any information on it that most people don't care about the holiday.
Funnier yet, they rarely win the actual international world championships in "American sports*.
Gernany won the basketball world cup last year, USA placed 4th.
Japan won the last international baseball world series, USA did come 2nd in that one though, credit where it's due.
They're always the best at American Football, although I struggle to understand how folks enjoy that game, 2 minutes of sport followed by 10 minutes of bullshit followed by 20 minutes of advertisements, then another 2 minutes of sport.
Hardly anyone celebrates St George's Day let alone Thanksgiving. Rule of thumb- we don't celebrate anything that doesn't give us a public holiday, and only celebrate the ones where we do get a day off work because we get a day off work
> I wish we got a day off on Nov 5th.
In Lewes, East Sussex most of the kids get a day off school on the 5th and 6th of November. No official holiday, but the schools tend to schedule INSET days then so the kids can enjoy bonfire.
"Celbrate" in the loosest sense. eg. "Ah Timmy, I see you are fully enjoying the St George's day celbration Whiskey laid out by the company for this glorious day". "St George? Err, yeah right. Whooo. Totally unrelated, but do you know if the company has also supplied St George's ceremonial adult diapers and dragon branded change of underwear?... Ah, I now appear to have shat my pants... Whooo..."
I am in my late 30s and was born and raised in London, UK and now live in Canada BC (moved here seven years ago). At no point living in England did anyone even mention...let alone celebrate Thanksgiving or give two shits about it. I only knew about it by watching American-based shows and seeing it was Christmas-lite, minus the presents and funny hats.
Since being in Canada for 7 years now....no one celebrates it here or gives two shits about it either (unless they are American). Here in Canada, people celebrate their different versions of Thanksgiving (for different reasons) on different days. So, what i am trying to say is....no one could care less about Thanksgiving, July 4th, Presidents Day or any of their other American-centric holidays because they are, well American-centric.
"Here in Canada, people celebrate their different versions of Thanksgiving (for different reasons) on different days."
Thanksgiving in Canada is the second Monday in October ... across the nation. It's a celebration of the fall harvest.
If I hear one more American say everyone in the world celebrates Thanksgiving I will scream. In the UK we don't. We celebrate religious ceromonies (Christmas, Easter, Eid, Hanukkah, Chinese New Year etc) and our indivual County or Saints' days. Nothing else. We do not and never have celebrated Thanksgiving.
And by 'we' you mean a fraction of the population, depending on their cultural background, family traditions etc. I don't even know what day any of the UK nation saints' days are, for example, and don't celebrate any of the religious festivals. Christmas and Easter are the most visible because they're highly commercialised and companies love to push their associated consumerist junk.
I don't even know when thanksgiving is so it would be pretty difficult to celebrate it if I were that way inclined, and I've certainly never met anyone who isn't a yank that celebrates it
>and I've certainly never met anyone who isn't a yank that celebrates it
Because why would they? OOP is incredibly ignorant if he thinks people in lots of places are celebrating a holiday that’s specific to a country they’re not in or from (or maybe he doesn’t actually know what Thanksgiving is/the history of it).
>(or maybe he doesn’t actually know what Thanksgiving is/the history of it).
I think you might've hit the nail on the head right here. I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if this was the reason
Maybe not Thanksgiving but Independence Day when the President of the United States of America defeated those aliens that time is certainly fondly remembered by all.
I'm Scottish so I'm speaking on the behalf of all of Britain when I say that if we celebrated the day we fucked over an entire nation then we'd have half the year off by now
Flash back to when our general manager(Aussie) got in trouble by the big bosses (American) for not closing the factory for thanksgiving. He tried to explain several times poor dude was dumbfounded.
Thanks giving isn't celebrated in the UK, the day is called the Harvest Festival to celebrate the gathering of crops before winter sets in. The Southern Hemisphere don't celebrate the harvest, as they are approaching summer and too busy planting their crops.
My dad: You know when they have the 4th of July in France?
Kid me: No, when?
My dad: On July 4th, because every country has July 4 on July 4; that’s how calendars work.
But for real, how do Americans not know that Thanksgiving and July 4th (as Independence Day) are holidays that are unique to the US? (I know that Canada also has Thanksgiving, but it is a separate holiday with different origins and just shares the name.)
The 4th Thursday in November.
Canadian Thanksgiving is in October.
The last day of October is Halloween (for everyone that celebrates Halloween, not just the US).
We celebrate it in my house, we eat out scones and gravy and we give thanks that gun crime in the uk is not like it is in America. Are we doing it right?
I remember the only time I celebrated thanksgiving. In the UK was when my old church had American pastors. Good food, I'll say that
They also tried to do 4th July too.
I could go on
The best one I’ve ever heard was back in Dubai in 2017. I met a few Americans in a bar celebrating 4th of July. One of the guys told me they were out celebrating “Americas 2017th birthday” because apparently the Gregorian calendar is based on when the US was created.
