dbd33

Tomorrow will be my first paid day off since 1986 so I'm all for celebrating. Canadian Thanksgiving though is like Eid or Chinese New Year or The Festival of the Spoons. I eat the samosas or wrapped sweets or whatever it is and I wish people well, without asking too much about the celebration. I don't think the Pilgrim Fathers came anywhere near Canada and, anyway, it was us they were fleeing, so what exactly, or vaguely, is this holiday about?

Former Lancastrian

Who cares its a day off work.

scrubbedexpat091

From what I found on the google: Celebrates the harvest and other blessings of the past year and apparently has been in existence in some form since 1879 but in 1957 a proclamation by the governor general set it to the current schedule: "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."



I forgot it was even Thanksgiving, always seems to be a non-event in Canada at least compared to the US version in November, we are not doing anything, my wife also has to work since retail doesn't for the most part shut down for the day, at least the big box stores.

dbd33

Well, quite. I may have a shandy.

scrubbedexpat091

*for some people its a day off work.

dbd33

Thank you for the research. It rather lacks specificity for a holiday but I suppose Family Day is equally ill defined, as is "Civic Holiday".

dbd33

In the past official days off have always been a bother as they include the dreaded "unbilled hour".

scrubbedexpat091

I would have been annoyed working on holidays if there was no holiday pay, so the holiday pay kind of makes up for it, but still would be nice to have holidays off at times, if in a job that gets every stat that adds another 10 days off per year, so 20 days off per year is better than just 10 days off.

*BC has 10 stats, so only speaking of BC, mileage may vary by province.

scilly

Further research might have shown that the origin of Canadian Thanksgiving was before the Pilgrim Fathers ............... it started in Newfoundland! The first Thanksgiving in Canada is generally accepted have been in 1578.

But, of course, we shouldn't really mention that Canada was ahead of the US at any point.

We've always loved Thanksgiving, it was always a time when we had huge dinners for our friends. 12-15 people was not unusual (same at Christmas) ........ we gathered friends who had no family close by, so like us, as well as friends or students who otherwise would be alone on the day. We've always held our Turkey dinner, with all the trimmings, on the second Monday in October, never on the Sunday, as most people will have done today.

Of course, those large dinners are all in the past now ........... our daughter is in another province, and we are getting older. Still we have a turkey breast and 2 turkey drumsticks in the fridge, ready to cook tomorrow. Plus sweet potatoes, sprouts, etc. The only thing we don't have is pumpkin pie!

BristolUK

An opportunity to have roast turkey and all the trimmings a couple of times a year, evenly spread out and relax a bit more on xmas day and maybe for American Thanksgiving, have it without the trimmings and mashed spud instead.

Will they? For me that makes sense. When there's a holiday weekend more people are (likely to be) home on the Monday than other Mondays so something that will become a meal on the Sunday but can also be made use of on the Monday is very convenient.
I've always enjoyed the boxing day cold turkey version - in the old days with bubble and squeak or more recently with cauliflower cheese - as much as the traditional roast.

Rete

My Canadian sister-in-law and her now adult children still celebrate on Sunday rather than Monday. In this way, those of the family who had to travel from Upper Ontario to Montreal could do so on Saturday, have the big dinner on Sunday and relax a bit with family and travel home on Monday.

The end of harvest celebrations are held around the world.

scilly

It certainly worked well for us, and for the friends who joined us

Most of us did not have family in Canada, the only "travel" involved in those days was from around Vancouver. Not even from Vancouver Island!!

That to me is the huge difference between Canadian and US Thanksgiving, and yes, we have celebrated both at various times. There is not the huge travel across the country in Canada.

In addition, we usually had the meal earlier than a regular dinner time, so there was time to relax before having to go home.

BC Ferries views this as one of the busiest weekends, if not The busiest, for travel between the mainland and Vancouver Island, but that's also a possible distance to get home later on Monday evening.

I am I said

I thought it was simply a day to mark the official end of summer/the beginning of winter and give enough time to get up north to shut down the cottage for the season?

Or more realistically, a harvest feast to mark the end of the growing season. The US, being further south, has its holiday later in the year. Or so I have always thunk.

dbd33

Sounds reasonable. If it stays dry I'll mow and put the summer cars away.

One of the local cannabis shops is running an ad on facebook: "We're open today, be sure to grab before you gobble", which I rather liked.

Siouxie

Remember 'Harvest Festival' when we were at school as youngsters? Thanksgiving in Canada is the same - just a different name.