Thanksgiving In Vancouver

In Canada, the second weekend of October is officially Canadian Thanksgiving.  I have often wondered when Thanksgiving started in Canada and what its history is.  You would think that a kid from Canada would know this but, hey, I can't know everything.  I did a quick search and Wikipedia has all there is to know about Canadian Thanksgiving.

The history of Thanksgiving in Canada goes back to an explorer, Martin Frobisher, who had been trying to find a northern passage to the Orient. In the year 1578, he held a formal ceremony, in what is now the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, to give thanks for surviving the long journey. The feast was one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in North America, although celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful bounty of crops had been a long-standing tradition throughout North America by various First Nations and Native American groups.

First Nations and Native Americans throughout the Americas, including the Pueblo, Cherokee, Cree and many others organized harvest festivals, ceremonial dances, and other celebrations of thanks for centuries before the arrival of Europeans in North America. Frobisher 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 First Nations neighbours.

It wasn't until the Canadian Government decided in 1957 the holiday to be held on the second weekend of October.  Now, you know and knowing is half the battle.

I am looking forward to some turkey tonight.  At least, I hope there will be turkey.  You never know with these Vancouver holidays - could be tofu turkey.

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