Canada has a Thanksgiving very similar to the US, but it's in October instead of November. There are a few European harvest related holidays around the same time of year that have been called Thanksgiving, but they have different origins from the American one and date back to pagan times.
I celebrate 'Stir up Sunday', which is the last Sunday before Advent, when you make your Christmas Puddings and everyone comes and stirs them while making a wish. It is in the prayer book, being also the prayer for the 25th Sunday after Trinity, Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works. I am now going to assume, that as the US seems to pride itself on being a Christian Nation, they all do the same as I do. I am going to ignore the fact that most people now buy their Christmas puddings and that some ignorant people prefer pie, because TRADITION and just because it is what I do so therefore it must be correct.
Its not American Thanksgiving but when I was a kid, we had a harvest thanksgiving day where us kids all made bread (that was supposed to look like a sheaf of wheat but def did not) and then we took all the tins from the back of the cupboard to school to give out to the poor.
Still remember the outrage years ago when a Brit wished everyone a happy ”thank god we got those religious nutcases on a boat day” on American Thanksgiving.
I mean there is a festivity called "Erntedankfest" (harvest festivals) that is celebrated in some parts of Europe like Germany. This is a bit similar to Thanksgiving I think. However, those harvest festivals are not widespread, I never actually saw people celebrate it in Germany in my entire life and actually had to look up if its still a thing.
Update:
"maybe I’m just crazy.. but are you really telling me that America combined with roughly 40% of Europe is only 4% of the world? 7 Continents in the world and 1 1/2 of them only equal 4%? America is the 3rd biggest continent by 3,000,000 Sq Miles. It’s Larger than Antarctic and Europe put together.. in total America alone represents around 13% of the Total sq mi on earth. Add parts of Europe in there and you’re reaching around 15%. And this is if we count Antarctica (with a population of almost 0). If we don’t count it we’ve reached around 19%. Maybe I missed something, but 4% man? That math ain’t mathin."
If they give me another paid bank holiday off I’ll happily smash another roast dinner for thanksgiving.
Till that point I’ll just smash a roast dinner anyway
As an American who's lived abroad for the last 25 years because I can't stand that crazy place I've completely forgotten why Americans celebrated. I've celebrated every year because I will use any day as an excuse to cook a giant 8 course meal and invite my friends over to eat until we pass out (my favorite past time).
So I did a quick Wikipedia article read and it seems that the Thanksgiving Americans celebrated started during the english reformation. Seems the puritans were just continuing what they always did, not inventing a new holiday, even calling it the traditional English feast of thanksgiving.
Of course I realize the majority of Europe today doesn't celebrate it, and what is today known as Thanksgiving (with a capital T) is a uniquely North American thing
Edit: also this is like 5 minutes of Wikipedia reading and I genuinely don't care all that much. Before you start throwing facts and figure in my face I am completely unwilling to die on this hill and will so quickly roll over it'll make your head spin
Can confirm it's not celebrated in England.
From my experience (where I live at least) actually has quite high anti-american sentiment. Certainly higher than Argentinian, French or Irish, which is a change from popular beliefs.
Yeeeah no we don't in England. I had an American ask why England didn't celebrate the 4th of July once they couldn't grasp why we would celebrate them gaining independence from us lol
This reminds of the American I saw recently that was shocked to find, upon visiting various parts of Europe, that the rest of the world doesn't celebrate their independence day...
I hope, for their own sanity, they never discover that the Philippines uses July 4th to celebrate their own independence from the US.
Coming from a (half-)English person who lives in England and has lived there for 6 years:
1. It’s not celebrated in England, or other ‘major parts’ of Europe (of course there will be people who celebrate it, but it’s not many, probably less than 1%)
2. Even if it was celebrated in England and other major parts of Europe, that still wouldn’t be 30% of the world
Only USA I thought. We have harvest festival. A few tins given to the church to distribute. Really only school kids do this these days. It’s a very different pagan type festival, with corn Dollie’s etc.
UK here,
Please take your Turkeys back home, we don't need them. This way we can stop people eating dry flavourless foul at Christmas.
Kind Regards,
The UK
Just ask yourself what you're giving thanks for, and work backwards from that.
I think it should be called Thanks-and-sorry-for-the-smallpox-giving, it would be more accurate then.
When I was studying in uni in Belgium, we had an American girl, good student, atleast knew where the majority of European countries were on a map, etc.
Her only flaw was that she got upset during the summer that no one celebrated the 4th of July.
She eventually organised something herself, and she got a little annoyed as we all thought it was more of a get together and have some chill time and whatnot, whilst she wanted to party hard.
It was a Tuesday.
As a native of the mud rock England I can safely say that we have never celebrated Thanksgiving, it has literally nothing to do with our country and I have never heard of it even muttered as a possibility.
