Oggi — Lunedi, Ottobre 12, 2009 — is the Thanksgiving holiday in Canada.

Canadians celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday roughly six weeks earlier than Americans do. E U.S. espatriati sempre chiedere, “Why?"

Here’s an excerpt from my book, Vivere all'estero in Canada, circa perché Ringraziamento canadese è nel mese di ottobre:

Mentre Canada doesn’t share the pilgrim legends that infuse U.S. Thanksgiving traditions, the country does have a history of thanksgiving feasts….

The Canadian government first proclaimed an official holiday for “the blessings of an abundant harvest” in November 1879. For the next 40-some years, Canada celebrated Thanksgiving on varying dates in either October or November….Finally, in 1957, Parliament permanently declared that Thanksgiving would be celebrated on the second Monday of October.

Ma perché Ottobre? Gli storici non sono d'accordo, anche se molti dicono che è perché October is harvest time in much of Canada. Per la fine di novembre, wide swaths of the country are already covered in snow.

Most Americans will find Canada’s Thanksgiving foods familiar. Canadians typically load up their holiday table with turkey, ripieno, mashed or sweet potatoes, salsa di mirtilli, at least of couple of other vegetables, and some sort of pie.

Canadese che vive rivista highlights some of the subtle differences between Thanksgiving dinners in Canada and the U.S here.

Turchia Happy Day!

Foto di Shoshanah (flickr)