Thanksgiving Day in Canada
Canadians, it seems, are a very quiet patriots, and at times it can seem we aren’t proud to be Canadians, but look at a group of Canadians when the first bars of “O Canada” begin to play! Oh, yes, we are proud to be Canadians! Our Canadian Thanksgiving is on October 13 this year, as always on the second Monday in October.
We have so much to be thankful for, that we should always remember what we do have, especially during the turbulent times we are going through right now: freedom, democracy, a great quality of life on our North American continent and so much more.
Canadian Thanksgiving celebrations, are the same as in many other countries on their Thanksgiving Day, a gathering of families and friends over the customary “family feast” of a turkey dinner. It is a time for sharing, loving and family reunions. The central idea behind the celebration is to be thankful for the past harvest and praying for the coming year.
The Canadian Thanksgiving Day came about because of a combination of traditions. Before the first Europeans arrived in North America, the farmers in Europe held celebrations at harvest time. The farm workers filled a curved goat’s horn with fruit and grain to give thanks for their harvest having been a good one. This horn was called a Horn of Plenty or a Cornucopia, and the farm workers who started a new life in Canada took this tradition with them.
In Newfoundland in 1578, the English navigator Martin Frobisher held a ceremony to give thanks for surviving the long journey. He was later knighted and had an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean in Northern Canada named after him – Frobisher Bay. As other settlers arrived they continued these ceremonies.
In 1621, in what is now the United States of America, the Pilgrims celebrated their harvest in the New World. By the 1750′s settlers moving to Canada from America had taken this celebration to Nova Scotia. At the same time, French settlers arriving in Canada with the explorer Samuel de Champlain held thanksgiving feasts and shared their food with their Indian neighbours. After the Seven Years War ended in 1763 the citizens of Halifax held a special day of Thanksgiving.
At the time of the American Revolution, the people who remained loyal to the Government in England moved to Canada and spread the Thanksgiving celebration to other parts of the country. Other English settlers were also used to having a harvest celebration in their churches every Autumn.
In 1879 the Canadian Parliament declared the 6th November as a day of Thanksgiving and a national holiday. Over the years the date has changed with the third Monday in October being the most popular time. Finally on he 31st January 1957 the Canadian Parliament proclaimed that….
“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.”
History of the First Canadian Thanksgiving
The first Canadian thanksgiving was celebrated on 15th April 1872 to thank the recovery of King Edward VII from serious illness. The next thanksgiving was celebrated after a few years in 1879 on a Thursday.
Canada later had a turbulent time deciding the day of national Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was celebrated on a Thursday in November between 1879 and 1898. It was later celebrated on a Thursday in October between 1899 and 1904. Thereafter, it was celebrated on a Monday in the month of October. This was between the period 1908 -1921.
In later years, Thanksgiving came to be celebrated on ‘Armistice Day’. This was however, amended in 1931.
Finally on January 31, 1957, Parliament announced the second Monday in the month of October as the official “Thanksgiving Day”. It was declared as “a day of general Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.”
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
