# Is Thanksgiving a unique American holiday?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-unique-american-holiday/95661>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 28, 2001, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-unique-american-holiday/95661 "2001-11-28T04:51:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Clueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/35a633/32.png) [@Clueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clueless)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-unique-american-holiday/95661/1 "2001-11-28T04:51:24Z")

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Who celebrates Thanksgiving and why? What do you traditionally on Thanksgiving?

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**Author:** ![Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/db5fbb/32.png) [@Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fred)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-unique-american-holiday/95661/2 "2001-11-28T04:57:38Z")

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Canada celebrates Thanksgiving on Colombus Day. It is pretty much the exact same thing as American Thanksgiving, but more polite.

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**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-unique-american-holiday/95661/3 "2001-11-28T21:26:21Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by thegrimspectreofreddeath \*  
> \*\*Canada celebrates Thanksgiving on Colombus Day. It is pretty much the exact same thing as American Thanksgiving, but more polite. \*\*

We most certainly do NOT celebrate Thanksgiving on Columbus Day! We celebrate it on Thanksgiving Day!!

😃

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanksgiving-a-unique-american-holiday/95661/4 "2001-11-28T23:04:15Z")

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If you are asking, do any other countries celebrate the anniversary of [some english _émigrés_ sharing food with the Wampanoag](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_147.html), in my experience, it is only celebrated by inhabitants of the USA or US citizens in other countries.

But other countries have harvest festivals, for example in China (or maybe only some parts of China, I’m fuzzy on the details) there is the harvest moon festival where people traditionally make moon cakes.

In the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland, there is a special harvest festival, usually around September or October (though I remember that each village would have their own _bénichon_ date, and some villages celebrated in the spring), called _la bénichon_, where people eat special dishes (_cuchaule_ - a kind of sugared bread, _moutarde de bénichon_, a “spicy” jam made from a specific kind of pear, and sauerkraut and smoked meat.) You can see [here a picture](http://www.florimont.ch/eleves/9899/5_3/anamariamaina/benichon.html) of happy _Fribourgeois_ (in traditional costume) enjoying their festive meal.