Happy Thanksgiving this weekend to my Canadian family and friends. Of course, I will have to wait a another six weeks to share that message with American family and friends.
So what’s the difference between American and Canadian Thanksgiving anyway?
Well, for one thing, our Canadian Thanksgiving is not about pilgrims and (2) due to the fact that we are geographically further north than our American neighbors, our harvest comes earlier and we celebrate it earlier accordingly.
The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving are more closely connected to the traditions of Europe than of the United States. Long before Europeans settled in North America, festivals of thanks and celebrations of harvest took place in Europe in the month of October. The very first Thanksgiving celebration in North America took place in 1578 in Canada when Martin Frobisher, an explorer from England was in search of the Northwest Passage. He wanted to give thanks for his safe arrival to the New World. That means the first Thanksgiving in Canada was celebrated 43 years before the pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts!
For a few hundred years, Thanksgiving was celebrated in either late October or early November, before it was declared a national holiday in 1879. It was then, that November 6th was set aside as the official Thanksgiving holiday. But then on January 31st, 1957, Canadian Parliament announced that on the second Monday in October, Thanksgiving would be "a day of general thanksgiving to almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed." Thanksgiving was moved to the second Monday in October because after the World Wars, Remembrance Day (November 11th) and Thanksgiving kept falling in the same week.
But as stated previously, the Canadian history of Thanksgiving has nothing to do with pilgrims and the Mayflower as does American Thanksgiving. Both holidays, however, are generally seen as an opportunity to give thanks for what’s good in our lives, celebrate nature’s bounty, and enjoy a big meal with family and friends.
While the Canadian holiday officially falls on Monday, celebrations can take place at any time over the weekend. The big meal is just as likely to happen on Sunday as it is on Monday.
Canadian Thanksgiving is not as strongly associated with shopping either. In America, Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) is legendary: American news reports show how some shoppers go straight from their Thanksgiving celebrations to the mall the moment it opens.
That doesn’t happen for Canadian Thanksgiving. The holiday Monday means it’s a long weekend for many people, but shopping isn’t an essential part of it. Many stores operate on more limited hours on Thanksgiving Sunday and Monday.
Don’t get me wrong -- there are plenty of sales and promotions that happen on Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. But up here, our biggest shopping day of the year is hands-down on Boxing Day, the 26th of December. That’s when you’ll see line-ups outside electronic stores, in particular. Some Canadian stores are so busy on Boxing Day that they do not accept returns until Dec. 27.
From what I can tell, Thanksgiving seems to be almost as significant a holiday as Christmas in the U.S. People fly across the country to visit family, and according to U.S. Bureau of Transport statistics, the number of long-distance trips increases by 54 percent over the six-day Thanksgiving period, while that increase is just 23 percent over the Christmas/New Year period.
In Canada, of course, people also travel to be with loved ones over the Thanksgiving weekend. However, my perception is that fewer Canadians take time off work for long-distance travel. We stick closer to home on Thanksgiving than we do at the end of December when the Snowbird exodus to a warmer climate begins in earnest.
The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving are more closely connected to the traditions of Europe than of the United States. Long before Europeans settled in North America, festivals of thanks and celebrations of harvest took place in Europe in the month of October. The very first Thanksgiving celebration in North America took place in 1578 in Canada when Martin Frobisher, an explorer from England was in search of the Northwest Passage. He wanted to give thanks for his safe arrival to the New World. That means the first Thanksgiving in Canada was celebrated 43 years before the pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts!
For a few hundred years, Thanksgiving was celebrated in either late October or early November, before it was declared a national holiday in 1879. It was then, that November 6th was set aside as the official Thanksgiving holiday. But then on January 31st, 1957, Canadian Parliament announced that on the second Monday in October, Thanksgiving would be "a day of general thanksgiving to almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed." Thanksgiving was moved to the second Monday in October because after the World Wars, Remembrance Day (November 11th) and Thanksgiving kept falling in the same week.
But as stated previously, the Canadian history of Thanksgiving has nothing to do with pilgrims and the Mayflower as does American Thanksgiving. Both holidays, however, are generally seen as an opportunity to give thanks for what’s good in our lives, celebrate nature’s bounty, and enjoy a big meal with family and friends.
While the Canadian holiday officially falls on Monday, celebrations can take place at any time over the weekend. The big meal is just as likely to happen on Sunday as it is on Monday.
Canadian Thanksgiving is not as strongly associated with shopping either. In America, Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) is legendary: American news reports show how some shoppers go straight from their Thanksgiving celebrations to the mall the moment it opens.
That doesn’t happen for Canadian Thanksgiving. The holiday Monday means it’s a long weekend for many people, but shopping isn’t an essential part of it. Many stores operate on more limited hours on Thanksgiving Sunday and Monday.
Don’t get me wrong -- there are plenty of sales and promotions that happen on Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. But up here, our biggest shopping day of the year is hands-down on Boxing Day, the 26th of December. That’s when you’ll see line-ups outside electronic stores, in particular. Some Canadian stores are so busy on Boxing Day that they do not accept returns until Dec. 27.
From what I can tell, Thanksgiving seems to be almost as significant a holiday as Christmas in the U.S. People fly across the country to visit family, and according to U.S. Bureau of Transport statistics, the number of long-distance trips increases by 54 percent over the six-day Thanksgiving period, while that increase is just 23 percent over the Christmas/New Year period.
In Canada, of course, people also travel to be with loved ones over the Thanksgiving weekend. However, my perception is that fewer Canadians take time off work for long-distance travel. We stick closer to home on Thanksgiving than we do at the end of December when the Snowbird exodus to a warmer climate begins in earnest.
Matilda and I have no special plans for this weekend. We're just thankful to have a roof over our head and a turkey thigh to share for dinner on Monday.
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