Prayers of thanks and special thanksgiving ceremonies are common among most religions after harvests and at other times.
But North America's two Thanksgivings are Colonizing Settler Festivals - distinctive compared to everyone else as they relate to survival rather than just celebrating the harvest.
We call our thanksgiving "Canadian Thanksgiving". It is a Canadian Joke. The date? It was late - in 1957 - that Canada fixed Thanksgiving to the second Monday in October.
There aren't that many Thanksgiving Days around the globe. Japan's holiday is Labour Thanksgiving Day - an all in one celebration of labour and production that started during the American occupation.
The really big #1 holiday each year is New Year's and there are variations and versions all over the globe. Thanksgiving is far down the kist of important holidays - except for us Canadians and Americans.
The distinction of the Thanksgiving meal is pumpkin pie. I wouldn't consider pumpkin pie part of Christmas or even desirable t Christmas. But it is for Thanksgiving. Native to North America, it was exported to France and then England in the 1500s. How perfect that the Pilgrims brought the pumpkin pie back to New England when they arrived.
Canadians have a notion that everything has "become" political in the U.S. in the last few years. Here's how far back the social politics goes: When Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863, observers in the Confederacy saw it as a move to impose Yankee traditions on the South.
We' have our own Canadian jabs and snubs about the earlier date of "Canadian Thanksgiving" -
You don't have to wake up at ungodly hours to participate in Black Friday with your parents.
When Americans get around to posting about Thanksgiving, Canadians have "been there, done that."
There are lots of pumpkin displays - at the farmer's fruit and vegetable stands and in front of supermarkets. They are autumn's celebration here.
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