Canadian Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a national Canadian holiday that is celebrated on the second Monday of October, today!

Newcomers to Canada should participate in the fun of Thanksgiving if they can as it is a wonderful and joyous Canadian tradition.

Thanksgiving is a primarily North American holiday celebrated at the traditional end of the harvest in autumn.

Many people are given the day off from work on this day to spend time with loved ones.

Although the roots of this holiday are tied somewhat to religious traditions, Thanksgiving, more often than not, is celebrated as a secular holiday.

In some ways, Thanksgiving can be seen as a sort of immigrants’ holiday. Though the stories of the first Thanksgivings are often hard to confirm, they almost always talk about recent immigrants to the New World celebrating their good fortune throughout the year.

Thanksgiving is celebrated during a different month than American Thanksgiving, however, the traditions associated with the holiday are still very similar.

The general idea of the holiday is to be thankful for the good things that happened during the year and for the family and friends that you share the holiday with.

Traditions associated with the Thanksgiving holiday include:

• Religious observances. Many religions have services, celebrations or holy days around this time of year for giving thanks or for celebrating a successful harvest.
• Thanksgiving meal. During the extended weekend families or groups of friends have a large feast to celebrate Thanksgiving, which may include roasted turkey, Kraft dinner, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.
• Football games. Canadian football games are shown on Thanksgiving day and many people spend the day watching these programs and rooting for their favorite teams.
• Parades. Your city might put together a parade where the community comes out to get together.

Happy Thanksgiving and be sure to tell those who are important to you that you’re thankful for their companionship!