Saturday, October 07, 2006

Premature Thanksgiving greetings to all

I always thought Canadian Thanksgiving was a kind of dorky, passionless, half-hearted holiday. In that, it seemed to be very Canadian in its essence; sorta polite and unassuming.

Furthermore, I didn’t quite understand ‘why’ we had it. When I was in school they would always trot out all the Pilgrim Fathers nonsense, and the white guys and Indians sitting down and gnawing on the bird together, and whatever basic trappings have come to be associated with Thanksgiving.

Wait a minute, I thought, even as early as second or third grade, we didn’t even have Pilgrim Fathers here, we had stuff like couriers de bois and other Gallic stuff that didn’t make a whole hell of a lot of sense to a kid on the west coast where there was never a plethora of couriers de anything.

I became suspicious about Thanksgiving. It was some kind of a sham Thanksgiving – a lesser Canadian version that was tucked way back in October, rather than late in November like the US version. And, in the US they really did have Pilgrim Fathers and Pocahontas and all that stuff.

And Canadian Thanksgiving wasn’t all that big a deal. We got a holiday from school, and that was a good thing. And we had a turkey. And … that was about it. Halloween looming on the horizon was much more notable.

Later I found out how wrong I had been about the whole thing. I came to the same sort of realization about a couple of marriages, but that is an entirely other matter. Anyway, all my thoughts about Canadian Thanksgiving were egregious misconceptions for which I, as a one-time history teacher, should be ashamed. I only excuse myself in this regard in that I was never a teacher of Canadian history. Just too many couriers de bois in my opinion. In fact I still cringe a bit when I pass a Radisson Hotel.

Anyway, not only is Canadian Thanksgiving a unique festivity about which we should always be proud, even if we’re not, but we should revel in the fact that we ‘invented’ Thanksgiving. US T/giving is just a pallid imitation of something ‘we’ started.

Well, actually ‘we’ didn’t, it was a Brit explorer named Martin Frobisher, who held a ceremony in Newfoundland to give thanks for the survival of himself and his crew for a long arctic journey way back in 1578. Of course, nitpickers could raise the point that our Thanksgiving isn’t really Canadian at all, it is Newfie. That’s because Newfoundland didn’t become part of Canada until 1949. But, that is a quibbling point.

So, the American Thanksgiving (with all that Pilgrim Fathers stuff) didn’t happen until 1621 – that’s practically last week when compared with Marty’s Thanksgiving feast of salt pork, cod tongues and ‘screech.’ There is, however, little truth to the rumor that I’s the B’y was once earmarked as the official Thanksgiving song.

Anyway, it was a long time of passage between the earliest Thanksgiving and its declaration as an official holiday in Canada. In 1879 Parliament declared November 6th to be the day. And then they changed it to October, and then they changed it back to November, and finally in 1957 the 2nd Monday in October was deemed to be the full and righteous day forevermore.

American Thanksgiving was formally established as the fourth Thursday in November back in 1941. So, I guess in the annals of official recognition, the US trumped us.

But, we started it. We did. We did.

But, I still think it’s sort of a dorky holiday, and the only good way to eat turkey is in a sandwich – on white bread, with stuffing and mayonnaise.

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

8 Comments:

Blogger heiresschild said...

thank you for the history lession Ian. for me, it doesn't matter who started thanksgiving, but i'm glad we have it.

i love thanksgiving. it's one of the times of family celebrations, regardless of the number of family members attending, since my family is so scattered now. i love sitting around laughing and talking and watching movies, and playing games, and for the football buffs, watching football, and oh yes, don't forget the best part--eating the food. then afterwards, the leftovers--the turkey sandwiches, as you mentioned Ian (i like mine on oatmeal bread with mustard, tomatoes, and cranberry sauce, yum!), and then when the meat is gone,the turkey soup. oh yes, gotta have that soup.

so, anyway, Happy Thanksgiving to the Canadians, since this is your season of celebration.

6:07 PM  
Blogger Wendy C. said...

That's right, you guys did it - you get aaaallllll the credit :-)

*Canadians!*

(kidding! I am actually quite fond of you Canadians)

I think it's a dorky holiday in the States as well. Yes, let's all take a day off work to remember how we pretended to be greatful, and then systematically slaughtered our hosts! In our home, we give thanks to Native American heroes long gone - we build a teepee out of well, bamboo poles and brown paper drop cloth,right in the middel of our living room and then we have great fun decorating it with native art and telling stories about Squanto, Cochise and the like. Our teepee tradition is as much a part of our hilidays as a Christmas tree at Christmas...my kids were actually surprised to learn that none of their friends had a Thanksgiving Teepee!

6:58 PM  
Blogger AlieMalie said...

haha. i love how you say it's a Newfie thing as if Newfies aren't Canadian. 'cause they're really not. heh.

and anyway, all the best things come from Canada anyway, what more should we expect?

:)
AM

10:56 PM  
Blogger kimber said...

Happy Thanksgiving, Ian! Hurray for Canadian history!

3:44 PM  
Blogger Heidi said...

Happy Thankgiving...To be honest I would rather be in the States celebrating theirs..My Bad..lol

4:51 PM  
Blogger geewits said...

That sounds like a horrible sandwich!

10:58 PM  
Blogger Moof said...

Ian ... this is great information. I had no idea! All of my ancestors are from Quebec and New Brunswick ... except for my mother who was born in the US, but still so attached to her Franco Canadian roots that she never did settle comfortably into the US culture. As a kid, I learned "Oh Canada" (in French) before I learned the US anthem. I identify as much with Canada as I do the US.

By the way - sorry about my long silence. I've been hard put to do any blogging in the last few weeks. I'm just now getting caught up on my friends' blogs ... not sure it will happen today, but in the next few days it will. I was really behind!

Oh - one last thing ... Turkey sandwiches ... those are the same as I used to eat. I recently substituted horseradish sauce for mayo ... very similar in a lot of ways, except for the extra bite! If you don't mind a little bit of heat, you should give it a try! Quite nice! :o)

11:49 AM  
Blogger Sean Carter said...

Really cool info, thanks...got to know a lot about thanksgiving from this post.....you can check out this Thanksgiving Blog for more neat info and ideas.

1:59 AM  

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