The term Nacirema is American spelled backward. It was first introduced by Horace Miner in, "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema." Today, it is mainly used by anthropologists to distance themselves, and avoid personal bias, when writing about American culture, its rituals, and its customs.
The Nacireman holiday of Thanksgiving is happening this week. Thanksgiving is highly contested — specifically in regards to the collective amnesia this day represents. The series of massacres, wars, violence and disease that ensued after colonizers settled in the New World has been left out in the reconstruction of memory around the feast between the pilgrims and natives. Nonetheless, the Nacireman politics of Thanksgiving are not what I shall be focusing on.
The Nacireman holiday of Thanksgiving is a time for Naciremans to give thanks and show appreciation to those around them. I, however, have found Thanksgiving to be quite an ironic holiday. A day that is meant to for gratitude is actually one of the biggest mass consumption days of the year.
In 2017, Naciremans spent $2.9 billion on Thanksgiving shopping — the beloved turkeys and cranberries can be quite costly. This high price tag does not even include the 29 million flights that Naciremans took to see family members that they won’t speak to until next Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is also a day for Naciremans to quite literally over-consume. They pride themselves in eating more than they need. This is often celebrated with the phrase, “I’m slipping into a food coma!” It is quite ironic that Naciremans show gratitude by consuming more.
Thanksgiving is also a time to be thankful for those around you. It is a time for Naciremans to let their loved ones know that they appreciate them, and that they care for them more than they care for anything else — except for stuff.
Not only is Thanksgiving itself a big day for mass consumption, it is followed by two even larger days for mass consumption: Black Friday and Cyber Monday. In 2017, Naciremans spent $5 billion and $6.6 billion in shopping on these two days respectively.
As part of this odd tradition, Naciremans have learned how to masterfully multitask. They can show gratitude for loved ones while simultaneously standing in line for the stores to open on Thursday evening after an early Thanksgiving dinner. What better way is there to show that you care about human connection than paying half price for a 50-inch, flat-screen television and proceeding to never speak to people when your show is on.
Perhaps the strangest thing about this holiday — apart from it being based on European conquest — is the fact that there is one day in the year that is reserved for giving thanks. And even then, this day of gratitude is being rapidly encroached upon by the more potent Nacireman culture of capitalism.
