Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in Canada

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Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in Canada

09 Oct

This is John Cabot, not Christopher Columbus. Image via Wikipedia

Yes, that’s right we don’t celebrate Columbus day, because John Cabot found Canada and more specifically Newfoundland, in 1497, where the city of St. John’s is now located. Later, Jacques Cartier sailed to the new world and navigated the region around today’s Maritime Provinces; Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. You could argue that Leif Erickson was the first to find and settle in Canada, as he settled in what archaeologists called L’Anse aux Meadows somewhere around 1003 AD. However, it is stated that St. John’s, Newfoundland is the oldest continuous city in North America that was settled by European explorers.

So instead of celebrating an explorer, who I can only remember from the little rhyme…

“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue…”

…we in Canada celebrate Thanksgiving. So the question is, why in October. Well, Thanksgiving Day, or as we are a bilingual nation, Jour de l’Action de grâce, came into being in 1957 as an act of Parliament to celebrate the harvest. On January 31, 1957, it was declared in Parliament:

A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed – to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October.

It is celebrated in most regions of Canada, save for the Atlantic provinces of Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. I guess there it’s just a day. Because it is a federally observed holiday, after all.

The historical idea does come from First Nation People, however, as many of the different Native American Nations celebrated the harvest. I still find it rather convenient that we in Canada have exactly one day each month (save for Easter which rotates between March and April and just wish that someone would pick a date and not wait to figure out what the moon phases are).

Thanksgiving Day lands on the second Monday of the month of October, and traditionally, Canadians will have the celebratory meal any of the three days of the long weekend. Sometimes Friday evening. And not every family celebrates by having a turkey dinner. Trust me, my parents are vegetarian, I know this to be true. Among other festivities, Canadians also may participate in the celebration of watching football on television. Granted this year, many in Winnipeg probably waited until the puck dropped at the MTS Centre for the opening season of the Winnipeg Jets. That was their turkey day sports type celebration. For those unsure, that is hockey.

Tomorrow, I’ll share an interesting Thanksgiving Day story with you. Really, it’s quite good, just happened today and I’m still digesting it.