While Thanksgiving is regarded as one of the most popular holidays, it is also often ignored due to the massive popularity of Christmas. You may have noticed that Christmas decorations have already begun to sell in mid-November. As November continues, decorations related to Thanksgiving begin to decline quickly and are replaced with Christmas decorations. As Thanksgiving gets closer, the opposite would happen, but it seems like Thanksgiving is often pushed aside in favor of the much more popular holiday Christmas. The question then arises as to why Thanksgiving is usually disregarded in favor of Christmas.
Tradition
A factor that may significantly impact why Thanksgiving is less popular than Christmas is because of traditional values. While Thanksgiving is considered significant, it has only been around for over 400 years. On the other hand, Christmas has been celebrated for over a thousand years, which has made Christmas rooted in some families’ history more than
Thanksgiving.
Also, there are more traditions tied to Christmas than there are for Thanksgiving. During Christmas, there are many traditions. Some include putting up a tree, getting gifts for those you care about, and watching popular Christmas movies. By comparison, there are far fewer traditions that are tied to Thanksgiving. Still, these traditions are necessary, such as watching the Thanksgiving parade, making Thanksgiving dinner, and enjoying time while eating with the family. Both of these holidays have important traditional values to our culture, but overall, Christmas is considered more traditionally integral to our culture due to its existence longer than Thanksgiving.
Worldwide significance
Simply put, Christmas is celebrated worldwide far more than Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is considered a very important holiday in the United States, and as such, it is celebrated across America, but it is not considered as important to the rest of the world. Christmas is considered to be an important holiday across 160 countries throughout the world, which has caused its popularity to become greater than Thanksgiving’s.
This difference in worldwide significance stems from Thanksgiving’s roots in American culture while Christmas’s roots in a very well-known religion. This has caused Thanksgiving to be mainly celebrated and appreciated by the United States and, to a lesser extent, Canada. Christmas, on the other hand, due to its larger demographic, has become a worldwide cultural phenomenon that began with religious roots, but due to the marketing of the holiday, it now appeals to nearly the entirety of the world.
Marketing
Thanksgiving is considered a top-rated holiday in America overall, and it garners a lot of public praise. Due to Thanksgiving, November is the month when food is sold out more than any other time in the year. But when it comes to mass public appeal, it is hard to ignore the astounding marketing of Christmas. Most years before Thanksgiving even passes, you will see Christmas decorations being sold at stores along with Christmas-related merchandise. People try to celebrate Christmas as soon as possible because of the mass marketing that is associated with Christmas. If you compare the marketing of Thanksgiving and Christmas, you will see that there is far more Christmas merchandise than Thanksgiving. To celebrate Thanksgiving, people will buy turkey and other food commodities. But for Christmas, people buy trees, decorations, gifts, and seasonal foods. Besides the entire feast, many families scrape together to enjoy the holidays. The marketing of Christmas doesn’t just stop there. You also have one of the most popular mascots of all time, Santa. Christmas jingles also begin playing on the radio as early as November 20th.
Final comparison
So, by overall comparison, Christmas has far more popularized marketing and widespread appeal, but that is not to say that Thanksgiving is without its merits. Thanksgiving is a holiday that is considered a cornerstone of American culture and history. Thanksgiving serves as a time when the people of America can come together to celebrate their nationality and give thanks for all that they hold dear. Due to Thanksgiving’s popularity and great significance, it can easily stand among the best holidays like Christmas. Due to the great values of compassion and reflection that serve as the main principles of Thanksgiving, I’m proud to say that Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, only second to Christmas.
