Sep 07 2009
Labor Day Spells End of Summer
Fall officially begins Sept. 22 in the Northern Hemisphere. However, Labor Day is the traditional last hurrah of summer.
Originally designed as a prod to redouble work during the fall–sort of like Fat Tuesday is the final party before Ash Wednesday–Labor Day is now a standard American holiday. The day is a chance to enjoy a long weekend and buy things.
“Back to School” sales are popular on Labor Day. It’s the last major opportunity to sell expensive items until Christmas. Halloween (costumes and candy), Veterans Day (flags) and Thanksgiving (tofurkey and trimmings) aren’t commercially strong.
Speaking of back to school, if you or the children near you haven’t started the school year, they will soon. I’ll be hearing more noise on the sidewalks Thursday. Then again, with year-round schools becoming more popular, your kids may have already been in class awhile.
Labor Day was designed to get people thinking about work. How apropos since–given the highest American unemployment rate in a quarter-century, millions of us are thinking about work often.
