Canadian Thanksgiving Countdown

Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October each year — approximately six weeks earlier than the American Thanksgiving in November. It is a statutory holiday in most Canadian provinces and territories, dedicated to giving thanks for a successful harvest and the blessings of the past year. The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving are older than its American counterpart. The earliest recorded celebration in Canada is attributed to English explorer Martin Frobisher, who held a formal ceremony in 1578 in what is now Nunavut to give thanks for his expedition's survival after searching for the Northwest Passage — making it 43 years before the Pilgrims' 1621 feast in Plymouth. French settlers in New France (Quebec) also held harvest feasts with Indigenous peoples as early as the 1600s. The October date was established partly because of Canada's more northerly latitude and shorter growing season — the harvest comes earlier in Canada than in the United States. The date was officially fixed by Parliament in 1957 to the second Monday of October. Canadian Thanksgiving is similar in spirit to the American holiday — centered on a turkey dinner with stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie — but tends to be a more low-key, family-focused affair with less commercial emphasis than the American version. It also lacks the Black Friday shopping association. The three-day Thanksgiving weekend is popular for travel and cottage trips as families enjoy what is often one of the last warm weekends of the Canadian autumn.

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