This Thanksgiving is a Turkey

Filed in archive As We See Things , BMW on November 21, 2007

Americans will soon be celebrating Thanksgiving but few will be aware that it is also celebrated in Canada, although on a different day. My American cousins know that their holiday honors the arrival of the Pilgrims in the good ship Mayflower. You'd be hard-pressed to find a Canadian who has any idea why we have a Thanksgiving Day (other than to gorge on turkey and pumpkin pie), including this writer who had to call on Wikipedia for help. No wonder we're confused. Here's what Wikipedia has to say:

"The first Thanksgiving Day in Canada after Confederation was observed on April 15, 1872, to celebrate the recovery of The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) from a serious illness. No record is found of a Thanksgiving Day between 1872 and 1879." Okay, so no turkey or pumpkin pie for seven years but... from 1879 to 1898, both inclusive, it was observed on a Thursday in November. "In 1899, it was fixed on a Thursday in October, where it stayed until 1907, with the exception of 1901 and 1904 when the date was fixed on a Thursday in November. From 1908 to 1921, it was observed on a Monday in October, the exact date being appointed by proclamation."

Wait... this gets worse!

Wikipedia goes on to say "from 1921 to 1930, the Armistice Day Act provided that Thanksgiving would be observed on Armistice Day, which was fixed by statute on the Monday of the week in which November 11 fell. In 1931, Parliament adopted an Act to amend the Armistice Day Act, providing that the day should be observed on November 11 and that the day should be known as 'Remembrance Day'. Accordingly, the old practice was resumed of fixing Thanksgiving Day by proclamation, and it has been since 1931 on the second Monday of October, with the exception of 1935 where, after Thanksgiving Day had been fixed on October 14, it was decided to hold the general election on that date. A new proclamation was issued deferring the observance to October 24, a Thursday. This resulted in a great deal of controversy and the practice of observance on a Thursday was not pursued in future years. From 1936 to 1956, inclusive, a proclamation was issued yearly to appoint the second Monday of October as Thanksgiving Day. In 1957, a proclamation was issued fixing permanently Thanksgiving Day on that day, thus eliminating the necessity of an annual proclamation."

What we Canadians need is a Thanksgiving Day to celebrate the elimination of proclamations.

Nevertheless good things do result. When my family and I resided in London, where I'd been posted from New York as the JWT ad agency's Ford of Europe Creative Director, our best friends were an American family, the Browners, who lived nearby. Not an unusual relationship as once off the continent Americans and Canadians are regarded by others as one-and-the-same which, essentially, we are. This led to a double celebration of Thanksgiving, once by us in October, again by the Browners in November. Twice the turkey, twice the pumpkin pie! The kids loved it, as did the adults, for my -ex and Richard's -ex were wonderful cooks. Of course this has nothing to do with classic cars except that the cars we drove then are classics today. My mount was a BMW 2002 that I purchased in New York and was shipped to London as "personal goods." Much like this one.