This weekend, I had a fellow friend from the USA visit me and during one of our sit-down family dinners, an interesting conversation came up about how she felt it was weird for us to be celebrating thanksgiving in October.
As some of you are aware, the American Thanksgiving is a huge holiday. There is “black out Wednesday”, which is where everyone goes to the bar the day before thanksgiving to see everyone who has come back in to town for thanksgiving. They have there thanksgiving on the 4th Thursday of November and then they have "Black Friday", which is the equivalent to our Boxing Day here in Canada.
In Canada, the first official Monday Thanksgiving was in October of 1936 and in the United States the official Thanksgiving Day was set in November 1940. There were many reasons and legends as to why Canadian Thanksgiving is in October instead of November. For example, Canada celebrates thanksgiving based on the bountiful harvest and not on the Pilgrims and the New World like the United States. Some believe that because Canada is colder, the harvest occurs earlier, so it needs to be in October. Others believe that because Canada celebrates Remembrance Day, the lawmakers did not want two holidays in one month.
However, both Canadian Thanksgiving and American Thanksgiving represent the gathering of family and friends and the giving of thanks, regardless on the month we celebrate it in.
As some of you are aware, the American Thanksgiving is a huge holiday. There is “black out Wednesday”, which is where everyone goes to the bar the day before thanksgiving to see everyone who has come back in to town for thanksgiving. They have there thanksgiving on the 4th Thursday of November and then they have "Black Friday", which is the equivalent to our Boxing Day here in Canada.
In Canada, the first official Monday Thanksgiving was in October of 1936 and in the United States the official Thanksgiving Day was set in November 1940. There were many reasons and legends as to why Canadian Thanksgiving is in October instead of November. For example, Canada celebrates thanksgiving based on the bountiful harvest and not on the Pilgrims and the New World like the United States. Some believe that because Canada is colder, the harvest occurs earlier, so it needs to be in October. Others believe that because Canada celebrates Remembrance Day, the lawmakers did not want two holidays in one month.
However, both Canadian Thanksgiving and American Thanksgiving represent the gathering of family and friends and the giving of thanks, regardless on the month we celebrate it in.
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