It’s a traditional holiday for our Anglosphere cousins: apparently it originated as being an opportunity for the upper class to both shower largess upon the lower class, and reinforce class distinctions via some Lord of Misrule activities*. This is, of course, why we don’t celebrate the holiday ourselves; if Americans wanted to reinforce class distinctions our ancestors wouldn’t have moved.
Ach, well, it’s also an opportunity to spend those Amazon.com
Moe Lane
*Admittedly, I’m basing this latter observation on a M*A*S*H