4 ms·
Unless I'm misremembering, I think there are lots of recently made up holidays that are basically just marketing ploys (Mother's Day and Father's Day).
by MikeCapone 14y ago
Unless I'm misremembering, I think there are lots of recently made up holidays that are basically just marketing ploys (Mother's Day and Father's Day).
- JoeAltmaier 14y agoMothers' Day: 1870 Fathers' Day: 1972
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- philwelch 14y agoMother's Day in the US was originally conceived as a pacifist holiday for mothers to organize for disarmament.
- jquery 14y agoEvery holiday is made up.
- philwelch 14y agoIndeed. Even Christmas was controversial in early America because it was seen as a chiefly Catholic holiday that represented excess, decadence, and gluttony. Now it's the cornerstone of the entire retail industry.
- katabatic 14y agoAnd still represents excess, decadence, and gluttony.
- chrisbennet 14y agoYou say that like its a bad thing. :-)
- jlgreco 14y agoEh, Christmas is basically just hijacked Winter Solstice. I would say that of all the holidays, the ones triggered by Astronomical events make the most sense since seasons have (or certainly had) very real importance to the cultures that celebrated them. That is not to defend the actual traditions of Christmas though.
- coloneltcb 14y agoSummer/Winter Solstice?
- brc 14y agoWell, Australia Day isn't a made-up holiday -it's always been the 'National Day' (think 4th July). But it's just that the Meat + Livestock Board spotted a gap in the 'traditions' market and filled that gap in with some shrewd marketing.
- jeza 14y agoReally? I've never really associated Australia Day with eating meat, but if we were going to organise something on that day a barbecue would be quite likely. But that's probably true of any day where we'd be organising a family gathering. It's certainly not like Christmas where you have to pre-order a turkey. I do find it ironic though how barbecues are considered to be an Australian tradition. But then the most well known brand for barbecues, Weber is American.