Thanksgiving Day

Canadian Thanksgiving Day

Canada had its first Thanksgiving Day in Halifax in 1763. History of Thanksgiving, however, goes back to ancient times when the Greeks and the Romans paid tribute to their goddesses of agriculture.

Since it was originally a harvest festival, Canada, which is geographically north of America and temperature wise colder than America, has Thanksgiving weeks earilier.

As Canadians, we celebrate our Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October. In 2001, it
will be on October 8. Our friends in America will celebrate theirs on November 22, 2001 (the 4th Thursday of November).

During this public holiday, we have all our family members together for a big family dinner. The traditional dinner is roast turkey with cranberry sauce, turkey stuffing and vegetables. Thanksgiving dinner will not be complete without pumpkin pie for dessert. All this
food traditionally comes from a Canadian country harvest.

The next working day following Thanksgiving, you usually see Canadians -- including me
-- having a turkey sandwich for lunch. Well, if we have a lot of left-over turkey meat from
our big family gathering, we have to find a way to finish eating it, don't we?

Reference book:
Holidays, Festivals & Celebrations of the World Dictionary, 2nd edition.
Edited by Helene Henderson & Sue Ellen Thompson (Omnigraphics, Inc.; 1997). p.435 # 1909.

Ontario Reader 1997 for ESL & Literacy Learners,
Guenther Zuren (Newcomer Communications; 1997). p.71.

The Time and Again Weekly Calendar -- A Key to Organized Sanity 2000
D.M. Kathrens & M.E. Sawka (Time & Again, Inc.; 1999). p.34.

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