Monday is Thanksgiving Day in Canada. In the US it is Columbus Day. Here in Bangkok it is just another Monday.

For my thoughts about Columbus Day you can visit a post that I wrote back in 2012: Holiday Monday

Today I will take a break from my Bangkok posts and share a few bits of information about Thanksgiving in Canada.

This evening I will share some pictures from a Thanksgiving Day feast I had back in 2012 in Toronto.

Since they knew I was celebrating in Canada I had a request from some of my friends to post pictures of what Canadian Thanksgiving was like. Not surprising, it is much like our Thanksgiving in the US.

Before our meal the pies were cooling on the counter top. They looked and smelled great.

The main dish for Thanksgiving was ham, but turkey is also very common for Thanksgiving in Canada. This is just as it is the US, some people like to cook a turkey and others like to cook a ham.

The main side dish was scalloped potatoes. They were brought in some really cool looking pottery.

There were also small sides like pickles, olives and onions and of course rolls. You can barely see the rolls and butter in the picture above.

My plate was not too full, but I was saving room for the wonderful desserts. The meal was delicious.

The apple pie and ice cream was delicious, as well as the pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream. Actually, the homemade whipped cream was the best part of the meal.

The exact origin of Thanksgiving in the US is disputed, but traditionally it is the 1621 feast by the Pilgrims in Plymouth.

For Canada, Thanksgiving is usually traced to a Thanksgiving feast held by Sir Martin Frobisher and his crew in 1578.

The feast was held on the Countess of Warwick’s Island. Today the island is known as Kodlunarn Island. The island is just off the shore of Baffin Island in Frobisher Bay.

Google Maps

The large inlet in the picture is Frobisher Bay. The pin marks the location of Kodlunarn Island.

Google Maps

Here is a map for those of us who are not as familiar with Canadian geography. You can see that Frobisher Bay is very far to the north.

I found out a very interesting fact about Frobisher. He made three voyages or expeditions to Canada. On his first voyage he was looking for a Northwest Passage. The winter weather prevented him from going too far and he ended up in what is today Frobisher Bay. While there his men picked up some interesting looking rocks. When he was back in England several experts looked at the rocks. One of the experts said that it was gold-bearing and another expedition was put together.

The next two expeditions brought back several hundred tons of iron pyrite. You may know this by the more common name of Fools Gold.

Oh, back to Canadian Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving in Canada today has close ties to the Thanksgiving celebration in Plymouth.

Two big events brought Thanksgiving traditions from New England to Canada. The first was the expulsion of the Acadians from New Brunswick in the 1750’s. A large number of settlers from New England moved to New Brunswick in the 1750’s and 1760’s bringing their Thanksgiving traditions with them. I have ancestors that were in this group. You can read more about them in: Almost Canadian?

The second big event was the Revolutionary War. Many Loyalists moved to Canada after the war and they also brought their Thanksgiving traditions with them. Some of the cousins of my ancestors were in this group.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends and readers!

Steven