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Origins of the Canadian Thanksgiving

Canada is a beautiful country at any time of the year, but is particularly breathtaking in the fall when the Thanksgiving celebration occurs. In autumn, leaves turn spectacular colours - red, orange, yellow and brown and fall to the earth as trees prepare for winter. The leaves are so brilliant as to appear almost neon in colour! Children love to make leaf piles and jump in them. The air is cool and crisp. Everything seems sharper and clearer.

The Canadian Thanksgiving is held the second Monday in October, unlike the American Thanksgiving, which falls in November. Some people believe this is because Canada, being

farther north, has an earlier harvest. Others think that having Thanksgiving in November interfered with Remembrance Day, a day set apart each year on November 11th to remember those who died in wars. At any rate, deciding to have Thanksgiving in October when the weather is still warm enough for Canadians to enjoy the outdoors was a great idea!

Thanksgiving in Canada provides an opportunity for Canadians to give thanks for having the good fortune to live in a bountiful, free country, and to celebrate that day by feasting with family and friends.

To find out more about Thanksgiving in Canada, visit the following links:

How Much Do You Know? (the history)

Thanksgiving Dates in Canada

Thanksgiving recipes

Pictures of Autumn in Canada

Weird Facts about Turkeys

Turkey Jokes

Thanksgiving Crafts, Turkey Info, Colouring Pages

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How Much Do You Know About the Canadian Thanksgiving?

True or False:

1. The Canadian Thanksgiving is about Pilgrims and a ship called 'The Mayflower'.
2. The famous English explorer, Martin Frobisher, conducted the first Thanksgiving service on the shores of Newfoundland in 1578.
3. The Canadian Thanksgiving is based on the Order of Good Cheer established by Samuel de Champlain.

If you answered 'false' to all three, you are correct!

First of all, the story of the Pilgrims, who came to Massachusetts aboard their ship, 'The Mayflower', is an American legend. It is a lovely story, but it has nothing to do with Thanksgiving in Canada.

Secondly, Martin Frobisher never set foot on the shores of Newfoundland! Robert Ruby, an editor of the Baltimore Sun and the author of "The Unknown Shore" a book about the voyages of Frobisher states:

" Martin Frobisher never set foot in Newfoundland, and the minister who travelled with the fleet in 1578 was the Rev. Robert Woolfall (not Wolf). He led prayers aboard the "Judith" when a storm in July separated the ship from the rest of Frobisher's fleet. And he did indeed lead a prayer when the surviving parts of the expedition reached Countess of Warwick Island, in August. According to the various logs and diaries, it was not accompanied by a special meal. Was it a first thanksgiving? Well, it was the first English prayer service in North America. And we can characterize it however we want."

Thirdly, the Order of Good Cheer existed, but it likely had little, if anything, to do with Thanksgiving in Canada according to Peter Stevens of York University who wrote a fine paper on the origins of the holiday*, the gist of which appears below the next paragraph.

The truth of the matter is that Thanksgiving in Canada can be traced back to Ontario in the mid 1880s. Protestant church leaders decided to 'borrow' the American tradition of Thanksgiving, but they wished to turn Thanksgiving into a nationalistic, religious event which excluded Catholics, the poor, and many minority groups. This approach eventually failed:

They did not simply duplicate the American Thanksgiving festival. Church leaders, particularly after Confederation, felt it their moral and historical duty to shape the Canadian identity in the Christian mould and saw the adoption of the Thanksgiving holiday as a way to do this. They created the Canadian Thanksgiving as an exclusively religious event that was white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant, pro-British and often anti-American in nationalist intent.

