Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to give a quick shout out to all of TNH’s family up north and wish them all a very Happy Thanksgiving tomorow.

“But Webmaster,” you say “Thanksgiving is still six plus weeks away!”

“Sorry,” says me “I should have been more specific. Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!”

“Canadian Thanksgiving! I thought turkey day was an American holiday”

“Silly American. That’s our Thanksgiving. Canada has one too you know”

“I did not know that!” you say. “Webmaster, I realize that the innernetz are for leisure purposes only, but perhaps you would share some of your immense knowledge and differentiate the two for us.”

“Certainly” says I. “But first a little history of the history of Thanksgiving. The first known North American ‘thanksgiving event’ occurred in Newfoundland in 1578. In the 1600s, Samuel de Champlain and the French Settlers who came with him established an ‘Order of Good Cheer.’ This group would hold huge celebrations marking the harvests and other events, sharing their bounty with their Native American neighbors.”

“So there was a French Thanksgiving too?

“No. Notice that I said ‘thanksgiving event,’ not Thanksgiving. There’s a big difference. One has a capital T, the other is in those little quotes. And, this happened here in North America. There is no known record of the celebration happening before they got here. This anecdote is only here to try to pinpoint the origin of the celebration. And there is significant evidence to support the belief that this was the last time the French gave any American anything other than attitude.”

“How about French Fries? And French Toast?”

“No thanks, I’m really not that hungry and I would like to wrap this post up sometime this week.”

“No, no, I meant ….”

“SHHHHH!” I interrupted. “Our Thanksgiving celebration here in the States dates back to the seventeenth century when the male Pilgrims needed an excuse to have pro football games in the middle of the week. The female Pilgrims were made to prepare large halftime and between game feasts for their men folk and their men folk’s friends so that they would not have to miss even one minute of the Cowboys games. After three years of this the women got more than a little tired of the men folk’s utter uselessness the next day due to fatigue from grossly overeating and vigorously cheering on their fantasy football teams. Rather than abolish the men’s feasting ritual they started their own tradition of ‘Shop ‘til Ye Drop.’ That, of course, is why the Christmas shopping season officially begins here on the day after Thanksgiving. It started out as the women folk getting their ‘evens’ and even more black shoes and it later turned into THE retail holiday.”

“Wow,” says you “I didn’t realize that they played fantasy football back then.”

“Oh yes, but that’s another story for another day. Let’s stick to the topic at hand, shall we? I must admit that Canadian Thanksgiving was a bit of a mystery to me until Google was invented. And it seems that even to this day Google is a bit mystified itself. See, I did a little research and found two distinctly different tales detailing the beginnings of the holiday. I thought this was more than a little odd considering that everything on the innernetz is true! But nowadays any semi-literate Wiki-savvy troglodyte can author innernetz web dictionary entries.”

“Semi-literate Wiki-savvy troglodyte?” Isn’t that an oxymoron?

“HA! You are correct! And you ask too many questions. So anyway, I kept digging and here’s what I found. The first Canadian Thanksgiving was celebrated on April 15, 1872 in thanks for the recovery of King Edward VII from a serious illness. The next Thanksgiving did not occur there until 1879 when it was celebrated on a Thursday in November. After getting bounced all over the calendar for the next 68 years it was decreed by Parliament on January 31, 1957 that the second Monday in October would heretofore be “a day of general Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.” Much like the United States’ Thanksgiving Day, the Canadian celebrations include parades and festive meals, often including turkey and all the ‘fixins.’”

“So, riddle me this Webmaster: The first Canadian Thanksgiving was on April 15. Our tax day is April 15th. Coincidence?”

“Again with the questions. Wow! Well, at least it’s a good question. There is absolutely no evidence available (anecdotal or otherwise) to disprove the claim that Canada is in fact solely responsible for our income tax system.”

“This has really been informative Webmaster, thank you so much for your time. I am truly awed by your infinite wisdom.”

“As you should be. It really is incredible.”

Have a Happy Thanksgiving Canada!!