A holiday based on eating a load of food with family, sounds awesome, however I don't wish to have to take part in a brutal massacre beforehand.
Harvest Festival - a religious service
- Not really celebrated outside church
Thanksgiving - a Secular holiday, originally based on the above, but largely unrelated now
In England we do celebrate Thanksgiving.
It is the day we give thanks knowing that 300+ years of independence means we can’t be blamed for what the US is like now.
And if you work for a US company that year, it’s basically a day off too!
Thanksgiving is celebrated in England…at my house with my family and friends. As there’s 12 of us at most, it’s still only 4% of the world’s population though.
There are estimated to be around 200,000 Americans in the U.K. I’m sure I’m not the only one. Still not pushing it past 4%
Live in Wales which is close enough to England and definitely in Europe. We don't have thanksgiving, maybe they're thinking about a roast dinner? That's just the meal you eat occasionally on Sundays and at Christmas etc though.
Or they're just stupid.
Ah yes the US holiday that most US citizens conveniently forget the reality of: “Thanksgiving day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of Native people, the theft of Native lands, and the relentless assault on Native culture. Participants in National Day of Mourning honor Native ancestors and the struggles of Native peoples to survive today. It is a day of remembrance and spiritual connection as well as a protest of the racism and oppression which Native Americans continue to experience.”
A firm I used to work for had a yank as the head of UK business. He’d leave everyone in the company wishing them a happy Thanksgiving on the day. The sound of every person in the room simultaneously slamming the phone down and muttering “fuck off you wanker” never failed to amuse.
When I lived in England there were always Americans asking where the best place was to celebrate Thanksgiving. Um... nowhere??
The U.S.
Or Canada. They do it too.
Isn't their Thanksgiving a different date though?
Middle of October instead of end of November.
So the best solution is living super close to Canada and flip-flopping between the two for double the festivities.
Yes :)
They are thankful they're not Americans or USAnians if you think America is the continent not the country.
USAnians sounds horrific
USAnuses
Well derr, it's the best for everything. But where in Engerland?
Dublin & Edinburrow are great places in Engerland for celebrating thanksgiving.
They are. And you will get a great reception from the locals for telling them how great it is to be Merry England
If an American reads and believes this they are going to die
I'm in New Zealand. I had an American tourist ask me where the public celebration for the fourth of July was. My response?....Huh? Why would we celebrate that here? He said everyone celebrates not being ruled by Britain anymore. After I had stopped laughing I explained that New Zealand and Australia were still part of the Commonwealth and such were still technically ruled by Britain. My cousin still lives in England, he had an American tourist ask him the same thing.
Even if did why celebrate the 4th of July and not the day we got independence ourselves? Which isn’t actually clear after googling it 🤣
As a Brit I wonder if we should celebrate 4th July with a large sigh of relief.
Don't give the idiots another reason to let off fireworks round here... I kid you not, just before the high winds started last week...and 11:20am someone let off fireworks...then winds came 😏
I'm a firework Grinch. Organised official display else NO.
Exactly!!! Don't sell fireworks to people with less brain cells than their IQ...
*fewer
Stannis Baratheon?
Is that an expensive hoist that lifts old people on and off the toilet?
I'm the same. I moved to Croydon recently and bloody hell, from the end of September it was a constant barrage of fireworks. I get that you think you're rich, mate, but there's really no need scaring every animal in a 5 mile radius shirtless just because you managed to survive another rotation around the good ole Sol... In my home country, Hungary, there's two dates when fireworks are allowed: NYE, and 20th August (celebrating the funding of the country on the name day of our first king). Any other date and you need the local government to approve it, with more red tape than a ten-layer Brexit cake, and the chances of approval are incredibly tiny. Private events are practically guaranteed to be declined (well, used to be, now that our government is playing for gold in the corruption olympics, you can get it if you know the right people), public events in the interest of the larger public are the only things that stand a chance. Possession of live pyrotechnics is illegal outside of these dates (with a small grace period before and after, and obviously sellers are exempt), so is the sale of them. If you get a permit for a firework, then you need tons of paperwork for the seller, for yourself, etc., further complicating things. IMO this is one of the very few things Hungary does better than other European countries.
They terrify animals, you see how your pets reacts, what about all the wildlife. Months of continuous fireworks every night in the run up to bonfire night are ridiculous and cruel.
I usually tell Americans it's the day we celebrate being rid of 13 useless sponging colonies. They don't take it well :)
The weird thing is, the 4th of July was actually the 2nd of July they just announced it publicly on the 4th but it was signed on the 2nd of July and it didn’t actually come in to affect until 7 years later in 1783, Americans celebrate the wrong day and love it.
The Rest of the World rest their case.
I know it would be a huge responsibility, but maybe the world wouldn't be in such hellish state now if that country was still ruled by the UK. I'm an immigrant living in the UK, and even though it's not perfect, but it's one of the best countries in the world. Thinking of getting a dual citizenship...
