Happy Canadian Thanksgiving

Our Thankgiving occurs on the second Monday in October unlike the American Thankgiving which is in November. The reasons for the different dates stem from the following:

"1. The farmers in Europe held celebrations at the time of harvesting to give thanks for their good fortune of a bountiful harvest and abundance of food. The farmers would fill a goat's curved horn with fruits and grains. This curved horn was known as a cornucopia or the horn of plenty. It is believed that when the European farmers came to Canada they brought this tradition of Thanksgiving with them.

2. The history of Thanksgiving in Canada is related to Martin Frobisher, who was an English navigator. He made a lot of efforts to find a northern passage to the Orient. Though he did not succeed in his efforts but he was able to establish a settlement in Northern America. In the year 1578, he held a formal ceremony, in what is now known as Newfoundland, to give thanks for surviving the long journey. This is considered the first Canadian Thanksgiving. Martin Frobisher was later knighted and an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean in northern Canada was named as ' Frobisher Bay' after him. When other settlers arrived here they continued this ceremony of giving thanks.

3. The third influence occurred in 1621 in what is now the United States. Here the pilgrims, who were the English colonists, celebrated their first harvest in the New World at Plymouth Massachusetts. By the 1750s this celebration of harvest was brought to Nova Scotia by American settlers from the south."

Since my father died I haven't celebrated either Thanksgiving or Christmas. He always made such a big deal about the holidays. Its hard to celebrate them without him.

I always like the way the Americans stuffed their faces on Thursday and then got three days off to recover and pack themselves into the malls for an orgy of spending. However, if I hear ONE MORE STORY about people who can't make it home because of cancelled flights I will just murder someone.