Canada Gets Ready To Celebrate Thanksgiving In October

Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is an annual holiday in Canada held on the second Monday in October. Here in the United States, we refer to it as Canadian Thanksgiving to distinguish it from the US holiday of the same name and related celebrations in other regions. This year, it falls on Monday, October 14th.

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.

Here in the United States, we enjoy Lions Football on Thanksgiving. In Canada, it is the start of the National Hockey League season, and the Canadian Football League has usually held a nationally televised doubleheader, the Thanksgiving Day Classic.

Everyone knows the story of the first American Thanksgiving in 1621, but do you know how Canadian Thanksgiving came about? The first Canadian Thanksgiving may have even pre-dated the Pilgrims’ big meal.

The tradition in Canada originated with the harvest festival. The autumnal celebration is meant to show appreciation for the season’s 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 Canada, it is a little more low-key than how we are used to celebrating every year.

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! But no Turduckin!

It is a dish made by stuffing a deboned chicken inside a deboned duck and then stuffed inside a deboned turkey. The term "turducken" is a combination of the words "turkey," "duck," and "chicken."

 Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become a big part of the Thanksgiving season in the United States. However, Canada’s no real post-Thanksgiving shopping craze since Christmas is still so far off. This allows Canadians to focus on celebrating the beauty of early October and the Fall harvest!

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