Thanksgiving Day (English. Thanksgiving Day, fr. Jour de l'Action de grâce) — is a celebration of gratitude for the best of the — national holiday experienced in Canada and the USA this year. Its essence and meaning are common to all North Americans, although the dates of the celebration are noticeably spaced apart in time: in Canada it is the second Monday of October, and in the USA — is the fourth Thursday of November.
The history of thanksgiving in Canada dates back to the English explorer pirate Martin Frobisher, who, trying to find the northern sea passage to India and China, found himself trapped in ice off the coast of North America. The harsh conditions ruined the ships and part of the crew. The rest had to land on the coast of today's Labrador to survive, where in 1578 Frobisher held an official thanksgiving ceremony for the long and dangerous journey he had happily experienced. This is considered the first Canadian thanksgiving and the first thanksgiving to take place in North America in general.
At the same time, French settlers, having crossed the ocean and arrived in what is now Canada with the explorer Samuel de Champlain, also offered prayers of gratitude to the Almighty and organized abundant feasts of gratitude. They even established the «Case of Good Mood», sharing their meal with their Aboriginal neighbors with pleasure and gratitude to help them survive the inhumanly harsh North American winters.
Other colonists exploring the North American continent continued to perform similar ceremonies. Apparently, the multi-day feast in honor of the abundant harvest that saved the lives of the first settlers of Plymouth Colony in the fall of 1621, from which the current residents of the United States count down their Thanksgiving Days, was just another event within the framework of a long-existing tradition...
Over the years of its existence, the holiday has acquired customs and changed its place in the calendar several times. One thing remained unchanged: on this day it was supposed to thank the Almighty for the favors shown. Which ones exactly? This was determined separately, depending on current events and the location of the holiday.
In Lower Canada, Thanksgiving Day was first celebrated on January 10, 1799, « as a sign of victory over our enemies and in honor of the invaluable and varied favors that our kingdom and its provinces have received and continue to receive». Over the years, Canadians had to express gratitude for the end of the war between Great Britain and France, for the end of the cholera epidemic, for the end of the bloodshed in Europe (meaning the Napoleonic wars), etc.
The first Thanksgiving Day in Canada since Confederation was celebrated on April 15, 1872, to celebrate the recovery of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) after a serious illness. For a long time after this, Canadian Thanksgiving Day did not have not only a fixed date in the calendar, but also a certain focus of universal gratitude from Canadians: in different years and at different times, Canadians expressed gratitude either for a bountiful harvest or for what was prescribed by a special annual decree, until finally, in 1931, a streamlined formulation was developed: «general gratitude to the almighty Lord for the favors with which he rewards the inhabitants of Canada». The date of the holiday is firmly fixed on the second Monday of October. So firmly that when Thanksgiving was moved to Thursday in 1935 on the occasion of the elections scheduled for Monday, the people were outraged to the point of emergency.
In 1957, the most recent declaration was issued that Thanksgiving Day in Canada should be celebrated on the second Monday in October.
Despite the difference in dates for Thanksgiving celebrations in Canada and the United States, the traditions of the holiday itself are the same: it is usually one of the weekends when relatives gather together at a large table. Traditional dishes on this day are — fried stuffed turkey with cranberry sauce and beautifully decorated whipped cream pumpkin pie, as well as other delicious things on the table, most of which are homemade.
On this day, festive services are held in churches. Shop windows, courtyards, and house facades are decorated with stuffed animals specially released for this day, straw birds, pumpkins, and leaves. For many people, — is just a happy occasion to get together with loved ones, thank fate for peace and prosperity in the family, for family happiness in the past year. In addition, this is «long weekendend» — long weekends that everyone loves and enjoys spending without thinking too much about the origins of this holiday itself.
In addition, Thanksgiving Day is intended for all kinds of good deeds and charity — it is not for nothing that a mass collection of money « in favor of the poor» takes place in Canada in early autumn. And finally, this day still retains elements of the « harvest festival» —, numerous autumn fairs are dedicated to it.