The Protestant clergy successfully lobbied the Canadian government to create Canada's first, national Thanksgiving in 1859. But it was only proclaimed sporadically in the ensuing years, as church, state and commerce each wrestled for control of the holiday. By the 1870s, American holiday traditions, such as family gatherings for turkey dinner and stories of the pilgrims, took hold in Canada, creating both commercial opportunities for businesses, and a way for Catholics to celebrate the day as a non-religious event. With this, the Protestant clergy lost exclusive control of Thanksgiving Day. They lost all influence over the holiday in 1908, when the government appointed Thanksgiving for a Monday rather than a Thursday. Transportation companies had asked for the change, feeling that a long weekend would increase holiday travel. Churches opposed the move, fearing that it would hurt church attendance, as it did. In 1957, Parliament passed legislation to make Thanksgiving an annual holiday celebrated on the second Monday of October, eliminating the need for annual proclamations.

To Protestant clergymen, the early history of Thanksgiving is, perhaps, a tragedy, since they lost control over the holiday. From another perspective, it is a story of triumph. Catholics, workers, ethnic minorities and other groups excluded from the clergy's notions of Thanksgiving and Canadian identity democratized the holiday and adopted their own holiday practices, asserting that they, too, had something to contribute to Canadian society and culture.

http://www.yorku.ca/ycom/release/archive/100599.htm

*Peter A. Stevens, York University, Toronto,

"Cross-Border Culture: Holidays, Nationalism, and the Origins of the Canadian Thanksgiving,"

paper presented June 1, 2001 at the 5th Annual Conference on Holidays, Ritual, Festival, Celebration & Public Display, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green,Ohio.

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Weird Facts About Turkeys*

What do you know about turkeys? Test your turkey knowledge with this fun trivia quiz!

Here turkey, turkey, turkey!

Turkeys are able to adapt to a wide variety of habitats. However, most turkeys are found in hardwood forests with grassy areas.
The best time to see a turkey is on a warm clear day or in a light rain.

They what?

Turkeys have heart attacks. When the Air Force was conducting test runs and breaking the sound barrier, fields of turkeys would drop dead.
Turkeys can drown if they look up when it is raining.

Eat, sleep, gobble

Turkeys spend the night in trees. They fly to their roosts around sunset.
Turkeys fly to the ground at first light and feed until mid-morning. Feeding resumes in mid-afternoon.
Gobbling starts before sunrise and can continue through most of the morning.

Eyes in the backs of their heads?

A wild turkey has excellent vision and hearing. Their field of vision is about 270 degrees. This is the main reason they continue to elude some hunters.

And they're fast, too!

A spooked turkey can run at speeds up to 32 kilometres (20 mph) per hour. They can also burst into flight approaching speeds between 88 kilometres per hour (50-55 mph) in a matter of seconds.

* Turkey facts from http://home.aristotle.net/Thanksgiving/turkey_facts.asp

Turkey/flag image from http://www.kidsturncentral.com/holidays/thanksgiving.htm

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Turkey Jokes!

1. How do you send a turkey to a faraway friend?

By birdclass mail

2. Why do turkeys gobble?

Because they have bad table manners...

3. Why did the turkey cross the road?

To show that he wasn't chicken!

4. What do turkeys like to eat on Thanksgiving?

Nothing - they are already stuffed.

5. How are a turkey, a donkey, and a monkey the same?

They all have keys.

6.Why is a turkey similar to a ghost?

Because it's a-gobblin'.

7.Why did they let the turkey join the band?

Because it had the drumsticks!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

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Photos: Canada in Autumn

Note: These beautiful pictures, taken by Richard McGuire, are of the more southern areas of Canada.

http://canajun.ca/rmcguire/photos/cards/autumn/index.htm

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A Typical Canadian Thanksgiving Meal

Most families in Canada celebrate Thanksgiving with a special dinner for family and friends. The traditional dinner often includes a roasted turkey, stuffing, cranberries, mashed potatoes, vegetables and pumpkin pie.

Thanksgiving recipes can be found at the following links:

http://www.canadianliving.com/CanadianLiving/client/en/Today/DetailNews.asp?idNews=1222

http://www.recipezaar.com/r/262/114/pg=2

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