Commemoration: What is it all about? -- Week 13

My family has a lot of birthdays in November, including mine which happens to be next weekend. While my birthday has never been an extravagant occasion, I've at least had the experience (as almost everyone in the US does) to claim some type of ownership to a 24-hour span of time. To "sanctify" , almost, an entire day for myself and others to reflect on the fact that I do, indeed, exist. When described like this, the idea of a birthday seems to shift from a common simple way of life to a curious societal phenomenon. Why give any sort of relevance to a specific date simply because of its random association with past events?

Thanksgiving is also right around the corner and is yet another exemplar annual event for my curiosity. Despite its controversial history, the holiday itself has been around for so long with traditions that have ingrained themselves into the calendar. The holiday season is again another example of traditions born of the commemoration of past events. Sometimes, people forget the relevance of the traditions in the first place. Conversely, the relevance of a calendar date isn't usually realized without some sort of traditional commemoration.

Obviously, my brief and stupid attempt to be philosophical about the origins of "holidays" is something that may be pretty self-explanatory or simply useless to ponder over, but I also feel a profound sense of encouragement (after reasoning through this) to use each holiday or special anniversary to really reflect on the relevance of the event in the first place. This thanksgiving at the dinner table, I'll be thinking of Todorav and attempting to discuss it without starting too much chaos with the family and friends... we'll see how that goes.