Saturday, October 6, 2018

The Second Monday in October


Although in the US, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the 4th Sunday in November, in Canada, turkey day is set on the second Monday of October.

'A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed'
Governor General of Canada Vincent Massey, 1957



Canadian Thanksgiving always seems early, even though the date has been set for decades.  I do however like the longer time period Canadians have between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Although the general sentiment is similar to that in the US, there isn't a clearly defined story or event which sparked it's beginning, nor any Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock.   Given Canada's close ties to Europe, it is thought to correspond with the English and continental European harvest festivals.

Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadian visitors to FH!


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yup, Canadian Thanksgiving is tied to harvest. Not like the colonial massacre in the US.