Happy Thanksgiving Canada

To Minstrel and all of our great friends and colleagues in beautiful Canada - Happy Thanksgiving.

A Canadian Thanksgiving

The Canadian Thanksgiving makes an interesting counterpoint to the holiday celebrated by its southern neighbor. As mentioned earlier, the first North American thanksgiving event occurred in Newfoundland in 1578. In the 1600s, Samuel de Champlain and the French Settlers who came with him established an "Order of Good Cheer." This group would hold huge celebrations marking the harvests and other events, sharing their food with Native American neighbours.

The First Canadian Thanksgiving

The first Canadian Thanksgiving was celebrated on April 15, 1872 in thanks for the recovery of the future King Edward VII from a serious illness. The next Thanksgiving didn't occur until 1879 when it was celebrated on a Thursday in November.

Setting a Date

Much like the United States, Canada seemed to have a difficult time deciding when a day of Thanksgiving should occur. From 1879 to 1898 it was celebrated on a Thursday in November; from 1899 to 1907 on a Thursday in October (except in 1901 and 1904 when it was celebrated on a Thursday in November); from 1908 to 1921 on a Monday in October; and between 1922 and 1930 the Armistice Day Act declared that Thanksgiving would be celebrated on Armistice Day, the Monday of November 11. In 1931 the Act was amended and the old practice of Parliament declaring a day of Thanksgiving each year was resumed.

On January 31, 1957 Parliament issued a proclamation to fix permanently the second Monday in October as "a day of general Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed."

Much like the United States' Thanksgiving Day, the Canadian celebration includes parades and festive meals, often including turkey and all the "fixins." Yet, again, at the heart of the celebration is the idea of giving thanks for the goodness of the season past.

Want to know more? See Thanksgiving Traditions

 

Of course, the REAL "heart of the celebration" is the idea of a three day weekend

 

I'm sorry, did you say watching sports and having a drink?

At least, that's the way most of us south of you spend a holiday weekend.

 

Not necessarily watching sports

 

Ah ... but I notice you didn't discount the possibility of the other half of that

Have a great holiday weekend, Minstrel ~ Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Coming from an Italian family we tend to have the traditional turkey meal but with a bit of an Italian twist. We usually start off with a plate of pasta and when the turkey is served there are usually two other meats that are availble. Usually chicken or veal breaded cutlets and sausages with peppers and of course all the veggies that go along with the main dish.

 

No wine? No hockey or football (soccer) game traditions?

 

Yes, homemade wine for sure. Sports are usually not part of the tradition. Soccer in Canada is not too popular, most of the soocer watched is the European soccer, specifically Seria A from Italy and we couldn't catch those games until only a few years ago unless you had one of those 10 foot in diameter satellite dishes. I'm speaking from an Canadian/Italian perspective of course.

Hockey being our national sport has no tradition of being watched like Football is for the Americans on Thanksgiving, that I'm aware of anyway.

 

Wow - I can't believe that the Candadian television stations and hockey league owners don't collaborate; seems like that would be a huge opportunity to capture a large market-share on a day like this.

 

I never knew Canadians had Thanksgiving. I just thought they were unAmerican and didn't celebrate it like the 4th of July.

 

We have charred seal meat and whale blubber pie for thanksgiving. Over the big iceberg, we hike and sled to the ice sculpture and igloo games final four.

It is a great weekend for next the sun goes down long time and we ride snowmobile and drive our Humvee with lights and sonar imaging to track big whale-fish.


LOL. Our countries are just too close, eh? But you must understand, I grew up wondering what is wrong with the US that they have Armistice day instead of Remembrance day, and they have thanksgiving on a thursday.

However: you pack the airwaves with sports (on almost every holiday!) so it is still good, it is perfect.

I didn't realize you folks had the dates set first. But thank you very much for the good wishes.

Speaking of sports - Will it be the A's, or the Yanks?

Serie A - A.C. Milan?

Will Italy score any goals in getting to the semi-finals in 2006?

(Today: England 1-0 Austria )

 

It's been awhile since I've heard Vetern's Day called that. We have thanksgiving on a Thursday so we can squeeze in an extra day off week.

 

Yes, we are a materialistic and greedy bunch ... with little exception, our holidays center around making weekends longer

 

About 50% of Canadians work for one of the levels of government - and they usually manage to turn a three day weekend into a five day weekend...

 

LMAO! LMAO!

Canadian, eh? Think again
Personality survey says we're not so different than Americans

We are behind in long weekend technology, however

minstrel reminds us, however:

Don't gov't employees get every second Friday off as well? I've lived in Victoria and Edmonton (both provincial capitals), and you live at the nations capital city, Ottawa.
What do a gov't worker and a lesbian have in common? Neither one has ever done d***! (Short for 'Richard')

 

LMAO @ mikmik

Now, I'm waiting to see how many ways someone can twist that into a Hilary Clinton joke ...

 

He, he, heeee....

It's funny just mentioning it!