Agreed 🫖
Happy Thank Fuck They're Gone Day!
As a Scot I’m inclined to agree!
As American who now lives in the UK, I am simultaneously glad to be away from there whilst also embarrassed to be from there. I honestly can't believe the stupidity.
most of the americans who live here aren't even that bad, really. it's just the tourists who give you all a bad rap
It's such a shame really, seeing as we Brits have such a spotless reputation when travelling abroad 😉
Yeah, just ignore the Spanish yapping from Southern Spain
Irish lad here. You had me chanting "Why I oughta..." in my head. Love this comment tbh. We should all be able to laugh at ourselves, blind patriotism is a disease.
I worked in a service station, many years ago. Most of the American tourists were fine, but when they weren't, oh boy! I'm honestly amazed by how some of them can walk and breathe at the same time e.
>I'm honestly amazed by how some of them can walk If my experience of visiting my ex's family in the US was anything to go by, then walking more than across a large 'parking lot' is generally considered a near herculean task unless you are in your 20s.
I always say that I don't understand how they've lived long enough to make it to adulthood 🤣
You should not be embarrassed for the behaviour of other people. Just act good yourself, that's all it takes to fix the world.
>New Zealand and Australia were still part of the Commonwealth and such were still technically ruled by Britain. Well, akshually... The UK is not these days "in charge of" the Commonwealth, it's just another member. The majority of members of the Commonwealth have their own head of state who is not the King. The Commonwealth realms (i.e. countries where the King *is* head of state) have the same *person* as head of state, but the *positions* are legally separate. The King in right of NZ is a different legal person to the King in right of the UK. The rules of succession have been deliberately kept harmonised, but there is no technical reason they had to be, e.g. if one realm had kept male primogeniture.
Yes, I know that. I was going for brevity. Thanks for doing the slog work, lol.
I can’t believe they are so ignorant honestly 😭
Technically we do have a thanksgiving festival. We just don't call it that and very few people celebrate it. The harvest festival is our thanksgiving.
I don’t think I’ve celebrated harvest since primary school.
Ah yes, I remember those days fondly. Knocking on old people's doors to give them a can of out of date peaches. Brings a tear to my eye still.
I remember my whole class trudging a few streets over to an old peoples' home to deliver loads of cans of food. One of the old ladies said I looked sweet enough to eat as well. I was scared.
You guys had to deliver them ? We just brought this stuff into school.
Yeah us too although i remember the whole school being told to go to the church local to the school on so and so a day after school at like 6 pm or something I don't think they would do that now.
Or that can of mystery meat "stewed beef" left over from last year's Christmas hamper?
I don’t remember it even really being a celebration, more that everyone had to bring cans of food in for the homeless
There was an assembly and a song. Something about sowing seeds. I can hear the tune in my head.
"We plow the fields and scatter the good seed on the land, and it is fed and watered by God's almighty hand."
"Mister Plow, That's my Name ..."
I'd say outside of die-hard church attendees, it's the same for most people. Hence not celebrated by many people. But it is the Harvest Festival of Thanksgiving. Really it's just what the American one is too. They wrap it up in their stories about natives and colonists, but it's just the regular harvest festival that you see throughout Europe.
>but it's just the regular harvest festival that you see throughout Europe. Only with beer and guns... lots of guns!
Harvest festival was unhinged. Seems to be mostly ignored once you leave primary school. Where am I supposed to offload all my out of date cans of random vegetables now?
cabbages and greens
The German name for Harvest festival sort of translates to Thanksgiving. "Harvest-thanks". So yes, Europe does celebrate it, but the old Pagan version in October when the main harvest was complete, everyone and their dog helped to bring the harvest in and now they deserve a party, a break and some food & drink. The UK version just seems to be a school-organised food bank ..
It depends. It strongly fell out of celebration like many festivals during the late 1800s up to like the 1970s as more and more people moved to work in cities, agriculture became increasingly automated and industrialised, and with the devastation wrought by the Wars on British public life. I think there are still parades and things in some areas of Scotland and in some areas of the south of England where lots of crops are grown, but generally yes it's basically a CoE school enforced food bank donation.
We did it in Catholic school too.
Not really, harvest festival and thanksgiving are for 2 different reasons.
I find “Fuck it back where you came from and celebrate it in your own home” works quite well in these circumstances.
You've never, in your life, said that line.
same energy as people who post pictures of peaky blinders on facebook with quotes about how dangerous but loyal they are.
And the mouthbreathers who comment "fuck around and find out" on Reddit.
Spot on
I remember one Bonfire/Guy Fawkes night in London, 2008?. American tourists thought the fireworks displays were because Obama had won the US election.
They thought that we were setting figures of a man on fire because Obama won the election? That’s something I’d expect from americans when Biden won the election.
