Canadian Thanksgiving ... Steve Holland
Who invented Thanksgiving? American settlers and colonists? No, they
did not create Thanksgiving.
Actually, the first "thanksgiving" was held in Canada 43 years before
the pilgrims gave thanks in 1621.
When Europeans arrived in North America they brought their traditions
and practices with them. In Europe farmers celebrated their harvest times
to acknowledge their thanks for good seasons and harvests. They
would fill cornucopias, usually a curved goat's horn, with fruits and
grains. When Europeans arrived in Canada
it is thought they brought this practice with them and it became part
of the Canadian Thanksgiving tradition.
The first Thanksgiving was observed around 1578. Martin Frobisher, an
English navigator who was searching
for the Spice Islands, landed on Baffin Island. He established a settlement
and held the first ceremony of thanksgiving in what is now Newfoundland.
The celebration was to give thanks for surviving the long sea
journey. As other settlers arrived, they continued these thanksgiving
celebrations.
In the early 1600s, Samuel de Champlain, a French explorer, arrived
with French settlers and also held feasts
of thanksgiving called the "Order of Good Cheer." This feast they shared
with their indian neighbors as a token
of goodwill. During the Revolutionary War, the Americans who were Loyalists
(loyal to England and the Crown) moved to Canada and thus American Thanksgiving
celebrations and traditions spread throughout Canada.
In 1710, Port Royal (in Nova Scotia) records state that a 10 October day of thanksgiving was held to mark the return of the town to the English. In 1763, Halifax celebrated the end of the Seven Years War with a day of thanksgiving.
The US celebrates Thanksgiving on the 4th Thursday of November and has
done so since 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln formally declared it
a holiday. Canadian Parliament declared 6 November a national holiday
of Thanksgiving in 1879. The date of the Thanksgiving holiday changed
a number of times, on 31 January 1957 Parliament proclaimed:
"the 2nd Monday in October... be a Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty
God for the bountiful harvest
with which Canada has been blessed."
But why is the Canadian Thanksgiving celebrated so early and so late
in the US? Why won't the US and Canada celebrate the holiday at the same
time? This is probably due to the growing season in Canada (and in the
northern US) being much shorter than the growing season in the agricultural
belt in the US.
THE CANADIAN THANKSGIVING
Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving Day on the second Monday of October
and Americans set aside the
fourth Thursday of November. The only reason for this is because of
the seasonal differences between
the two countries. The harvest in Canada happens earlier in the year.
That is not the only difference between the two celebrations.
In 1576, English explorer Martin Frobisher set out to find a northern
passage that would lead him to the
Orient. He then spent two years trying to become rich mining
what he thought was gold ore and
attempted to establish the first English settlement in North America
on what would come to be known as
Baffin Island. While he failed on all counts, he did celebrate
the first formal North American
Thanksgiving.
Celebrated on the second Monday in October, by proclamation of Parliament
in 1957, Canadian
Thanksgiving is "a day of general thanksgiving to almighty God for
the bountiful harvest with which
Canada has been blessed."
The day is celebrated in Canada as a national holiday rather than a
religious one, but its true roots and
European heritage rest in something considerably more pagan. The original
festivities date back 2,000
years to Celtic priests, the druids, who celebrated a harvest festival.
Once their summer's harvest had
been safely stored, the Celts prayed for their sun god in the coming
battle with the darkness and cold of
winter. The harvest season was of such importance it marked the end
of the Celtic calendar year.
As their harvest rituals evolved, eventually combining with the Christian
Feast of Saints, "Thanksgiving"
as we know it was born, and later, brought to the new world. Records
of Port Royal, Nova Scotia, dating
back to 1710, note October 10 as a celebration of thanksgiving for
the return of the town to the English.
In 1763, the citizens of Halifax commemorated the end of the *Seven
Years War in a similar ceremony.
From there the tradition slowly moved across the country.
Canada's Parliament of 1879 formally declared November 6 as a day of
Thanksgiving, marking that day
every year until after World War I, when Thanksgiving and Armistice
(Remembrance) Day was
celebrated in the same week.
It's current date, the second Monday in October, was regarded by former
Ontario Premier E.C. Drury, as
a farmer's holiday stolen by cities to provide them a long weekend
when the weather was better than
winter.
*In 1750 the celebrations was also brought to Nova Scotia by American
settlers from the south. At the
same time, French settlers, having crossed the ocean with Samuel de
Champlain, also held large feasts of
thanks. The "Order of Good Cheer" was formed and the French settlers
shared their food with their
Indian neighbours. After the Seven Year's War ended in 1763, the citizens
of Halifax held a special day of
Thanksgiving.
The Americans who remained faithful to the government in England were
known as Loyalists. At the time
of the American revolution, they moved to Canada and spread the Thanksgiving
celebration to other parts
of the country. Many of the new English settlers from Great Britain
were also used to having a harvest
celebration in their churches every autumn.
On January 31, 1957, Parliament proclaimed...
"A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest
with which Canada has been
blessed...to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October."
(Grant
Avenue Online)