Should the British celebrate Thanksgiving?

You gave me pause for thought. Yes, it is a cause for shame that the British and, of course, many other immigrants since, both voluntary and involuntary, who now make up the majority of the American people have treated the indigenous peoples so poorly. It ought to be remembered that the very first Thanksgiving was celebrated jointly and with equality by the 'pilgrims' and their native hosts who were probably the main instrument in the survival of that tiny band. Not all native Americans were as welcoming to the settlers, of course, as the East coast tribes (and sometimes with good reason), though that part of history came later. Thank you for reminding us.

I would hope that, if Britain instituted a Thanksgiving, it wouldn't be simply a 'copy' of the American celebration. After all, Canada and (I believe) Australia have their own days. I can quite see that a 'national proclamation' or institution of 'Thanksgiving Day' in Britain would be sneered at and largely ignored by many simply because it was a Government edict. Many churches have a Harvest Festival but for many people this has no relevance. I agree, of course, that many people use Christmas as a day of celebration and a time when families get together. You are absolutely right that we should 'tend to feel thankful' each and every day and special people like you often remember to do so but there is, in my opinion, something to be said for having an annual day to focus on being thankful which can be shared by everyone, regardless of colour or creed.

I completely agree with you about the commercialisation of celebrations like this. If it were possible to legislate against people making money out of such special events, I would be all for it. Oliver Cromwell tried, I believe, and others have also tried by attempting to ban both the celebrations and the authorities (in most cases, the Church) that sanctioned the celebrations. It doesn't work: people need an excuse for celebration and marketers would not be marketers if they didn't try to make money out of it, much to the detriment of our pockets! There is good and bad to be said about any festivity. The good is (hopefully) concerned with what it is really about and the bad is mostly concerned with the spin that entrepreneurs have put on it (not only in recent years ... this has been going on since ancient times: think of the market stalls that congregate round any shrine or at any ancient gathering!) I agree with accepting and respecting the traditions of a host country. If I were in a foreign country, I would be most interested in celebrating whatever they celebrate along with friends from that country and, conversely, when I have foreign friends in my own country, I feel honoured to be invited to celebrate their festivals and high days in their way. What I am saying, I suppose, is that Americans, Canadians, Australians and a number of other nationalities have a day set aside for Thanksgiving - a secular day which may be celebrated by anyone in whatever befits their religious affiliation but, most of all, one which transcends any such partisanship and, potentially, at least, joins everyone, of whatever persuasion, in a common act of thanksgiving. It seemed to me that an annual act such as this would be beneficial to many (and, of course, inevitably a magnet to commercialism ... but that is something that we have no alternative to accepting, unfortunately).

I like your friend's tradition. I wish that I had instituted something like that when my family were younger. Yes, the day would certainly be turned into a commercial opportunity very quickly and, because all of that would be available 'on a plate' to retailers, it would very likely be a simple commercial copy of the American model, just as Hallowe'en is.

I don't see anywhere where I have suggested that it's this Thursday (i.e. today). I said 'On this day ...' meaning 'the day I am referring to (i.e. Thanksgiving), not 'this day that I am writing this', so your response is out of order. Why don't you address the question instead of posting pointless information? You get a minus point!

Wikipedia has a good entry about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_%28Canada%29 Basically, it's a harvest festival.

Well, if you don't mind, Peaceful, I personally shall 'borrow' yours, at least in spirit. As I said, I have a number of American friends and like to take a virtual place at their tables (I eat very little on such occasions, so there is no worry that the turkey won't go round or that the pumpkin pie slices will be any smaller!) I have only once celebrated a Thanksgiving in the accustomed manner when I was visiting a British ex-pat friend who now farms alpacas in California.

You are most welcome to do exactly that. The big feast will be Thursday evening, 6 pm US time :))