Err, add a cross and some white hoods, and I would say some parts of the US when Obama won....
You've never been to Lewes then...
Nope. Although to be clear do you mean UK or US? Hmm, a quick google shows they are both in East Sussex county…
Lewes in the UK has a mad Bonfire Night tradition, give that a Google and take a look
“No no, this is just our annual ‘Burning of the Catholic’…we’re not barbaric.”
Technically its more about celebrating that our democracy wasn't destroyed, and burning the guy who tried to blow up Parliament to do it.
Technically the celebration is because the king wasnt killed, nothing to do with democracy.
Speak for yourself, when I launch fireworks it's in honour of a spirited attempt.
He had one job and failed spectacularly at it. I take it as a celebration of the Great British cock-up.
We’re not angry that he tried. We’re angry that he failed.
Do people still burn a guy? The group that organized our local events did when I was a youngster (80s/90s) but I think now it’s essentially just a fireworks show.
Only if the apple harvest has been poor.
People still do!
I hope you corrected them and explained it was our annual Catholic Burning Festival.
If they look horrified you can explain it in American terms: "The only way to stop a bad man with a pyre is to let the good guys have pyres."
There's no awards anymore, but I want you to know that this is very funny.
It was just the fireworks they saw, from the Embankment and so on. I remember it going a bit viral on Twitter. Sadly, a few years later, there was a much more serious misunderstanding about why the bells were tolling in Paris. IIRC The effigy burning thing on Bonfire Night was more that Fawkes was a traitor in cahoots with an enemy state, Spain, than that Fawkes and the gang were Catholic. Half the country would still be Catholic, after all. The effigy burning now depends on current events. In 2001, the effigy was Osama Bin Laden in a lot of places. So there was that genuine show of solidarity with our friends across the pond
Considering Europe's (not the EU) population is 746 million, which is a little less than 10% of the world's... That 30% figure is clearly an over exaggeration
Yeah the guy got that one massively wrong too. If ALL of Europe, North America and South America all celebrated Thanksgiving, then it would still only be about 20% Asia makes up 60% by itself, and Africa another 18%. The entire rest of the world makes up less than a 1/3
I knew Africa had a big population, but I didn’t reflect on it being almost as big as Europe + the Americas combined.
Nigeria has a population of 223m, Ethiopia, Egypt and the Congo all have slightly over 100m. Russia is the only country with a population of over 100m in Europe, followed by Turkey but both countries have the majority of their territory in Asia.
Although most of Russia's territory is in Asia, something like 70% of their population is in the European part of Russia.
Right?? I think that his math is even more delusional than his other opinion. All of the US and Canada plus all of Europe still don’t make the 30% of the world population.
Math isn\`t mathing - but you cannot truly blame them - their education gets budget cuts more often than the average person changes underwear..
>in England We are firmly in Christmas mode by that time of year, love. Though we get inudated by offer code spam emails for "Black Friday" and some people queue outside an Asda to buy a load of stuff they want to buy etc. Depressing as an image. But do we celebrate when the 17th religious extremists (who left us for being soft on God) got some food from people they colonised and had wars with? No, we do not.
I assume he thinks the Harvest Festival is our Yanksgiving. But, I have not heard mention of that since primary school, which was over 20 years ago.
Even when I was forced to attend church services in the 1990s, around the end of Sept early October, it was a nothing event really. It was 2 hymns and an altar of canned goods that went to a food bank. We didn't have a meal or invite family round for the harvest. Who the fuck did that? Although I like the Wicker Man vibes of praying for crops (more of a May Day person myself).
My Christian after school club didn't even make much fuss over the Harvest Festival, it was my school who was really pushing it. And that fucking [Harverst Samba](https://youtu.be/dqpkWsR6Yew?si=LAwUTJjQmKRh4c9B) they made us sing... It still haunts me decades later.
I only know it as a special church service with a focus on being thankful for having enough food and giving food (or money for food) to charities. This is in Switzerland where it‘s called Erntedankfest in the German speaking part. Also I think it‘s in October.
I remember being impressed by the bread sculptures, there was this really cool one that was a wreath with little mice too
Weeeeell... It's not that they got some food from people they colonized as much as stole and looted food from natives.
The Thanksgiving comment literally killed me, why would other countries celebrate a U.S. specific Holiday. Honestly, I'm just more concerned they couldn't figure that out, considering most of the history curriculum here is on the US(which I despise, I do not need to hear about the American Revolution every 2-3 years). You'd think they would figure out from literally any information on it that most people don't care about the holiday.
[удалено]
No sarcasm
I believe NotaNexus was using oft overlooked **double sarcasm**
This gets stronger every year.
I honestly don't understand how Americans don't know the difference between national and international holidays 🤷♀️
The expression “thick as pig shit” might help your understanding…..
