Starting from last weekend whenever I am online there are ads from Dutch retailers about Black Friday sale. Since the past two, three years, there have been more and more Dutch chains that jump in this commercial event to gain more profit.
Black Friday comes originally from the USA. It is the Friday after Thanksgiving, a start for Christmas shopping season. This year Thanksgiving falls on Thursday 23 November. Apparently this Black Friday thing has spread to the other side of the ocean, leaving me wondering why. Yes, I know it is a perfect occasion to increase sales volume = profit. However here in The Netherlands we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. To make it worse, everything Christmas related must be put on hold until 5 December, the birthday of Sinterklaas So why is there Black Friday here in the Low Lands if the Christmas shopping season actually starts from 6 December? It is the commerce, I know.
Celebrations or events originated from the USA such as Halloween, Thanksgiving and the Black Friday become more and more well-known in other parts of the world. Some people in other countries start to celebrate them too which is quite confusing for me to be honest. Especially Thanksgiving, because this is in my eyes so specific from the USA and Canada. Please note this post discusses Thanksgiving in the USA in relation to Black Friday.
One thing I do ponder though, while it seems normal to celebrate these imported events, the feel must be different if one experiences these in the land of origin, right? But still I wonder why. Why could we as consumer, so easily be influenced by the commerce? Or is the commerce just one of the components in this circumstance?
Ok, let’s blame the commerce then. And who knows when Dutchies would celebrate American Mardi Gras or even Mexican Día de los Muertos. Please do not mix this with religious holidays such as Christmas, Days of several saints, End of Ramadan, Easter, Divali etc. The spreading of religions has to do with migration around the world while this post is about countries and its people celebrating some events ‘borrowed’ from another country. Perhaps this is my flaw also, always trying to explore the origin or true meaning of something/some words before I start to go along or use them.
Perhaps it is me, not the commerce.
Chez Lorraine 
Betul mba. Kita harus selektif kritis juga ya mengadaptasi…
Zaman angkatan kita remaja di Indonesia kayaknya Valentine’s Day masih bisa dirayakan dgn bebas merdeka, itu juga mungkin biar coklat dan bunga lebih laku ya..😀, terlepas dari asal usul Valentine’s Day itu sendiri. Di Australia Valentine’s Day masih umum dirayakan meski lebih banyak di kalangan muda, dan beberapa tahun belakangan ini mulai ikutan bikin acara Haloween.. Yang heboh tentu saja para pebisnis, yg bikin iklan sedemikian rupa supaya perayaan tsb berasa penting banget..
I feel that most of the celebration here are heavy on the commerce. Valentine’s Day – flowers, chocolate and fancy dinners. Halloween – Candy! Mother’s/Father’s Day – gifts. Christmas – tons of gifts!! It is a bit difficult to steer clear of those sales. I have to remind my self again and again, celebration is the time we spend with the people 😉
It is Dit. The commerce ruins the spirit for me personally.
Bahkan Belanda udah mulai ikut2an sale pas Singles Day kemarin. Selain itu ada Vriendinnetjesdag dimana pada heboh sale untuk barang yang ditujukan ke kaum hawa. Selain itu sebelum suasana Natal biasanya dipakai untuk charity sale juga. Macem macem deh ya…
Iya. Ribet. Aku malesnya yang diutamakan itu shopping, over consumption. Atau jangan-jangan hari-hari seperti ini jadi excuse buat bisa shopping ya?
woww.. new insights for me. i just know Santa Claus bday is on 5th November. hahaa. btw, interesting bngt postingan ini. i think it’s just the commerce way to make their business going.
5 December ulang tahunnya Sinterklaas bukan Santa Claus. Santa Claus versi di USA & Canada. Sinterklaas di Eropa.
ahhh yess.. sorry my badd.. ke mixed up.. gara2 kebanyakan dengernya santa claus2 ajaa.. hehe..
Ngga apa-apa Jen 😀
We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving either here, but Black Friday is started to be an important day for Christmas shopping. This year we are planning to buy an electronic device and we patiently wait until Black Friday. We simply need the discount 😜
And, did you buy it Tje?
Engga jadi Mbak. Diskonnya gak significant. Malah lebih murah beli di Irlandia Utara. Sekarang nunggu boxing day. Rumor has it, it’d be way cheaper because Christmas is over.