Black Friday

We just got home from having a Thanksgiving meal with our small group from church. It is an afternoon where we can relax, fellowship, and and take part in one of the best holidays that the United States has to offer. It is fun to watch our British friends resist the temptation to make roast potatoes and to instead mash them, to see two of our friends pulling on opposite sides of a wishbone, or watch our priest-in-charge try pumpkin pie for the first time.

Both years I have given an abridged version of the history of thanksgiving and we go around the table and share things that we are thankful for. All around it is a fun day; especially this year having homemade mulled cider.

The question I dread though is this, 'What is Black Friday?'

You see they don't have anything like it over here and the concept is foreign to them. There is not one high holy day of consumerism where people worship under the guise of preparing for one of Christianity's holiest days. It just doesn't happen. So they are shocked when I explain to them that stores/shops open at midnight and that you have to be one of the first people in the store or else you won't get the $2 toaster (that is regularly priced at $29.99). They are gobsmacked to hear that people camp outside stores for days in order to get the latest video game system or the ticklish new toy, and they don't know what to make of people pushing, shoving, and using pepper spray!?!?! to get a good deal.

My opinion of Black Friday has changed since being in England. I used to think of it as a slightly pathetic but harmless way to spend the day after Thanksgiving. I now find it to be one of the most embarrassing parts of the culture that I come from. As one of my English friends today commented, many of the people that go out are acting as strongly religious people, committed to their belief that bargain prices are worth their time and energy.

I know it is not the only 'religion' that runs amok in U.S. culture (God and I are still chatting about my fascination with professional sports) but it is one that saddens me, especially when I have to explain it to outsiders who are celebrating a day that at it's core encourages gratefulness.