Article from Issue #38 (October 7, 2021)
Happy Thanksgiving Canada! October 11, 2021
by Catherine Wylie
For me, Thanksgiving is every day from a place of gratitude for my life experiences, good, tough, and all the in-betweens. as each experience brings its own unique positive benefits and gifts. But here is a bit of the strange convoluted Canadian Thanksgiving that is celebrated at a different time than our American friends. There are two different accounts of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in Canada several hundred years apart.
English explorer Martin Frobisher and his crew had the first Canadian Thanksgiving in 1578. As the story goes, in 1578, English explorer Martin Frobisher and his crew gave thanks and communion was observed, either on land at Frobisher Bay, in present-day Nunavut, or onboard a ship anchored there.
In 1838, Lower Canada used Thanksgiving to celebrate the end of the Lower Canada Rebellion. ... The first Thanksgiving Day after Confederation was observed as a civic holiday on April 5, 1872, to celebrate the recovery of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) from a serious illness.
The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving are more closely connected to the traditions of Europe than of the United States. ... And since Thanksgiving for Canadians is more about giving thanks for the harvest season than the arrival of pilgrims, it makes sense to celebrate the holiday in October.
After World War I, an amendment to the Armistice Day Act established that Armistice Day and Thanksgiving would, starting in 1921, both be celebrated on the Monday of the week in which November 11 occurred. ... In 1957, Parliament fixed Thanksgiving as the second Monday in October.
So this year we celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving Monday, October 11, 2021. So I wish each and every one of you a wonderful celebration with yourself, your friends, and family. Remember to give thanks and gratitude daily. Daily gratitude creates miracles from the tiniest to the most humongous...I love you. Tons of blessings and gratitude to each of you for all you are and all you do!
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