Happy Thanksgiving!
Every year, on the second Monday in October, Canadians gather to celebrate Thanksgiving Day! We spend time with our family, eat a huge dinner together, and give thanks – thanks for enough food to eat, thanks for a good life, and thanks for family and friends. It was originally a day to thank God for a good harvest, but as Canadian society became more secular, it become a day to give thanks for everything. Most Canadians are no longer farmers, and we can easily buy any food we want and need at the supermarket (even if it isn't grown in Canada), but we still carry on this tradition!
We spend time with our extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc.) and eat a delicious meal of turkey with gravy, all sorts of fall vegetables that can be grown in a cold climate, and pumpkin pie for dessert! Usually my mom makes mashed potatoes, stuffing (bread mixed with spices and stuffed into the turkey while it cooks), mashed squash, brussels sprouts (miniature cabbage), carrots in a brown sugar sauce and cranberry sauce. I'm not sure why we eat turkey specifically on this day, it's just the tradition – everyone eats turkey on Thanksgiving! (Maybe it's because a turkey is big enough to feed a large family!)
How did Thanksgiving begin?
Thanksgiving originated in Europe as a celebration at the end of a successful harvest season. The harvest is the time of year – long after summer has ended but before the cold winter begins – when all the crops are collected from the fields to be eaten or stored for winter. People would gather to celebrate and thank God for a good harvest and an abundance of food. This tradition was later brought to North America by European settlers.
It is a statutory holiday (an official holiday declared by the government) so no one has to work on this day and most stores are closed.
The Americans celebrate Thanksgiving later than we do – Canada is a colder climate, so our harvest season usually ends before the American harvest. In addition to giving thanks for the harvest season, Americans also remember the Pilgrims who fled England and landed in American in 1620 to start the first permanent English settlement in New England (northeastern America).
Thanksgiving Day is right in the middle of fall. At this time of year, it's getting colder. The summer is long over and the leaves on the trees are turning colour, so we know that winter is just around the corner!