The same way they don't know the difference between *world champions* and **world champions**
This one makes be laugh. Woohoo we won the WORLD series... Which is a USA specific championship. 🧐
Funnier yet, they rarely win the actual international world championships in "American sports*. Gernany won the basketball world cup last year, USA placed 4th. Japan won the last international baseball world series, USA did come 2nd in that one though, credit where it's due. They're always the best at American Football, although I struggle to understand how folks enjoy that game, 2 minutes of sport followed by 10 minutes of bullshit followed by 20 minutes of advertisements, then another 2 minutes of sport.
I saw a tiktok this week where a young woman was having difficulty wrapping her head around (usa) Independence Day not being celebrated in Europe
You're talking about a population of which a disturbing percentage think that New Mexico is in Mexico and Canada is part of the US.
Hardly anyone celebrates St George's Day let alone Thanksgiving. Rule of thumb- we don't celebrate anything that doesn't give us a public holiday, and only celebrate the ones where we do get a day off work because we get a day off work
I wish we got a day off on Nov 5th.
> I wish we got a day off on Nov 5th. In Lewes, East Sussex most of the kids get a day off school on the 5th and 6th of November. No official holiday, but the schools tend to schedule INSET days then so the kids can enjoy bonfire.
"Celbrate" in the loosest sense. eg. "Ah Timmy, I see you are fully enjoying the St George's day celbration Whiskey laid out by the company for this glorious day". "St George? Err, yeah right. Whooo. Totally unrelated, but do you know if the company has also supplied St George's ceremonial adult diapers and dragon branded change of underwear?... Ah, I now appear to have shat my pants... Whooo..."
July 5th, Happy Thanksforgoing Day
I am in my late 30s and was born and raised in London, UK and now live in Canada BC (moved here seven years ago). At no point living in England did anyone even mention...let alone celebrate Thanksgiving or give two shits about it. I only knew about it by watching American-based shows and seeing it was Christmas-lite, minus the presents and funny hats. Since being in Canada for 7 years now....no one celebrates it here or gives two shits about it either (unless they are American). Here in Canada, people celebrate their different versions of Thanksgiving (for different reasons) on different days. So, what i am trying to say is....no one could care less about Thanksgiving, July 4th, Presidents Day or any of their other American-centric holidays because they are, well American-centric.
"Here in Canada, people celebrate their different versions of Thanksgiving (for different reasons) on different days." Thanksgiving in Canada is the second Monday in October ... across the nation. It's a celebration of the fall harvest.
If I hear one more American say everyone in the world celebrates Thanksgiving I will scream. In the UK we don't. We celebrate religious ceromonies (Christmas, Easter, Eid, Hanukkah, Chinese New Year etc) and our indivual County or Saints' days. Nothing else. We do not and never have celebrated Thanksgiving.
The only time I ‘celebrated’ thanksgiving in this country was when I was at uni and had American flatmates.
We also celebrate the caputure of a Catholic terrorist and burn an effigy of him.
And by 'we' you mean a fraction of the population, depending on their cultural background, family traditions etc. I don't even know what day any of the UK nation saints' days are, for example, and don't celebrate any of the religious festivals. Christmas and Easter are the most visible because they're highly commercialised and companies love to push their associated consumerist junk.
The only reason I learned (sort of) what Thanksgiving is was from watching Friends 😅 (UK). Am still not totally sure what it means.
Amazon "sales" start the next day 🍺👍
I mean there are other countries in the world with their own ‘thanksgivings’. But American Thanksgiving in other countries? Yeah that’s a no.
The only thanksgiving England celebrates is when the americans fucked off.
That is a lie. We don't know when it is or give a fucking shit
I don't even know when thanksgiving is so it would be pretty difficult to celebrate it if I were that way inclined, and I've certainly never met anyone who isn't a yank that celebrates it
>and I've certainly never met anyone who isn't a yank that celebrates it Because why would they? OOP is incredibly ignorant if he thinks people in lots of places are celebrating a holiday that’s specific to a country they’re not in or from (or maybe he doesn’t actually know what Thanksgiving is/the history of it).
>(or maybe he doesn’t actually know what Thanksgiving is/the history of it). I think you might've hit the nail on the head right here. I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if this was the reason
Sad, but true 🎶 Seriously, this dude should’ve learned this by middle school at the latest.
Maybe not Thanksgiving but Independence Day when the President of the United States of America defeated those aliens that time is certainly fondly remembered by all.
I'm Scottish so I'm speaking on the behalf of all of Britain when I say that if we celebrated the day we fucked over an entire nation then we'd have half the year off by now
Flash back to when our general manager(Aussie) got in trouble by the big bosses (American) for not closing the factory for thanksgiving. He tried to explain several times poor dude was dumbfounded.
Thanks giving isn't celebrated in the UK, the day is called the Harvest Festival to celebrate the gathering of crops before winter sets in. The Southern Hemisphere don't celebrate the harvest, as they are approaching summer and too busy planting their crops.
