Canadian Thanksgiving

How Canadian Thanksgiving Began

The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving are more closely connected to the traditions of Europe than of the United States.

Long before Europeans settled in North America, festivals of thanks and celebrations of harvest took place in Europe in the month of 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 landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts!