Thanksgiving in Canada.

It's in October!

Our American friends have told us that they are quite envious of our Thanksgiving which takes place on the second Monday in October.

"Our Thanksgiving is almost exactly one month before Christmas. All the stores are full of Christmas stuff. It's turkey and overeating all through the month of December,"sigh our friends Margaret and Pat. Although the States does have Columbus Day at the same time it's really Canadian Thanksgiving light: the day off but none of the turkey and family.

Why is it that Canada has Thanksgiving a month earlier than the Americans?

The British and Europeans hold harvest festivals in October. Germany has Oktoberfest and in Britain, churches celebrate Harvest Home around the 10th of October. Other harvest festivals such as the Jewish festival, Sukkot and the Moon Festivals of China and Japan also take place in September and October. The American festival is quite late. The European October Harvest traditions immigrated to Canada with those who celebrated them.

Around 1578, explorer Martin Frobisher held a ceremony, in Newfoundland to give thanks for surviving his journey. Fishermen from Southwestern England fished off the Newfoundland coast and eventually settled there, along with their unique customs.

Around the same time, French explorer, Samuel de Champlain, held huge feasts of thanks, creating the "The Order of Good Cheer" and sharing food with the Native neighbours. The Natives helped in turn with scurvy preventing teas and dishes from pine and sumac.

In 1621 Pilgrims celebrated their first harvest in the "New World" and around 1750 this festival was brought to Nova Scotia by American settlers from the south.

The War of Independence was not as black and white as Americans may think. Only one third of the colonists actually supported the revolution and the Canadian colonists did not support it all, despite the hopes of the Rebels that the northern British colonies would join the revolution.

Americans who remained faithful to the government in England were known as United Empire Loyalists. The rebels confiscated and burned their houses, businesses and farms. Refugees flooded north to Eastern Ontario and Quebec, bringing their American Thanksgiving traditions with them.

In 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed the 4th Thursday of November a national holiday of Thanksgiving. In Canada the most popular date was the third Monday in October. In 1879, the Canadian parliament declared November 6th a day of Thanksgiving.

After World War I, both Armistice Day, November 11, and Thanksgiving ended up in the same week. In 1931, the government renamed Armistice Day Remembrance Day. The churches still celebrated an earlier October date, the real harvest time of this Northern country.

On January 31st, 1957, the Federal Parliament gave in, proclaiming....

A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful
harvest with which Canada has been blessed... to be observed on the
second Monday in October.

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