As the US gears up to celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor took to Twitter to wish the NRIs in the US for the festivities. Tharoor went out of his way to extend wishes to people by not just tweeting on the microblogging platform but also posted a graphic image of himself standing in front of what we can assume is a cornucopia of produce.
Now that is something we understand signifies the importance of the day, as Thanksgiving is actually related to the harvest festival and is marked by giving thanks and sacrifice for the blessing of the harvest of last year. But what caught our (and the critical Twitter's) eye is the big fat pumpkin as part of the graphic.
As well meaning as the tweet and the accompanying graphic might have been, netizens pointed out the error in it. A barrage of hilarious responses were posted on the tweet. Check out the best ones. One started off with a very well meaning response, asking the Congress MP to 'fire his graphics person'.
Fire your graphics person.
— Alisha Rahaman Sarkar (@zohrabai) November 25, 2020
Another suggested Tharoor might have(or his graphics person) mixed up their holidays and mistaken Thanksgiving for Halloween. At least that explains the presence of the big fat pumpkin.
Why is there a pumpkin in Thanksgiving? Did you mistake Halloween for Thanksgiving? Hilarious :)
— Aadit Kapadia આદિત કાપડિયા (@ask0704) November 25, 2020
Pumpkins are for Halloween, Shashi.
— Aishwarya Mudgil (@AishwaryaMudgi1) November 26, 2020
Actually the image he has used is called "Cornucopia" associated with Greek legend of abundance. The overflowing produce from the horn of a goat symbolises good harvest and prosperous times. In other words Chetta has confused Thanksgiving with Greeks.
— CBG-san (@OnlyNakedTruth) November 26, 2020
you are in a kurtha in front of a pumpkin wishing oversees Indians for #Thanksgiving?! You need to brush your cultural knowledge after all ♀️
— REVATHI (@Revathi_Basanth) November 25, 2020
Must be a Vegan Thanksgiving
— Yo Yo Funny Singh (@moronhumor) November 25, 2020
Another person gave a Mughal twist to Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving was first introduced by mughals in the form of jashn e shukriya
— Madhu (@Madhukshara_C) November 25, 2020
Shudh shahkari thanks giving.
— asif kiani (@asifkay) November 25, 2020
A twitter user also pointed out that the Thanksgiving also coincides with a day of mourning for the Native Americans settlers who faced years of oppression by the new settlers.
I thought you’d know better but Thanksgiving is a day of mourning and protest since it commemorates the arrival of settlers in North America and the centuries of oppression and genocide that followed after.
— abhinit (@abhinitk) November 25, 2020
why does this look like a meme
— dhruv (@ilikeyourb00ts) November 25, 2020
The missing Turkey was also a talking point for many users.
Turkey kahan hai.. pic.twitter.com/tb4r6FWXFG
— IamWatchingYou (@NationPassion) November 25, 2020
Where’s the Turkey ?
— F Shirin MD (@FShirin) November 25, 2020
Bhai thanksgiving me log turkey aur murga dabate hain, pumpkin carve nahi karte. Halloween gaya kabka
— Alok Sharma (@AayeinKonchi) November 26, 2020
Bhai thanksgiving me log turkey aur murga dabate hain, pumpkin carve nahi karte. Halloween gaya kabka
— Alok Sharma (@AayeinKonchi) November 26, 2020
Celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the US, the day sees families coming together to celebrate with a wide array of dishes as a means to giving out thanks for a bountiful year. Canada also celebrates thanksgiving but that comes on the second Monday of October.
Well, as much as we hope this was not a mix-up between Halloween and Thanksgiving as some pointed out, we hope the Congress MP adheres to the suggestions from next time!