walkerv05

happy thanksgiving to all new canadian residents, its our first and working but we need the cash so its time and a half, right?

Danny B

Should be double bubble on a stat, I'm specifically working 4hrs because of it

Judy in Calgary

I was mistaken in stating that we celebrate the Prince of Wales's recovery from typhoid in 1872. What I mean is that I was wrong in stating that that is what we celebrate when we observe Thanksgiving today.

That was the official reason for the 1872 Thanksgiving celebration, which was the first Thanksgiving celebration following confederation, which had taken place in 1867.

Prior to that, Lower Canada (Quebec) had had sporadic Thanskgiving celebrations from 1799 to 1838. Upper Canada (Ontario) had held sporadic Thanksgiving celebrations from 1816 to 1838. The Province of Canada (formed from the union of Ontario and Quebec) held sporadic Thanksgiving celebrations from 1850 to 1865.

After the Canadian Confederation's first Thanksgiving celebration in April 1872, there was a seven year gap until the next Thanksgiving celebration in November 1879. The official reason for Thanksgiving in 1879 was an abundant harvest.

From 1879 onwards, there was at least one official Thanksgiving holiday every year. But the holiday was not a given. Until 1957, Parliament proclaimed a holiday each year. The date moved around, but there always was a Thanksgiving holiday in October or November. The official reason for the holiday was an abundant harvest or God's many blessings on the people of Canada or something along those lines. Prior to 1872, the reasons for Thanksgiving holidays in Upper and Lower Canada had varied a lot. Those colonies had celebrated the ends of wars, the ends of cholera epidemics, and all kinds of things.

If you note that there were Thanksgiving celebrations after epidemics of various kinds, I think it helps to understand why the Prince of Wales's recovery from typhoid justified a Thanksgiving celebration. Since the residents of First World countries generally don't have to contend with diseases like cholera and typhoid, we probably don't appreciate what those diseases meant to people in previous centuries.

Interestingly, the "abundant harvest" line, which initially was used in 1879, continued to be used throughout the horrors of the First World War. The only time that the official reason for Thanksgiving changed was the period between 1921 and 1930, when Thanksgiving was conflated with remembrance of the Great War.

However, in 1931 Parliament voted to establish November 11th as Remembrance Day and to separate Thanksgiving celebrations from Remembrance Day observances. From 1931 onwards, Thanksgiving was always celebrated in October, to distinguish it from Remembrance Day.

There were three years during which there were two Thanksgiving celebrations. In June 1887 Canada celebrated the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession to the Throne, and in June 1896 the country celebrated her Diamond Jubilee. That's what the Canadian Government's official website states, but I'm a bit puzzled, because I thought Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee was in 1897. Anyway, onwards and upwards. King Edward VII's coronation in August 1902 also was an official Thanksgiving celebration in Canada. In each of those years, Canada celebrated a second Thanksgiving in October or November.

In 1957, the Canadian Parliament proclaimed that, in all subsequent years, Thanksgiving would be celebrated on the second Monday of Ocotber. So, since 1958, Thanksgiving automatically has been a holiday, and Parliament has not had to go to the trouble of proclaiming it each year.

You can see a list of the dates of all previous Canadian Thanksgiving celebrations and the official reasons for those celebrations on the Department of Canadian Heritage's web page entitled Proclamation and Observance of General Thanksgiving Days and reasons therefore.

This post is getting kind of long. I want to say something else about Thanksgiving that is quite a departure from the contents of this message. To make it easier for readers to distinguish between the different topics, I post a separate message.
x

Judy in Calgary

Oh yes, I was going to respond to your quoting the story about Martin Frobisher, wasn't I?

I've seen conflicting reports about whether it was Frobisher who held that Thanksgiving ceremony or someone else. Anyway, I don't think it matters who held it.

There are lots of anecdotal accounts of Aboriginal peoples holding harvest festivals and European settlers bringing to Canada harvest festival customs from their countries of origin.

There is even a harvest festival in my country of origin, Swaziland. But, because it's in the southern hemisphere, it happens at a different time of year.

So I don't think one has to be a rocket scientist to figure out that all of those traditions contributed to the Thanksgiving holiday that we celebrate today. The meal that Canadians eat on the holiday clearly is designed to draw on the fruits of the harvest (or what used to be the fruits of the harvest before we could import bananas from Latin America and stuff like that).

But what I found interesting when I researched this topic was the attitude that prevailed in Britain in the era in which Frobisher lived. Apparently it made a significant contribution to Canada, regardless of whether or not it was Frobisher who held that early Thanksgiving ceremony.

Here is an interesting article from the Edmonton Journal, dated September 12, 2005. It's entitled Canada's first Thanksgiving: Frobisher set stage for our celebrations in different spirit than U.S.

The author, David Watts, stated, "Frobisher sailed under Elizabeth I, whose reign was marked by gratitude from beginning to end." Watts goes on to explain that, in Canada, colonization by France and later Britain actually encouraged tolerance.

The Puritans who inspired the American Thanksgiving holiday had escaped from Elizabeth's successor, James, a monarch in a very different mould from Elizabeth. Although the Puritans had legitimate grievances against against their monarchs, James, and his son, Charles, they overreacted, grew self-righteous, and persecuted people who disagreed with them.

Watts goes on to share his opinion that these rather different beginnings gave rise to rather different countries.

He says,
I can't quote the whole article, for copyright reasons, but I found it interesting.

That place now is Iqaluit, the city that, before the inception of the Wiki, we so often recommended to new visitors to the forum who asked what was the best destination in Canada, without telling us a thing about themselves.

Linda P

HAPPY THANKS GIVING


Linda

kate white

have a great thanksgiving to everyone on expats no matter what yous all eat, what ever it is enjoy

coochicoo

My lad and his family move out to Edmonton on the 15th Nov (job contract signed, flights booked aad apartment sorted). He asked me the other day if Canada celebrated Thanksgiving Day, I in my ignorance said no. WHOOPS.

And for those who haven't tried them you must have Yorkshire Puddings with your Turkey

maddhobs

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

moondevil

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

Arrona

just made my first very own pumpkin pie mmmmmmm yum

Happythanks giving everybody

shellv

thanks for all the info - i lived here years ago as a kid and didn't even know that! but happy thanksgiving everybody. personally - we could be celebrating the landing on the moon provided i've got a bona fide reason to stuff my face and listening to everyones' descriptions of their dinners am getting rather hungry myself! yorkshire puds, bread pudding...... my nouths watering as i type! all the best everyone