History of Thanksgiving

"History of Thanksgiving", October 2008

As many of you went home this weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving, I am sure you know all about why you are celebrating the holiday, right? Sometime in the sixteenth century the pilgrims and

Native Americans came together and celebrated, as the Native people were preventing the British separatists from suffering from starvation. Everyone was happy, food was plentiful, and domestic turkeys were served and eaten. Most importantly, relations were good even though there was no football, as George Bush pointed out in his 2007 Thanksgiving address.

As usual, the facts have been completely distorted by history and popular culture (and George Bush [although he was right about the football]).

First and foremost, relations between settlers and Indigenous people were not good. In fact, they were downright terrible. Colonists would give Native people blankets that were used by people infected by smallpox. The colonists understood the cultural significance of the blanket, and also that smallpox killed Native people. Settlers were trying to prevent resistance from the people Native on their home and native land. This happened in Canada as well as the United States, although there is more historical records of these events occurring in America.

Thus many Indigenous people see Thanksgiving as well as Columbus Day (the American holiday that takes place the same day as our Thanksgiving that celebrates Columbus “discovering” America) as a day of mourning. Their reasoning is that most of their population at that time was killed by European settlers, and as a direct result we should not be giving thanks for the ethnocide that has occurred.

Although there have been commonalities in the way Canadians and Americans treated and continue to treat our Indigenous populations, there are many differences between the two nations. The story of the foundation of Canada is based on both British and French colonists, creating a different narrative and thus a distinct culture down the road. I must lament that our professional football teams are not nearly as good as the United States, but I’m getting off-topic.

According to Peter A. Stevens, the first Canadian Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1859, and it has a pro-British, white, Christian, Anglo-Saxon message, and was incredibly anti-American. However, by the 1870’s the American traditions as stated above took hold on Canada much against the chagrin of our religious leaders of the time. In 1957 Parliament passed a law that Thanksgiving would move to the second Monday in October, moving from the Thursdays wanted by religious leaders as a Monday holiday would threaten church attendance.

Stevens states, “To Protestant clergymen, the early history of Thanksgiving is, perhaps, a tragedy, since they lost control over the holiday. From another perspective, it is a story of triumph. Catholics, workers, ethnic minorities and other groups excluded from the clergy's notions of Thanksgiving and Canadian identity democratized the holiday and adopted their own holiday practices, asserting that they, too, had something to contribute to Canadian society and culture.”

Since then the holiday has changed yet again in its meaning to Canadians. The holiday we celebrated in the Victorian era did want us to express thanks for the things in our world and the people around us. I really agree with this, as I think we should be thankful for all of the things we get to experience living in Canada. Unfortunately the day has become yet another Hallmark holiday – you can buy stuffed turkeys and cards, special decorations and the like. I’m sure as a child you made a hand turkey in order to celebrate the event when you were a child also.

So please, when you celebrate this weekend remember the histories behind this holiday! It is not what we were taught in school since the time of hand turkeys!

And speaking of turkeys...watch out for the wild ones! They're much different than the ones you see on your dining room table; much more agile and quick-moving. I had the unfortunate luck to be chased by one for 5-10 minutes. It is NOT FUN WHAT-SO-EVER!! They can get up to speeds of 32km/hr on the ground and 88km/hr in the air. They’re vicious creatures...who want revenge...