Americans & Their Holiday Obsessions

We have so many holidays here.

I'm not talking about the legit, big ones that many celebrate, like Thanksgiving or Christmas.  We Americans like any reason to celebrate anything.

Lately I am realizing we have so many silly extra things - is it an excuse to get candy, gifts, party or indulge in food/drink?  Any excuse to do so it seems.

I am especially realizing this lately with a flood of silly holidays right now.

Groundhog's Day.  I didn't even know how to explain this.  We watch people in Pennsylvania pull out a Groundhog that they weirdly name Punxsutawney Phil and we lemmings let this animal tell us if winter will be long or short.  We live in Minnesota - winter is long no matter what a groundhog supposedly sees.  This was really uncomfortable to try to explain to Marisa and I felt really dumb.  Even spell check knows Punxsutawney.  This is literally the first time in my life I have ever spelled it out.

Valentine's Day.  Ok, Germany has this too, but Americans do Valentine's on steroids.  Have you seen the 5 aisles at Target of things JUST for Valentine's Day?  I remember in the pandemic trying to shop for Valentine's for my kids' classes - remember when there were none and many things were very hard to get and nobody could find anything?  I remember feeling "This isn't right - my kids need Valentines! This is nonsense and we deserve to have what we are used to!  What do we do if we don't have Valentine's!". 

Mardi Gras.  COME ON.  Truly ask yourself without Googling what Mardis Gras is.  Do YOU know what it is? You probably know it's big in New Orleans, there is a parade and beads (and in the past and maybe still today women lifted their tops to get beads).  But what is it actually?  Where did it start?  What is the true history?  What does it mean?  I consider myself a history buff, and this week I was trying to explain Mardis Gras to Marisa - and I couldn't.  I am an ashamed and embarrassed American.  Another thing we celebrate that we don't know why.  And when I did look it up - I literally still don't understand it and especially its religious background.  Am I alone in this?  Please be honest if you really know what this is about and understand it without confusion and without looking it up.

St. Patrick's Day.  Surely Marisa knows about this - it's from Ireland and she's from Europe.  Nope.  "What is St. Patrick's Day?" she asked when I mentioned it.  Sheesh.  Do people in Ireland even celebrate it?  I explained "It's basically a day where people who are Irish or claim to be of Irish descent are prideful of potentially being from Ireland".  A reason to party.

Superbowl Sunday.  Let's not forget this unofficial holiday.  I am in the minority because I can't stand, nor do I understand football.  The Superbowl is the #1 watched thing in our country in the entire year (Scott claims in the world, but I'm not buying that).  But my legit research shows it is the most watched by almost every American.  Literally, more Americans agree on and participate in watching this than anything else than probably participating in any other real holiday.  The food, the indulgence, the lavishness.  We were leaving Phoenix the Saturday night before the Superbowl - the private jets, the smell of wealth in the air.  A 30 second Superbowl ad costs $7 million dollars.  30 seconds.  Last year there were 70 ads.  That is $490 MILLION dollars just on ads alone.  It blows my mind as a non-football fan.  I'm with the rest of the world - soccer is where it's at.

President's Day.  Have you ever really thought about this?  I'm not knocking on presidents or our country at all.  But a Federal holiday?  What?  Going back to previous posts about the extreme level of patriotism (and required patriotism) in our country compared to other countries - this is weird and odd to an outsider like Marisa.  Who actually takes the day off and reflects on all of our Presidents and celebrates them on this day?  Yes - you Chester Arthur, Millard Fillmore and John Tyler who nobody can remember.  Or you William McKinley - sorry nobody remembers you as being assassinated because we only think of good old Abe and JFK.  Did you even know that Theodore Roosevelt became President BECAUSE McKinley was assassinated?  See previous post on taking me with you to random trivia nights, please.  These things keep me up at night.

I'll step off my soap box now.  Long story short - any reason for a holiday or a reason to party, am I right!?!?