The first North American Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1578 when the English Navigator, Martin Frobisher, held a formal ceremony in Newfoundland. He did this to give thanks for surviving the long sea journey, and other settlers arrived in Newfoundland, and the tradition was continued by them.
In 1879, Parliament declared November 6th a national holiday of Thanksgiving. Over the years this date changed, and on January 31, 1957, Parliament declared the second Monday in October of each year to be "A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed".
HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL
1 comment:
The Frobisher ceremony wasn't in Newfoundland--but in Baffin Island where he and his crews were merrily digging for gold. There seems no connection between this import of a British autumn feast and the North American thanksgiving tradition that started a century or so later.
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