Much like the United States, Canada has its own Thanksgiving celebration. It’s a time for family and friends to come together around a table full of food and be thankful. Too often, our lives can be consumed with woes and worries rather than taking a second to meditate on the blessings. Historically, Canadian Thanksgiving has its roots in a bountiful harvest, but today it’s more about spending time with those you love. Of course, while both countries have their version of the holiday and they share many similarities, they’re also quite different. Ready to find out what those are? Here are 25 Canadian Thanksgiving Facts You Probably Never Knew.
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Canadian Thanksgiving is held on the second Monday in October, making it coincide with Columbus Day.
In Quebec, they call the holiday "Action de Grâce" and don't really put it too high on the priority list. Meaning, they don't really celebrate it much.
Cranberries are a big part of any Thanksgiving meal, be it American or Canadian, and we have the Algonquin natives to thank for it. They were the first to harvest wild cranberries and use them for food and medicine.
The tradition of breaking the wishbone is also practiced during Canadian Thanksgiving. It actually goes all the way back to the Etruscans in 322 BCE. The Romans brought it to England who eventually brought it to Canada.
Since the pilgrims didn't land on Plymouth, Massachusetts, until 1620, Canadians technically were celebrating a form of Thanksgiving 40 years before the Americans.
Of course, Canadian Thanksgiving wasn't an official holiday until Parliament made a declaration in 1879. They then moved it to the third Monday of October and then finally the second Monday of October in 1957.
While turkey is also a Canadian Thanksgiving staple, a new, popular centerpiece for the meal is "Turducken," or a chicken stuffed into a duck, stuffed into a turkey.
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/id/40355274
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Of course, turkey and cranberry sauce weren't on the original Thanksgiving table, but you might be surprised to learn pumpkin pie was. There are pumpkin pie recipes that date back to the 1650's.
In 2017, Canadians consumed 153.1 million kg (337 million lbs) of turkey. At Thanksgiving, 2.2 million turkeys were purchased, making up 31% of all whole turkeys sold that year.
Black Friday and big retail shopping isn't a big of a deal after Canadian Thanksgiving, like it is in the United States. Their big shopping day comes after Christmas.
With the leaves changing and the temperate weather, an annual Canadian Thanksgiving tradition for many families is taking long walks through the countryside.
While American Thanksgiving is one of the busiest travel days of the year, Canadians don't typically travel half-way across the country to see family for their Thanksgiving.
During the American Revolution, some Americans loyal to England traveled to Canada and brought many of their own Thanksgiving customs, making both modern traditions very similar.
Canadians have Thanksgiving parades, too, but they're much smaller and more at the local level. The only major televised parade is the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest parade.