The Classic T-Bird
Long after our Thanksgiving turkey is but a memory and perhaps a container of frozen soup stock, Canadians must still withstand the onslaught of magazines advertising “How to prepare a perfect yet easy traditional turkey dinner.” It is just one more reminder that the great nation south of is truly a foreign country.
Personally, I just treat this as a harbinger for the impending Christmas season, while I suppose others just skip the November editions of their favourite magazines and save a few bucks. It does, however, always make me wonder why it is that two countries, so closely linked in history and other traditions, have ended up celebrating the same holiday on different dates.
Over the centuries, the reasons for giving thanks have been varied. Early explorers gave thanks for safely landing on our shores after a treacherous ocean voyage. In the early 1600s, Canadian settlers celebrated surviving our deadly winters with festivities of thanks. It was for this reason that Samuel de Champlain founded a group known as the Order of Good Cheer.
There have been celebrations of the harvest since the time of druids in Europe, but it wasn’t until 1879 that our government attempted to set aside November 6th as a national day of thanksgiving. Until the ending of WWI, this date continued to drift about October and November. At this time, our federal government decided to establish Armistice Day, a day of thanksgiving to commemorate the signing of the peace treaty on November 11th, but even then there was disagreement in parliament as to whether the general holiday should be observed on the 11th regardless of the day of the week or on the Monday which fell in the same week. Until 1931, Thanksgiving and Armistice Day were celebrated as one holiday on either the first or second Monday of November. In 1931, these dates were separated. Armistice Day became Remembrance Day which was observed always on November 11th. Thanksgiving continued to move about until 1957, when parliament declared that the 2nd Monday of October should be a general day of thanksgiving for our harvest and of course, a national holiday and a long-weekend.
The American celebration has also landed on different dates since it was first celebrated by the Pilgrims. In 1777, congress declared that there should be a national day of thanksgiving, but this date continued to move about on a regional basis, perhaps dependent on local days of harvest. In 1863, President Abe Lincoln declared the fourth Thursday of November would be the national day of thanks. Perhaps Abe already worked a four-day week and was hoping for a four-day weekend?
The Canadian climate seems to be the most apparent reason for celebrating our fall harvest earlier than our neighbours. If we waited until the end of November to celebrate our fall bounty, we’d have pretty slim pickings. (Remember, I’m here in Calgary writing this, and today, October 23rd, it is -9C out there!) Thus, our national identity in the matter of our football season and our Thanksgiving holiday is defined by the infamous “Canadian cold weather front.”
One overlooked reason for this difference in dates might be that we Canadians are just more prudent. How can the Americans eat so much stuffing in one month? They must still be eating turkey leftovers when it is time to cook the next bird. Canadians have allowed a good two months for digestion to take place.
Another consideration: visitors. Do American family and friends simply arrive at your door November 27th and stay right through until December 26th? How can all of those bright American college kids afford to get home twice in less than a month. It must be terribly expensive and disruptive to their education. It must be equally disruptive to businesses. Anyone with school-aged children or who manages a business knows the effect of having a Thursday holiday. It is easier to just close for four days than it is to try and maintain discipline with virtually two TGIFs in a row. Our Canadian leaders obviously thought this through beforehand and guaranteed us a long weekend (but only a three day weekend) by establishing the second-Monday of October rule.
As a child, I thought that the Americans must celebrate Christmas earlier than we do. I would watch the most famous of Thanksgiving/Santa Claus parades, the Macey’s parade, on our black-and-white TV, and think that it must be such a wonderful life to have Santa arrive so early. This confusion was later replace by the football-season one, but I can’t say that I ever lost much sleep over that one.
For the editors of food magazines it offers a challenge of putting out back-to-back turkey dinner issues, but on the other hand, just think of the money it must save them. They can use the same bird on two covers. In fact, as a long-time collector of food magazines, I can show you covers from year to year that appear to be the same bird. Only the garnish changes, and the wording. Sometimes it is a “classic dinner”; sometimes “traditional”; but always “quick and easy!”
I shouldn’t give magazine food editors such a tough time. Anyone who has ever tried to mess with a traditional dinner menu knows what is likely to happen. Your family is going to harp about it until the next year when you do it “right”! We should never confuse being traditional with being unimaginative. My children have taught me that.