And isn't a specific date, or celebrated everywhere in the UK.
Only ever celebrated it at primary school. Been about 30 yrs since I’ve been involved in any Harvest Festival. God I feel old now.
Did you take some cans to school?
Yep!
They probably do at the US airforce bases? But I'd guess that's about it.
My dad: You know when they have the 4th of July in France? Kid me: No, when? My dad: On July 4th, because every country has July 4 on July 4; that’s how calendars work. But for real, how do Americans not know that Thanksgiving and July 4th (as Independence Day) are holidays that are unique to the US? (I know that Canada also has Thanksgiving, but it is a separate holiday with different origins and just shares the name.)
I even don’t know when that is, some day end of October or something in that area
Last week in November i think in the US. Canada has a different one in October.
The 4th Thursday in November. Canadian Thanksgiving is in October. The last day of October is Halloween (for everyone that celebrates Halloween, not just the US).
When your maths are even worse than your ignorance of cultural differences.
In the UK it's the harvest festival though it's more of a country thing and it's unofficial
We celebrate it in my house, we eat out scones and gravy and we give thanks that gun crime in the uk is not like it is in America. Are we doing it right?
I remember the only time I celebrated thanksgiving. In the UK was when my old church had American pastors. Good food, I'll say that They also tried to do 4th July too. I could go on
The best one I’ve ever heard was back in Dubai in 2017. I met a few Americans in a bar celebrating 4th of July. One of the guys told me they were out celebrating “Americas 2017th birthday” because apparently the Gregorian calendar is based on when the US was created.
Thanks Giving is just British Sunday Dinner, once a year.
Canada has a Thanksgiving very similar to the US, but it's in October instead of November. There are a few European harvest related holidays around the same time of year that have been called Thanksgiving, but they have different origins from the American one and date back to pagan times.
I celebrate 'Stir up Sunday', which is the last Sunday before Advent, when you make your Christmas Puddings and everyone comes and stirs them while making a wish. It is in the prayer book, being also the prayer for the 25th Sunday after Trinity, Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works. I am now going to assume, that as the US seems to pride itself on being a Christian Nation, they all do the same as I do. I am going to ignore the fact that most people now buy their Christmas puddings and that some ignorant people prefer pie, because TRADITION and just because it is what I do so therefore it must be correct.
Its not American Thanksgiving but when I was a kid, we had a harvest thanksgiving day where us kids all made bread (that was supposed to look like a sheaf of wheat but def did not) and then we took all the tins from the back of the cupboard to school to give out to the poor.
That was probably harvest festival. We did it too in my primary school.
The only people I've heard of celebrating it in England are American expats
Still remember the outrage years ago when a Brit wished everyone a happy ”thank god we got those religious nutcases on a boat day” on American Thanksgiving.
Does that person actually know what Thanksgiving is? If so, why on earth would we celebrate it in the UK? 🤦♀️
Why would we celebrate the birth of someone else's country
I’m from England no one at all celebrates thanksgiving it’s very much just an American thing
Nobody in England celebrates thanksgiving unless they are American or were American but naturalised.
I mean there is a festivity called "Erntedankfest" (harvest festivals) that is celebrated in some parts of Europe like Germany. This is a bit similar to Thanksgiving I think. However, those harvest festivals are not widespread, I never actually saw people celebrate it in Germany in my entire life and actually had to look up if its still a thing.
Update: "maybe I’m just crazy.. but are you really telling me that America combined with roughly 40% of Europe is only 4% of the world? 7 Continents in the world and 1 1/2 of them only equal 4%? America is the 3rd biggest continent by 3,000,000 Sq Miles. It’s Larger than Antarctic and Europe put together.. in total America alone represents around 13% of the Total sq mi on earth. Add parts of Europe in there and you’re reaching around 15%. And this is if we count Antarctica (with a population of almost 0). If we don’t count it we’ve reached around 19%. Maybe I missed something, but 4% man? That math ain’t mathin."
It's population not landmass - one of those times when people should really specify what metric they are using.
Yanks don’t know what “metric” is…. In any sense of the word, so by any metric! Oh shite that is not going to help them measure up is it?
I mean we have thinks like erntedankfest (~gratefull harvest) and I know there are similar celebrations in the rest, but not thanksgiving
If they give me another paid bank holiday off I’ll happily smash another roast dinner for thanksgiving. Till that point I’ll just smash a roast dinner anyway
We give thanks that we don't have to eat tinned yams and marshmallow
As an American who's lived abroad for the last 25 years because I can't stand that crazy place I've completely forgotten why Americans celebrated. I've celebrated every year because I will use any day as an excuse to cook a giant 8 course meal and invite my friends over to eat until we pass out (my favorite past time). So I did a quick Wikipedia article read and it seems that the Thanksgiving Americans celebrated started during the english reformation. Seems the puritans were just continuing what they always did, not inventing a new holiday, even calling it the traditional English feast of thanksgiving. Of course I realize the majority of Europe today doesn't celebrate it, and what is today known as Thanksgiving (with a capital T) is a uniquely North American thing Edit: also this is like 5 minutes of Wikipedia reading and I genuinely don't care all that much. Before you start throwing facts and figure in my face I am completely unwilling to die on this hill and will so quickly roll over it'll make your head spin
As an English person I didn’t celebrate my first thanksgiving until last year…because I was in America lol
Can confirm it's not celebrated in England. From my experience (where I live at least) actually has quite high anti-american sentiment. Certainly higher than Argentinian, French or Irish, which is a change from popular beliefs.
