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'The  View is A-maize-ing'

Given how big Thanksgiving is in the US, most countries, even those that don't celebrate, are aware of the November date.  Although in most locations, the celebration and feast is in November, there are a few countries, where it takes place the month earlier.  In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October, and unlike other holidays you plan for, this one always seems to sneak up on most Canucks.  After clinging on to summer, the October holidays marks the unofficial beginning of the cozy season.

Unlike in the US, there really no Pilgrim stories connected with the first Thanksgiving.  There are however deep roots in the Indigenous culture.  Canadian Thanksgiving is mostly a fall and harvest celebration, blending ancient Indigenous fall harvest traditions. 16th-century European explorer influences came much later.  Long before European contact, First Nations across North America held communal feasts, dances, and rituals to celebrate and give thanks for the annual fall harvest.

It wasn't until the1600's, that French explorer Samuel de Champlain began organizing rotating feasts known as the Ordre de Bon Temps (Order of Good Cheer) in Port Royal, Nova Scotia, sharing food and community with local Mi'kmaq families.  Much like the US, the climate is vastly different from the West coast to the east, so the bounty is varied depending on where in the country you live.  Given the cold winter temperatures, there are many crops, (citrus fruit, bananas and mangos to name a few) that cannot be grown in Canada, at least not outside. 

Canadians do seem to love their corn on the cob, which is generally harvested from late summer through October.  They also love cornfields, which turn into mazes and haunted scavenger hunt locations in October and November.  There are other crops, in other fields however, that still need tending by hot, and sometimes naked farmers.  Check out a few more on the NEXT PAGE HERE: