The Attitude Of Gratitude A Story About Canadian Thanksgiving
Gratitude is a pretty big deal to me. I have had a regular daily gratitude practice for many years, it has changed my life for the better in so many ways.
More on that in the videos below, but first a little history lesson.
The Origins And History Of Canadian Thanksgiving
Very few of our US neighbors (or Canadians for that matter) know that the origins and history of Canadian Thanksgivings are quite different from our neighbors to the south.
The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving are actually connected to the traditions of Europe rather than those of the United States.
Long before Europeans settled in North America, festivals of thanks and celebrations of harvest took place in Europe in October.
The very first Thanksgiving celebration in North America took place in Canada when Martin Frobisher, an explorer from England, arrived in Newfoundland in 1578. He wanted to give thanks for his safe arrival to the New World.
That means the first Thanksgiving in Canada was celebrated 43 years before the pilgrims came to Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Canadian Thanksgiving Becomes Official
For a few hundred years, Thanksgiving was celebrated in either late October or early November, before it was declared a national holiday in 1879. Then, November 6th was set aside as the official Thanksgiving holiday.
However, on January 31, 1957, Parliament decided that the second Monday in October would be a day of general Thanksgiving, for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.
Thanksgiving was moved to the second Monday in October in order, to give Remembrance Day (November 11th) it’s just due (Thanksgiving kept falling in the same week).
My Daily Gratitude Practice a life changer!
Thanksgiving is a time that many people take extra time for gratitude. Have you ever considered what a daily gratitude practice would be like?
My Daily Gratitude practice has changed my life in so many ways, I cannot recommend it enough. In honor of Thanksgiving, I made a little video for you which includes a Guided Gratitude Meditation. Enjoy!
p.s. To read my other Thanksgiving post and watch my video ‘my thanks to you’ click here.
My Thanks To You- Happy Thanksgiving | nykdanu.com
[…] our southern neighbors in the US. I did a whole blog post on that last year which you can check out here if your interested in learning more. Gratitude has been interwoven in the Canadian Thanksgiving […]
Latasha
Lovely post Nyk! I’m grateful for the info you shared about Thanksgiving 🙂 😉
Dallas
Thank you for explaining. I truly did not know.
Alma Newton
Thank you, Nyk. Most interesting. As you see, I still follow Your postings. So glad to see you so well and happy!
nyk.danu
Alma so glad to hear from you <3
Thanksgiving with Heart: The Power of Gratitude Practice | Students - Nyk Danu Yoga
[…] I did a more in-depth post about that a few years ago which you can read here. […]