Can someone explain this concept to me please?
I thought that “Thanksgiving” was a peculiarly US celebration of the first harvest by the Pilgrims.
So how did a former British colony like Canada come to be celebrating “Thanksgiving” and why is it celebrated on a different date than in the US?
What special rituals acompany the celebration of Canadian Thanksgiving? This is a whole part of Commonwealth culture that I never knew about and I’m eager to learn more.
In the immortal words of Eugene Levy, “Our Thanksgiving comes first, in October, so we must have invented it.”
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were settled largely by New Englanders, who brought the Thanksgiving tradition with them.
http://www.craigmarlatt.com/craig/canada/symbols_facts&lists/thanksgiving.html
Harvest festivals go back to pre-history in many civilizations, and special holidays to give thanks also are common in may cultures. The History of Thanksgiving and its Celebrations.
In Canada, the first instance of a formal Thanksgiving was courtesy of Frobisher in 1578, but the Pilgrim’s 1621 Thanksgiving in what is now the United States spread to what is now Canada, just as it spread throughout the other Colonies. (See Bibliophage’s reference.)
In Canada and the colonies which preceded it, there was no fixed Thanksgiving holiday until relatively recently. It began early on as a floater, and although it usually was held in the fall to give thanks for the harvest, it also appeared at other times for other reasons, quite often related to the termination of wars or related to the health of the monarch.
By 1879 it had gradually become mostly oriented toward the fall harvest, and was held in late October or early November. Following World War One, it was used to commemorate the end of that war by being held on or about the date of the Armistice. By 1931, Thanksgiving was again given its own day separate from Armistice (Remembrance) Day, and was moved forward about a month into mid-October, but it still floated about within the October/November range.
In 1957, the floating nature of Thanksgiving was stabilized by fixing it where it is today, the second Monday in October.
Here is a list of Thanksgiving holidays in Canada for the last couple of hundred years. I get a chuckle over how several of them were for giving thanks that we were no longer fighting with the Americans.
Proclamation and Observance of General Thanksgiving Days and reasons therefore.
As far as traditions go, many Canadians get together with their families do the turkey thing, but overall Thanksgiving is not as hyped in Canada as it is in the United States.
One nice thing about the early/mid October date is that it coincides with the fall harvest, so visiting farmers markets on Thanksgiving is very popular – in particular to pick up pumpkins for Halloween. Of course the Saturday visits to the markets lead to some mighty fine feasts later in the long weekend.
Also very popular is viewing the fall colours, either by car or by foot. In particular, the brilliant reds of the turning maples are often at their peak come Thanksgiving, although sometimes the peak is the previous week or two. (BTW, our flag is a red maple leaf.) Algonquin is brilliant at this time, and hiking trails in many provinces are visited by old and young alike.
It the the last chance many people have to close their camps and cottages before winter, so often the celebrations will be held at these places, often including a final campfire.
For the more hardy, Thanksgiving permits one last chance to paddle for a few days. Frost will be a given, but it is still not too cold to dip dip and swing through wonderful fall scenery.
All in all it tends to be a laid back family oriented feast, often including outdoor excursions.
It’s Thanksgiving? So that’s why the Detroit Lions have a home game on national TV today !
Personal Thanksgiving highlights over the years:
As a child, hurling myself at and dropping out of trees onto piles of leaves while my father raked, both of us wearing matching big blue sweaters my grandmother had knitted. Then watching him burn the piles and keeping alert for stray embers. Toward the end of the afternoon, when we were cold and tired, going inside and sitting down in the formal dining room with the silver and china laid out so prettily, and being allowed to light the candelabras. Then diving into a huge roast turkey with carrots and potatoes, and lemon pie for desert, surrounded by my parents, my sister, and a wonderful assortment of grandparents, uncles and aunts, all talking and laughing and sharing together.
As a young teenager, hiking about the Niagara Escarpment with my Scouting friends, crawling through some crevices (one time squeezing out of one, losing my trousers in the process, only to emerge in the midst of several girl guides – such humiliation). Lying in fields with my friends, looking up at the flying Vs of Canadian geese, honking their way south. Getting lost, but eventually finding our way clear, and finding many wonderful places in the process. Learning to accept and love the land.
As a young adult, paddling trough Killarney, a treasure of a wilderness place, testing my limits with 80km days of paddling and portaging through the quartzite hills. Catching the seasons’ first good show of northern lights. Waking with a dusting of snow on my blanket. Enjoying the warm sun on my back while cutting along an alpine lake, as smooth as glass, looking down at its bottom, tens of metres below. Coming across small flocks of ducks when entering into bays, and encountering foxes and the occasional bear while jogging up and over the hills with my boat on my shoulder. Challenging the land, but eventually learning not to challenge it, and instead be one with it.
As an adult, sitting with my sister beside her wood stove, with her cats to one side, and her collie to the other. She and I taking turns on her grand, spending the afternoon and evening working our way through Bach, Beethoven and Chopin, until we thought our fingers could take no more, but not stopping until the long candles ran down to their bases. The next morning, visiting an outdoor market with my cousins and their adorable young daughters, so alert and curious, and then traipsing through the splendorous woods with them, just as my parents had done with my sister and me years and years before. And of course returning to yet another feast, with such a wonderful family with which to share it – everyone from the parents to the kids to the pets helping create it (or to be correct, the children helping by preventing the pets from helping).
Such wonderful, loving people, and such a magnificent land. I am truly thankful.