A question for Canadians

[Beer and Pizza]

What is the historical significance of your Thanksgiving Day, and why is it in October?

Is it just a harvest festival, or is it based on some event like the US version is (Pilgrims/Indians etc.)?

Did Canadians pick this holiday to copy the US?
Did the Brits pick this holiday for you?

[TheCroShow]

maybe the euros wtfpwnt the natives in canada on this day, YAY colonization!

[Ulysses]

As a general rule, threads that are questions answered by the first link when you google (in this case "canadian thanksgiving day") are dumb. The exception, of course, is when the topic is an interesting one for discussion after the question has been answered.

[phage]

[ QUOTE ]
What is the historical significance of your Thanksgiving Day, and why is it in October?

Is it just a harvest festival, or is it based on some event like the US version is (Pilgrims/Indians etc.)?

Did Canadians pick this holiday to copy the US?
Did the Brits pick this holiday for you?

[/ QUOTE ]
Growing up Thanksgiving was never considered a particularily important holiday. Similar to Thanksgiving in the US it is a family oriented holiday and there is the turkey, stuffing etc tradition. However, there isn't the same emphasis placed on the event and it certainly isn't associated with as many sporting events.
I have to say, however, I am first generation Canadian and grew up in Quebec and so we may not have as much of an attachemnet to the holiday.

[detruncate]

We're a pragmatic people. We needed a holiday in October and thought the whole turkey and pumpkin pie thing sounded groovy, so we cobbled together a historical justification that nobody pays any attention to.

Some people give thanks for the harvest... but given how often the harvest seems to suck in one place or another it's usually best to do so silently. We weren't as ruthless in trying to exterminate our Native population since we needed them to help us survive and such, but we still [censored] them over pretty good (sometimes literally -- bad idea in hindsight to pack residential schools full of children and let them be run by Priests/Ministers/Pastor/etc... who would have thunk it?) so that bit goes out the window too.

Usually best to just give thanks (if one is so inclined) for friends, family, a day off, food & good times... as well as the usual family feuds and embarrassing drunken moments that we all know and love. And for being Canadian of course (hard as it seems to be for USAers to believe that people actually exist who don't actively mourn being born elsewhere).

I ripped off some historical stuff from a website it took me 10 seconds to find if you're compelled to read further:



History and Origin of Canadian Thanksgiving

In Canada Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October. Unlike the American tradition of remembering Pilgrims and settling in the New World, Canadians give thanks for a successful harvest. The harvest season falls earlier in Canada compared to the United States due to the simple fact that Canada is further north.

The history of Thanksgiving in Canada goes back to an English explorer, Martin Frobisher, who had been trying to find a northern passage to the Orient. He did not succeed but he did establish a settlement in Northern America. In the year 1578, he held a formal ceremony, in what is now called Newfoundland, to give thanks for surviving the long journey. This is considered the first Canadian Thanksgiving. Other settlers arrived and continued these ceremonies. He was later knighted and had an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean in northern Canada named after him - Frobisher Bay.

At the same time, French settlers, having crossed the ocean and arrived in Canada with explorer Samuel de Champlain, also held huge feasts of thanks. They even formed 'The Order of Good Cheer' and gladly shared their food with their Indian neighbours.

After the Seven Year's War ended in 1763, the citizens of Halifax held a special day of Thanksgiving.

During the American Revolution, Americans who remained loyal to England moved to Canada where they brought the customs and practices of the American Thanksgiving to Canada. There are many similarities between the two Thanksgivings such as the cornucopia and the pumpkin pie.

Eventually in 1879, Parliament declared November 6th a day of Thanksgiving and a national holiday. Over the years many dates were used for Thanksgiving, the most popular was the 3rd Monday in October. After World War I, both Armistice Day and Thanksgiving were celebrated on the Monday of the week in which November 11th occurred. Ten years later, in 1931, the two days became separate holidays and Armistice Day was renamed Remembrance Day.

Finally, on January 31st, 1957, Parliament proclaimed...

"A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed ... to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October.

[Beer and Pizza]

I was hoping to get a discussion about how Canada entwined the holiday with this rogue:
http://home.arcor.de/historienmalerei/Photoausst08/brad04.jpg
but your history glosses right over it.