Happy Thanksgiving, Canada!
Happy Thanksgiving, Canadians! Here is how Canada celebrates their big holiday as well as four ways that the Canadian and U.S. Thanksgivings differ.
1. Canadian Thanksgiving is in October—and on a Monday
That’s right! Canadian Thanksgiving happens a full month and a half before American Thanksgiving, on the second Monday in October (Monday, October 14, 2024).
Since the beginning of the Thanksgiving holiday, its date has moved several times—from mid-week in April to a Thursday in November—until 1957, when the Canadian government officially declared that Thanksgiving would occur on the second Monday in October. This ensured that Thanksgiving and another Canadian holiday, Remembrance Day (November 11), would no longer overlap.
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Now, Canadian Thanksgiving lines up with Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the United States, also held on the second Monday in October.
2. American and Canadian Thanksgiving Have Different (But Similar) Origins
Everyone seems to know the story of the first American Thanksgiving in 1621, but do you know how Canadian Thanksgiving came about? In fact, the first Canadian Thanksgiving may have even pre-dated the Pilgrims’ big meal.
The tradition of Thanksgiving originated with the harvest festival—an autumnal celebration meant to show appreciation for the season’s bountiful harvest. However, Canadian Thanksgiving was initially less about celebrating the harvest and more about thanking God for keeping early explorers safe as they ventured into the New World.
In that sense of “thanks-giving,” the earliest report of such a dinner dates back to 1578 when English explorer Martin Frobisher and his crew held a special meal to thank God for granting them safe passage through northern North America into what is today the Canadian Territory of Nunavut.
The first Thanksgiving after the Canadian Confederation didn’t happen until April 1872, when the holiday was observed to celebrate the recovery of the Prince of Wales from a severe illness.
Today, the tradition of Thanksgiving has come full circle, and it’s primarily seen as a time to gather the family, mark the start of autumn, and celebrate the harvest and good food of the season.
3. Thanksgiving Is a Little More Low-Key in Canada
Thanksgiving is one of the biggest holidays of the year in the United States—with huge parades, massive feasts, and football—but it’s decidedly lower-key in Canada. Although the holiday is still widely celebrated in Canada and is a statutory holiday in most of the country*, Canadians’ approach to Thanksgiving is a bit more laid back.
(*The exceptions are the Atlantic provinces, where the holiday is an optional day off, and Quebec, where the holiday isn’t as popular overall.)
In Canada, Thanksgiving is a time for families to gather and enjoy a turkey dinner while celebrating the harvest. However, unlike in the United States, relatives tend not to travel as far. This is because the holiday occurs in early October, and the weather is typically mild enough for a Thanksgiving Day hike or vacation. Many Canadians enjoy participating in this tradition before the long winter sets in. The Thanksgiving feast may also occur on Saturday or Sunday since the holiday falls on a Monday.
Although you might expect hockey to replace traditional Thanksgiving Day football, football is part of the Thanksgiving tradition in Canada, too. Each year, the annual Thanksgiving Day Classic doubleheader is broadcast nationwide, wherein four teams from the CFL (Canadian Football League) play for Thanksgiving glory!
4. There’s No Huge Post-Thanksgiving Shopping Craze
Love or hate them, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become a big part of the Thanksgiving season in the United States. In Canada, however, there’s no real post-Thanksgiving shopping craze since Christmas is still so far off. This allows Canadians to focus purely on celebrating the beauty of early October and the harvest!
That being said, no one can resist a good sale for long. Canadian stores have also started participating in November’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday in recent years. Especially since 2020 and COVID-19, with the surge in online shopping, retailers may seize any opportunity to promote consumer activity around the holidays.
Ultimately, no matter how, when, or where you celebrate it: Happy Thanksgiving!
Learn More
Check out our page on American Thanksgiving and a list of our favorite Thanksgiving Recipes (and Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Recipes, too)!
Catherine Boeckmann
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America is a continent, recognized by professional geographers as North America and South America. The United States of America is a country on the North American continent as are the countries of Mexico, Canada, Panama, etc.
It's more complicated than that. Words take on different meanings depending on the context.
From the wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas
Since the 1950s,[19] however, North America and South America have generally been considered by English speakers as separate continents, and taken together are called the Americas, or more rarely America.[20][21][5] When conceived as a unitary continent, the form is generally the continent of America in the singular. However, without a clarifying context, singular America in English commonly refers to the United States of America.[5]
Some of the article is true. Save for the bit about shopping. Since Canada has very few “Canadian retailers”, Black Friday is forced upon us. I too like a good sale, but there is s only so many TVs, appliances or cars one can buy
Love the last comment about 'only so many..". I am American (although 1 of my grandmothers was French Canadian) and wish so much more Americans had that feeling. shopping is out of control in the US. Good for you and the rest of the level headed Canadians. So glad there is a sane, rational country next to the US. maybe some of it will rub off.
The article makes the same mistake so many others make in confusing a "day of thanksgiving" with the holiday "Thanksgiving" day. The latter is an American holiday brought to Canada by Loyalists. It has nothing to do with Frobisher holding a feast of thanksgiving (that happened in April) and all attempts to link the "Thanksgiving" holiday with various days of thanks-giving throughout history are laughably tenuous.
You’re so right. This is what happens when writers fail to do their own original research and instead rely on someone else’s written mistake.
My multiple times grest grandfather William Bradford was the governor of Massachusetts when the first thanksgiving happened. It was no doubt closer to Canadas current date since they were celebrating a successful harvest season.
My husband just informed me that the Canadian football field is 20 yards longer and it's wider, too. I never knew any other country had a football league! As an American who is not in the least interested in football (I may as well be living in Canada...or Europe!), I don't know why I find this fascinating. LOL. But it was interesting to learn about Canada and their Thanksgiving holiday. Very nice. On a side note, I read the comments about 'Indigenous Day' and that makes me sad. Why couldn't we have kept Columbus Day and made a day just for the Native Americans? It could be a day in which the Native Americans tribes could jointly have picked out; instead, it was our inane and foolish government entity that made that stupid decision. (Sorry, done with the ranting now).
The first American Style football game was played between Montreal's McGill University and the Harvard University in Cambridge Mass. on May 15, 1874
The rules of the Canadian game included an oval ball and the ability to run while carrying the ball. Until then Harvard played the game with a round ball and a player couldn't run with the ball unless being chased. Harvard won the game 3 - 0
Shortly thereafter, Harvard standardized the rules for the game called "American Football" which became part of their athletic program. Their main rival became Yale University, but Harvard dominate the game for years because they had being playing the game for much longer.
Canadian football was being played many years before McGill taught Harvard the game. Some of the Canadian universities who were playing the game included, McGill, University of Toronto and the University of Hamilton.
Today the Canadian game is still played on a bigger field, with more players and play with bigger balls.
Merci
... And you have to be very careful in stating that last paragraph.
Yea! Canada.
Try reading “ Playing fir Pixza.” Set in Italy.
