Monday, October 11 marked the day that all Canadian families convene to stuff themselves silly with turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry jelly and pumpkin pie. Yes, Thanksgiving Day dawned that Monday morning, one riddled with excitement at the anticipated dinner feast.
It’s not exactly a pilgrim and Native American ordeal, but nonetheless, they have the same intentions as Americans: to give thanks.
As for the date change, the reason is simple. Thanksgiving is a harvest feast. Due to the colder climate up north, harvest is earlier. Hence, and earlier harvest feast.
In America, Thanksgiving is swiftly followed by the consumer nation’s favorite shopping day: Black Friday. This event is publicized weeks in advance, overshadowing the good intentions of the family-oriented event preceding it. In fact, the procession of events goes like this:
First: “Aww…let’s all give thanks for the wonderful lives we have, because compared to poor children in underdeveloped countries, we’re really well off!”
Then: “Whew! Sales! Let’s go buy more stuff!”
The purpose of pointing this out is not to bash Americans. It is simply to link to another well-loved Canadian holiday, Boxing Day.
Basically, it’s the same as Black Friday. It occurs the day promptly after the other family holiday, Christmas. This is the day we box up the presents we did not like and exchange them for something better. It is also heavily publicized.
I guess that’s something else Canadians and Americans have in common: family holidays are fine and dandy, but nothing beats a good shopping day.
