Thanksgiving is a very famous celebration in the U.S.A. and in Canada too. It is on the second Monday of October  in Canada and on the last Thursday of November in the USA. This year, it was on the 27th of November.

It consists of a meal between family and/or friends. We usually eat roast turkey with mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pies. In the USA, it is a day off : schools and companies are closed from Thursday to Sunday.Poeple travel long distances to be with their families on that day.

Origins in Canada:

Martin Frobisher, who was a navigator, created the first Thanksgiving in Newfoundland in 1578. He wanted to thank God for letting him ans his crew survive the trip across the Atlantic Ocean. Then the tradition changed. In 1879 Thanksgiving became a national day but the party didn’t happen on the same day every year. During the First World War Thanksgiving was fixed on the second Monday of October.

Origins in the U.S.A.

In 1620,the English settlers arrived in Massachussets to form a colony. However some stellers died because of diseases. But a tribe near their colony helped them. They gave them a lot of  food, drinks and clothes. It enabled them to  survive in  America. To celebrate the first harvest in 1621 the governor organised a three day celebration with the Indians : they ate, drank and prayed for three days long.

article written by Gregoire