What is the exact date of Canada’s Thanksgiving in 2022? What’s so special about Thanksgiving weekend in Canada? Let’s find out with me:
When is Thanksgiving in Canada in 2022?
Except in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, Canadian Thanksgiving is observed on the second Monday in October and is a statutory holiday. The date of Canadian Thanksgiving 2022 is Monday, October 10, 2022. (in 46 days).
Thanksgiving is a Designated Retail Closing Day in Nova Scotia. This means that some retail businesses are prohibited from opening under the Retail Business Designated Day Closing Act, but it is not a paid holiday.
When did Canadian Thanksgiving get started?
Some historians believe that Canada’s first Thanksgiving festival predated that of the United States.
Some believe the first Thanksgiving celebration in North America took place during the 1579 voyage of Martin Frobisher, an English sailor in search of the Northwest Passage, a sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans via the Arctic Ocean.
His third expedition was marred by freak storms, the loss of one of his boats, and a slew of other issues that frequently scattered the fleet.
When the remaining boats were reunited, they celebrated Holy Communion, beginning a tradition that would be replicated by French settlers years later, eventually morphing into festivals of thanks for safe passage.
Traditions of Thanksgiving weekend in Canada
In addition to occurring years before its American counterpart, Canadian Thanksgiving occurs over a month earlier. One reason is that the harvest season begins earlier in northern Canada than in the United States.
Today, it is observed by gathering with family and friends and preparing the Thanksgiving Day meal, which typically consists of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and a variety of other dishes. Regional variations on the meal are common. For example, Newfoundlanders might serve Jiggs’ dinner, a boiled meat dish often paired with split-pea pudding, as a nod to Frobisher’s original feast. Instead of pumpkin pie, Ontarians favor butter tarts, which are bite-sized pastry shells filled with a syrupy filling.
Most government offices and many local amenities will be closed in areas where Canadian Thanksgiving is observed. Public transportation will most likely operate on a holiday or Sunday schedule. Banks and the Toronto Stock Exchange will be closed.
Employers are not required to pay their employees for the day off in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, where the day is not a holiday, so families often celebrate Thanksgiving on the Sunday before instead.
Roasted turkey, roast beef, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet corn, and various autumnal vegetables are traditional Thanksgiving foods.
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