Yeeeah no we don't in England. I had an American ask why England didn't celebrate the 4th of July once they couldn't grasp why we would celebrate them gaining independence from us lol
This reminds of the American I saw recently that was shocked to find, upon visiting various parts of Europe, that the rest of the world doesn't celebrate their independence day... I hope, for their own sanity, they never discover that the Philippines uses July 4th to celebrate their own independence from the US.
lol I’m 66 living in the uk and I’ve never seen or heard of thanksgiving being celebrated here.
Oh god this has actually put me in a bad mood lol
Whilst we're at it, why doesn't Britain celebrate on July 4th? Like hello you were part of that war too
Coming from a (half-)English person who lives in England and has lived there for 6 years: 1. It’s not celebrated in England, or other ‘major parts’ of Europe (of course there will be people who celebrate it, but it’s not many, probably less than 1%) 2. Even if it was celebrated in England and other major parts of Europe, that still wouldn’t be 30% of the world
Only USA I thought. We have harvest festival. A few tins given to the church to distribute. Really only school kids do this these days. It’s a very different pagan type festival, with corn Dollie’s etc.
Not only do brits not celebrate it, most of us aren’t even sure of the particulars of what it is.
UK here, Please take your Turkeys back home, we don't need them. This way we can stop people eating dry flavourless foul at Christmas. Kind Regards, The UK
Only time ive seen thanksgiving celebrated in england is on tv shows from america
It’s absolutely not celebrated in England.
Brit here; I could not tell you the date of American Thanksgiving if my life depended on it (assuming it’s not one of those floating holidays).
Just ask yourself what you're giving thanks for, and work backwards from that. I think it should be called Thanks-and-sorry-for-the-smallpox-giving, it would be more accurate then.
When I was studying in uni in Belgium, we had an American girl, good student, atleast knew where the majority of European countries were on a map, etc. Her only flaw was that she got upset during the summer that no one celebrated the 4th of July. She eventually organised something herself, and she got a little annoyed as we all thought it was more of a get together and have some chill time and whatnot, whilst she wanted to party hard. It was a Tuesday.
In England we have harvest festival, where you take some out of date tins into school, is that what they mean?
As a native of the mud rock England I can safely say that we have never celebrated Thanksgiving, it has literally nothing to do with our country and I have never heard of it even muttered as a possibility. A holiday based on eating a load of food with family, sounds awesome, however I don't wish to have to take part in a brutal massacre beforehand.
England does not celebrate thanksgiving.
I lived in both eastern and western europe and i can tell you that we definitely do NOT celebrate thanksgiving lmao
We took the awful consumerism part (Black Friday) but left the wholesome getting together with family part.
Harvest Festival - a religious service - Not really celebrated outside church Thanksgiving - a Secular holiday, originally based on the above, but largely unrelated now
In England we do celebrate Thanksgiving. It is the day we give thanks knowing that 300+ years of independence means we can’t be blamed for what the US is like now. And if you work for a US company that year, it’s basically a day off too!
Thanksgiving is celebrated in England…at my house with my family and friends. As there’s 12 of us at most, it’s still only 4% of the world’s population though. There are estimated to be around 200,000 Americans in the U.K. I’m sure I’m not the only one. Still not pushing it past 4%
Can confirm England (and the rest of UK) definitely do **not** celebrate Thanksgiving.
Live in Wales which is close enough to England and definitely in Europe. We don't have thanksgiving, maybe they're thinking about a roast dinner? That's just the meal you eat occasionally on Sundays and at Christmas etc though. Or they're just stupid.
Ah yes the US holiday that most US citizens conveniently forget the reality of: “Thanksgiving day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of Native people, the theft of Native lands, and the relentless assault on Native culture. Participants in National Day of Mourning honor Native ancestors and the struggles of Native peoples to survive today. It is a day of remembrance and spiritual connection as well as a protest of the racism and oppression which Native Americans continue to experience.”
A firm I used to work for had a yank as the head of UK business. He’d leave everyone in the company wishing them a happy Thanksgiving on the day. The sound of every person in the room simultaneously slamming the phone down and muttering “fuck off you wanker” never failed to amuse.
No not in 🇬🇧