Thanksgiving in Canada: Differs, Foods and How Celebrate
Date of Celebration
Thanksgiving (French: Action de grâce) or Thanksgiving Day (French: Jour de l'Action de grâce), is an annual Canadian holiday held on the second Monday in October. Outside the country, it may be referred to as Canadian Thanksgiving to distinguish it from the American holiday of the same name and related celebrations in other regions.
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In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October, which is about six weeks earlier than in the United States, where it falls on the fourth Thursday in November. The earlier Canadian Thanksgiving aligns with the country's earlier harvest season due to the northern climate.
The biggest difference between American and Canadian Thanksgiving may be simply what happens the day after it, or, more specifically, what doesn't. In the U.S., Black Friday is traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year, with consumers flooding stores, often before dawn, to take advantage of drastically reduced prices on everything from TVs to designer handbags, gaming systems, and a whole lot more. Americans do love to tick names off their Christmas gift lists before December rolls around (though plenty of us have been known to wait until the last-possible minute).
But in Canada, October is apparently way too early to be snapping up presents to put under the tree, because post-Thanksgiving shopping is not a thing there, at all.
 Thanksgiving Day: When and Why Celebrated? |
 Thanksgiving In The US and Canada: Meaning & Differences |
Traditional Foods
Many traditional foods for Canadian Thanksgiving are similar to those found in the U.S., such as roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. However, Canadian Thanksgiving menus often feature regional dishes unique to different parts of the country. For example, in some areas, you might find wild game, salmon, butter tarts, or Nanaimo bars (a dessert bar originating from Nanaimo, British Columbia).
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| Jiggs dinner, also called boiled dinner or cooked dinner, is a traditional meal commonly prepared and eaten on Sundays in Newfoundland |
A traditional Newfoundland Jiggs dinner consists of turkey, dressing, gravy, bread pudding, carrots, turnip, cabbage, mashed potatoes, pease pudding, figgy duff – and boiled salt beef. For dessert Barb likes to do blueberry crumble and partridgeberry cake topped with hot vanilla sauce.
How Canadians Celebrate
Thanksgiving in Canada is generally a low-key holiday compared to the U.S., where it marks the beginning of the holiday season. In Canada, it’s often seen as a time for a relaxed, long weekend with family and friends, and not every family has a large celebration. Since Thanksgiving falls on a Monday, people often gather for a big meal on Sunday, and Monday is used as a rest or travel day.
Canadians also celebrate by enjoying autumn activities like hiking, apple picking, or attending local fairs. Football is popular, but unlike the U.S., Canadian Thanksgiving doesn’t have a major tradition tied to Thanksgiving Day football games.
In Canadian football, the Canadian Football League has usually held a nationally televised doubleheader, the Thanksgiving Day Classic. It is one of two weeks in which the league plays on Monday afternoons, the other being the Labour Day Classic.
Many communities in Canada hold events in the week prior to, and/or on the day of the holiday. For example, the Markham Fair is an annual agricultural and harvest festival held during the weekend before Thanksgiving, Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest holds an annual parade consisting of floats, civic figures in the region, local performance troupes and marching bands, and Fort Langley holds a widely attended neighbourhood festival celebrating the cranberry harvest, in which local crafts, produce, and artisan goods are sold.
